That night, I slept in Valen's arms, wrapped in his cloak, warmer than I ever thought possible in a place like this. We whispered in the dark, stealing kisses until I could no longer fight my exhaustion. But it didn't go any further than that, it wasn't the time or the place. And we were ever conscious of the tiefling lying only a few feet away.

Some part of me wished that a devil or demon had come in the night and put an arrow through both of our hearts. That it would leave us there forever; two bodies that would turn to dust and be forgotten.

I thought about what our life might be like now, if I hadn't made a deal with a devil. Or if the portal had truly taken me home, away from him to my family. I thought of all these things.

…Maybe Valen was right; "Maybe I do have a flair for the dramatic." I mumbled.

Enserric flashed red in what could only be agreement and I flicked some powdered snow in his direction, waking Valen with the movement.

He came to with a sleepy groan, tightening his arms around me once before begrudgingly letting go. I felt warmth thrum through me at the gentle caress of his lips against my head.

As much as I wanted to stay in his arms forever, I followed him up. I ate dried meat and I drank bitter tea and I considered the impossible task ahead of us as Valen saw to the other tiefling.

But then Valen's voice cut through my thoughts, his tone grim.

"He's dead."

I was emptying the dregs of my tea in the snow and, at first, his words didn't register.

I glanced over with a frown.

Valen was squatting in the snow, one hand on the other tiefling's shoulder, the other testing for a pulse at his throat.

"He's what?" I blinked at him.

"Dead," he repeated.

And just like that, my little bubble from last night popped.

At first glance, the tiefling simply looked like he was sleeping. His eyes shut, and his knees tucked up against his chest.

But then I saw the waxen colour of his usually dark and ruddy skin, the ice on his lashes. I wondered vaguely when it had happened and felt a flash of guilt that — at some point when I'd been kissing Valen, or huddled into his warmth — my jailer and forced companion of months past had died mere meters from me.

"I didn't even know his name." I realised.

But already, Valen was sorting through the other tiefling's pockets with an indifference that sent a surprising stab of annoyance through me. I stared down at the body in disbelief.

"We can't stay here," Valen stood when he found nothing of worth to us, looking over his shoulder. "We need to keep moving."

I frowned. "He was our way out of here."

Valen stepped across him towards me, hands finding my own. "There was no portal. He was lying to get your help." He stated simply. "We stick to the plan; make for the Reaper."

I shook my head. "We need him."

"Jane," Valen squeezed my hands. "Even if we had charges on the rod to spare, he was lying—"

"He's never lied to me." I realised, thinking of our time fighting, our spitting of words between the high bars of my window.

He may have been my jailer, but he had always been honest, even when it was hurtful. Especially then.

I pulled my hands from Valen's and paced a few steps. "He's evil, and an arsehole. But he's always been truthful with me." I turned back to him with a frown. "Besides, why would he lie? He would have known we'd all be dead a few days out here. No way he leaves the city without an out."

"But he is dead," Valen pointed out, before lifting his arms to motion around us. "And I see no portal."

"Then he miscalculated." I replied immediately. "I'm sure he didn't intend to fall into the water." I shook my head again. "He said we had to get far from the city, for the portal. Maybe we're just not far enough." I let hope lighten my voice.

Valen's eyes darted between my own as he considered my words, his skepticism clear. But, at my determined look, he didn't argue any further, sighing as he moved towards his bag. He paused when a hand was inside, raising an eyebrow. Are you sure? His eyes seemed to ask. At my nod, he pulled out the Rod of Resurrection.

He was slow to hand it to me, and when I took it from him, he held firm.

"It is the last charge," he warned me. Like I wasn't already all-too-aware. "If you are wrong—"

I raised my other hand to his cheek, forcing a smile to my lips and injecting confidence I didn't quite feel into my tone.

"I'm right." I told him. A rueful smirk curling my lips "Besides, if I'm wrong, we won't need the last charge, anyway."

"Comforting," Valen muttered, as he released the rod.

One charge. Make it count. Mind racing, I went through our options.

"How many more berries do you have?" I asked as I considered the near frozen tiefling.

"Not enough," Valen grumbled. At my pointed look he sighed, shaking his head. "Four. Enough for another fire."

"Make it work with three." I told him. "Give me the other."

And so our morning went.

I — very carefully — ground down the berry Valen begrudgingly handed over, using a plain stone the yellow-eyed tiefling had stashed in my satchel.

Meanwhile, Valen fed the fire with painstaking care, and — once it was as big as he was going to get it — he dragged the tiefling's body closer to the sputtering warmth. Valen took his own cloak from around his shoulders, heating it by the flames. His expression was grim as he watched me work.

Missing my herbal kit, I mixed a healing potion with the berry slowly, watching as the liquid fizzed each time more of the red mush was added. I could only hope that it would work just as well without a binding agent.

"What happened to the rest of my stuff?" I dared to ask, thinking of my bow and the years worth of items I'd collected.

He smiled faintly at the concern in my tone I couldn't quite hide.

"What we wouldn't immediately need, Deekin is taking care of in Waterdeep."

Eventually, as the tiefling's skin thawed to something a little closer to a living beings temperature, I knelt next to him in the snow. The movement stretched the flaking paint on my knees thin, and I hissed at the cold.

"Well," I said, attempting a smirk in Valen's direction. "If I'm wrong, let's never talk about this again."

