Chapter 24
Keira
Keira’s body ached, every muscle sore and heavy. Yet she nearly cried in relief. The burning pain that had been coursing through her blood like acid was gone. Her fever had broken.
Caspian had done it.
As she shifted, Keira became aware of the weight of his body curled behind her, his arm wrapped around her chest. He was deeply asleep, snoring faintly in her ear. She couldn’t find it within herself to move for several moments, even if his large body was partially crushing her.
Her mind reeled as she lay still in his arms. Even after seeing her true face, her lies exposed, he’d healed her.
He’d carried her to safety, battled her fever, found the cure…
After all that he could have fallen asleep anywhere, but he’d chosen to lie beside her.
Caspian shifted, his fingers grazing the bare skin of her stomach.
Keira realized two things in the same moment.
Firstly, she was still wearing nothing but her undergarments, and second was the unmistakable feeling of Caspian’s arousal now pressed against her back.
She slithered out of his arms. He hardly noticed of course, ever the heavy sleeper. He was just dreaming, Keira told herself, battling the flush that was spreading over her body. The icy mountain winds sweeping over her bare skin were helping.
Keira stumbled to the mouth of the cave, her balance unsteady, weakened by the poison and a gnawing hunger.
Outside, it was late afternoon, but she had at least another hour of daylight, she supposed.
She pulled on her leather leggings and wool coat.
They’d been laid out by the fire, and though it was now nothing but embers, her clothes were blessedly dry.
She laced her knee high boots tight and threw on her green cloak before stepping out onto the snowy mountainside.
It was dusk by the time she returned with a pair of rabbits fit for a stew. Caspian was still fast asleep on his stomach. She turned from him, allowing him to rest and focusing on the matter at hand. A good meal is what she needed. Her magic would do the rest to hasten her recovery.
She built the fire and magiced some of the snow from outside into clean water for the stew.
It wasn’t until she’d butchered the rabbits and left them to boil with the potatoes that she found herself with an idle moment.
Her eyes wandered over Caspian’s frame, his massive chest rising in a steady, peaceful rhythm.
Clearly, he had exhausted himself in the effort to save her from the manticore venom.
Had it been out of recognition for what they’d once had?
Or would he have saved anyone in that position?
The answer was obvious to anyone who truly knew him.
Of course he would have. That’s just who he was.
He had a noble heart, a hero’s spirit. She’d always known that.
Keira looked over his face again, trying to find some hope there.
She couldn’t forget how she’d woken up in his arms. Did that mean he could forgive her?
She stood suddenly. Speculation was going to drive her insane.
Instead, Keira put her magic to work cleaning up the place while the stew boiled, filling the cavern with its savory scent.
After devouring two helpings, she began to feel it working within her, restoring her strength.
It was some time later, as she was expelling a cloud of cinders from the cave mouth, that she heard Caspian stir.
His black eyes searched for a moment before settling on her. He groaned with the movement as he sat up. “You’re feeling better,” he said.
“Yes,” Keira said, unable to move. “Thank you for- I wasn’t sure if the cure would- The book, I mean. It was a gamble and…”
Silence hung heavy between them. Keira could hardly breathe as his eyes filled with the question she had been dreading since the moment she had first seen him in the woods.
“Where have you been?”