Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

Snow had started falling again sometime before dawn.

Nia noticed it first through the softened sound beyond the outer stone corridor while she worked grain through the shallow grinding bowl near the hearth. The mountain carried winter differently now than it had when she first arrived. Back then every shift in weather had pulled her attention completely away from whatever she was doing. Now the cold settled into the structure of the day instead. More wood burned. More water heated near the fire. Layers stayed closer to hand.

Kael had already left before she woke.

Waking without the steady warmth beside her had already started throwing the shape of her mornings out of rhythm.

She pressed harder through the grain than necessary, listening to the scrape of stone.

The room still held traces of warmth from where he had slept beside her overnight. The heavy fur near the bedding remained slightly compressed where his weight had rested for most of the night before patrol pulled him back out into the snow again.

Nia reached for another handful of grain, only for the motion to pause halfway when her attention flicked toward the corridor before she forced herself to continue working.

He had gone on patrol before.

Still, the mountain felt wrong before sunrise when she woke without the steady warmth usually stretched along her side.

Steam drifted low near the suspended kettle while she worked. Shen sat farther down the table sorting dried herbs into smaller tied bundles with the same calm precision he brought to almost everything.

“You’re grinding too hard again,” he said without looking up.

Nia exhaled softly.

“I know.”

The bowl scraped once more before she eased the pressure in her wrist.

Outside, wind pushed snow somewhere farther down the mountain.

Shen tied off another herb bundle.

“You noticed he left early.”

It was not really a question.

Nia looked at him briefly.

“He usually wakes me up by accident.”

Shen’s attention remained on the herbs while faint amusement touched his expression.

The faint amusement in his voice made it clear he understood far more than she wanted him to.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“You don’t have to sound smug about it.”

“I only observed it.”

“You absolutely did.”

Shen finally glanced toward her then, restrained amusement touching the corner of his mouth before his attention lowered back toward the herbs.

“He was trying not to wake you.”

Nia pressed harder against the grain bowl before she could linger on the thought too long.

Kael was not particularly quiet by nature. He moved heavily enough that she normally felt him shift before he even stood fully from the bedding.

The realization that he had deliberately tried not to wake her made her lose track of the grain entirely for several seconds afterward.

Nia reached for another handful of grain before realizing she had already ground enough for the morning meal several minutes ago.

Shen’s attention shifted toward the bowl after only a few more turns of the grinding stone.

“You’ve been circling the same section of the bowl.”

“I’m aware.”

“Are you?”

Nia pointed the grinding stone at him.

“Be careful. I’m armed.”

His shoulders moved once with quiet amusement.

“You’d miss me after.”

The answer left her mouth before she fully considered it.

“Probably.”

Shen stilled very slightly, not enough that someone unfamiliar with him would notice, before lowering another tied bundle beside the others.

“I would prefer you not test the theory regardless.”

Nia lowered her attention back toward the bowl before either of them could watch her expression too closely.

Nia turned back toward the grain before he could see too much of her expression.

The mountain had become difficult to move through lately without becoming aware of where one of them stood in relation to her.

The sound of heavier footsteps reached the corridor not long after.

Nia looked up at once.

Shen’s hands paused briefly over the herbs before he resumed sorting them again.

Snow brushed from Kael’s shoulders as he stepped inside. Cold followed him briefly into the room before the heat from the hearth started eating through it.

His attention found her before he finished brushing snow from his shoulders.

“You ate yet?” he asked.

Nia shook her head.

“I was waiting for the grain to finish.”

Kael glanced once toward the bowl.

“That finished a while ago.”

Shen lowered another herb bundle beside the others.

“She’s been distracted.”

Nia turned toward Shen with accusation written plainly across her face.

Kael’s attention shifted back toward her, and the corner of his mouth moved slightly while heat climbed farther into her face.

“Both of you need to stop looking at me like that.”

Kael glanced toward Shen once before returning his attention to Nia.

The brief look between them made her grip tighten slightly against the edge of the bowl.

He crossed the room toward the hearth, removing his outer layers as he moved. Melted snow darkened parts of the fur near his shoulders before dripping slowly onto the stone.