"My love," Valen started with a gentle smile. I tried to ignore the way my stomach flipped at the word. …What he said next helped. "If you are wrong, we will not be alive long enough to talk about it."

"Comforting," I rolled my eyes, repeating what he'd muttered earlier.

At first, when I placed the end of the rod against the dead tiefling's chest, nothing happened. I swallowed thickly, pressing it instead to the center of the his forehead. There was no ring of magic. No rush of light. Nothing like how the rod usually worked on Toril.

But, all the same, the tiefling's yellow eyes were suddenly blinking blearily up at me, his chest expanding with a great gasping breath.

Thank shit.

"Shit," he echoed with a groan, his eyes focusing slowly on me. "There're definitely better faces to wake up to."

I smiled despite myself. "Fuck you too."

The tiefling rolled his eyes until they closed again, and I slapped the head of the rod against his chest.

"Hey!"

He jolted awake again.

"There's no more where that came from," I tossed the rod away from us pointedly. "So stay awake."

I fed the tiefling the healing potion with the verox berry mixed through, helping him with a hand against the back of his head. As he coughed and sputtered his way through all of it, Valen made his way around the fire, placing the heated cloak around his shoulders.

When he finished, I pulled him into a sitting position. His claws gently grazed my wrist, making me flinch as I recalled the damage they'd done to my wrist the day before.

With another groan, he pressed his back against the barricade, shivering violently. Stretching his feet out on both sides of the fire, he unabashedly hogged the warmth, pulling the cloak around him as tightly as he could.

"Please tell me I brought you back for a reason," I said, rubbing my face in my hands.

"Besides my winning personality?" He attempted a smirk.

"The portal," Valen pressed through gritted teeth. I didn't need to look to know his tail would be lashing behind him. "Start talking."

He rolled his yellow eyes, before scrunching his nose in distaste. "Good gods, you stink," the tiefling deflected, eyeing me up and down. "When did you find the time to roll in the demon's we killed?" Trailing off, his eyes suddenly widened in understanding, darting between Valen and I with amusement. His smile turned wry, voice dropping into an exaggerated purr. "If you'd shared a bit of the love, maybe I wouldn't have frozen to—"

Valen didn't let him finish, pulling the cloak roughly from the tiefling's grasp and ignoring his hiss of protest.

He bent until their faces were only inches apart.

"If the next words out of your mouth are not about a portal out of Cania," he said slowly, "Then you will not have to worry about freezing again."

He narrowed his yellow eyes, leaning in closer to Valen and snatching back the cloak pointedly.

I could hear a growl growing in Valen's throat, and found myself thankful that he was no longer beholden to his demonic side. Because that Valen wouldn't have even bothered warning the other tiefling. Instead, we'd be without a resurrection rod, with a yellow-eyed tiefling dead in the snow.

At mine and Valen's stony silence, he sighed. "Relax." He waved us off. "Enough time has passed, and we're probably far enough now."

"Then where is it?" I felt the tightness in my chest loosening.

He jutted his chin towards my satchel. "Pass it here."

I frowned, carefully passing him my meagre belongings. He started shifting things, as he searched.

But then I watched as the smug expression slowly dropped from his face, his hands rifling through more erratically as something very near panic crossed his features.

"Where is it?" He looked up at us, accusation in his tone.

"Where is what?"

His eyes grabbed mine. "The key!" He snapped. "It was right here." He held the bag up and shook it.

"I've been through it," I said quickly, his panic contagious. "I didn't see any key."

"What did it look like?" Valen pressed consideringly.

"Like any portal key." He snapped. "A rock this big," he held his thumb and index finger a few inches apart. "Next you gonna ask where I saw it last?"

My panic immediately evaporated, realisation taking root. "This one?"

I held up the stone I'd used to crush the berries, enjoying the mix of emotions that flashed across the yellow-eyed tiefling's face.

"Is that blood?" He asked slowly.

I drew a finger along the edge and popped it in my mouth, reveling in the warmth. "Berry juice," I said.

"Do you realise what would have happened if you had damaged that?" His voice was tight.

"We wouldn't have a portal?" I replied simply.

I heard Valen snort.

"I mean… well… yeah!" The tiefling spluttered, cheeks flushed with his outrage. "And for what, so you could crush a few berries?"

"I am beginning to regret it already," Valen mumbled, sharing my smirk.

"So you have your key," I interrupted his rant, carefully tossing the stone to him. "Now what?"

He caught it deftly, levelling another glare my way. Without wasting any time, he rubbed a thumb along one edge slowly.

Immediately, the wind shifted, sucking away from us with a shrill wail.

I edged closer to Valen, who had already shouldered his pack, and was pulling the other tiefling up by the collar.

He stumbled to his feet, trying to bat him away, but Valen held firm.

The portal snapped into existence, a vortex of grey and black tall enough for us to step through, only wide enough for single file.

"You are going first," I shouted over the wind.

A hand flew to his heart. "I'm hurt that you don't trust me," yellow eyes flashed, and I knew he felt no such thing.

I reached for Valen's hand, weaving my fingers through his own and squaring my shoulders. With my other, I drew Enserric.

"No more jumping through, not knowing what's on the other side," I growled. "Where are you taking us?"

He raised an eyebrow at me in challenge, Valen's cloak whipping around him in the portal's wake.

"Phlegethos."

And then he was pulling us through behind him, before I even had time to swear.