Shira shivered through out the entire ride back to the inn. If her hands weren’t tied behind her back, she would have hugged herself. As it was, she could only clench her teeth against the biting cold, as violent tremors wacked her body, yet the Shark did not seem to notice.

She allowed herself to cry. In the past, her own tears would have shamed her, and she would have blamed herself for her weakness, but there was something so destabilizing about cold, all her energy had been put into trying to fight it, she had none left to control her ragged emotions.

They finally got to the inn, and...