Nia’s attention dropped toward his hands while he loosened the thick fastening near his wrist. The skin near his knuckles still looked rough from cold and repeated winter work.

She narrowed her eyes.

“Did you use the salve?”

“Yes.”

Kael answered too quickly.

Nia set the grinding stone down.

“How many times?”

Shen continued sorting herbs with visible interest while Kael moved closer to the fire before answering.

“Enough.”

“That answers absolutely nothing.”

“It worked.”

“You are avoiding the question.”

Kael crouched near the hearth to warm his hands, and the silence lasted long enough that Nia already knew the answer before he finally said, “Once.”

She stared at him.

“Kael.”

“It worked.”

“Your hands still look dry.”

“They always look dry in winter.”

“That doesn’t mean you stop taking care of them.”

Kael looked faintly resigned beneath her glare.

Shen saved him, or tried to.

“He did remember this time,” Shen said smoothly.

Nia pointed toward him next.

“Don’t encourage him.”

“I’m attempting to reduce the severity of sentencing.”

Kael’s attention shifted toward Shen.

“She threatened you with a grinding stone.”

“She was making a convincing argument.”

Nia folded her arms.

“Thank you.”

“You threatened me with a grinding stone less than ten minutes ago.”

“You were being irritating.”

The conversation loosened afterward into quieter domestic rhythm while Kael remained near the hearth and Shen continued sorting herbs beside the table. More and more of her daily habits had started blending into theirs without her noticing when the shift happened.

Kael rose from the hearth and crossed toward the table again.

He stopped beside her instead of taking the open space across from Shen, close enough that warmth gathered steadily along her shoulder through the layers between them.

Nia tried to focus on the grain, which became difficult almost immediately.

Kael rested one hand against the edge of the table while looking over the bowl beside her.

“You already separated most of it.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you still grinding?”

Nia kept her attention firmly on the bowl.

“You were gone longer than usual.”

The words settled into the room before she fully thought through them.

Shen’s hands paused once over the herbs.

Kael went still beside her.

Nia stared so hard at the grain she almost missed the next scrape of stone beneath her hand.

Snow slid somewhere farther down the mountain.

Kael’s voice lowered slightly when he finally answered.

“The northern path needed clearing.”

“Oh.”

Nia winced internally the moment the answer left her mouth.

Nia stared harder at the grain.

Kael did not move away, and that somehow made everything harder to think through clearly.

“You noticed,” he said after a moment.

Nia swallowed once.

“Yes.”

The grinding stone had stopped moving entirely now beneath her hand.

Kael’s attention remained on her long enough that she lost track of the grinding bowl entirely again.

Shen resumed tying the herb bundles, though the next bundle tightened too sharply beneath his fingers before he loosened the twine again.

Twine tightened softly around the dried stems while the room settled quieter again.

Nia kept losing track of the grain whenever Kael shifted beside her, the steady familiarity of his closeness disrupting her concentration more thoroughly than the conversation had.

Kael reached past her for the kettle hanging nearer the fire.

His arm brushed lightly against hers through the fabric.

Neither of them moved away.

Steam curled upward while he poured heated water into one of the clay cups near the table.

Then he set the cup beside her without comment before returning the kettle toward the hook.

Her grip tightened slightly around the cup before she realized she had stopped paying attention to the grain entirely again.

Shen’s gaze lingered briefly on the cup before he returned to the herbs, though the next bundle tightened slightly uneven beneath his hands.

Nia wrapped both hands around the clay cup while warmth seeped slowly through her fingers.

Kael remained beside her, close enough that she could still feel lingering cold near the edge of his sleeve where snow had not fully melted yet.

“You should sit closer to the fire,” she murmured.

“I’m warm enough here.”

The cup nearly slipped against her fingers before she tightened her grip again.

Shen’s hands paused briefly over another herb bundle before continuing.

Steam drifted slowly upward from the cups while the hearth continued crackling beside them.

Kael remained beside her, and when Nia finally reached again for the grain bowl, she shifted automatically around his presence before realizing she had done it.

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