Now Theon's pulse is hammering for an entirely different reason.

Since coming to Darrow, he's had moments of wanting someone, usually tangled up in the two people most important to him in all the worlds, usually slow and achy desires that he'd pushed to the side because he didn't see a better choice. But this hits him like a bolt from the sky, and with Daryl touching his face, bringing their foreheads together, he nearly surges forward to fit their mouths together.

A scream echoes in the distance, and then Daryl's helping him up.

"I can fight if you give me a few moments," he says.