Chapter 40 #2
I sat up just in time to see her stricken expression change as she saw I was stripped to the waist as well. Her eyes slid down my chest, but when she met my gaze, all of the embarrassment was gone.
“Bold of you to assume I’d bother to wake you from a nightmare. I’d be too tempted to smother you in your sleep to chance it.”
That voice all husky from being awoken, it was like rough velvet rubbed across my skin and my body responded accordingly. My blankets were flipped back and her eyes went wide until she saw I was still wearing my pants.
“Come in here and we’ll find out all the ways you could smother me. Some of them, I hear, can be quite pleasurable.”
“As if I’d want to please you in any way,” she huffed.
“Pleasure for you, lass. Mine would come from making you scream.”
Take a step this way, I though furiously. Just one and I’ll make you see…
Of course, she turned on her heel and marched right back to her bedroll, which was a problem.
Not for me. I never expected it to be that easy.
My eyes closed, ready to fall back to sleep, when I heard a chattering sound.
Glancing across the camp, I saw that Fern had burrowed down deep in her bedding and yet, she was shivering.
It was the middle of the night. The temperature had dropped and so had the fire.
I lay back in my bed, heated more by my thoughts than my blankets, only to hear her move again.
Rolling my head up, I watched her stalk over to the fire and poke at the embers.
Sparks flew, but with little fuel, they couldn’t go far, so she had to go and grab one of the large boughs the lieutenant had dragged over.
Fern didn’t have the man’s upper body strength, so with a grunt, she struggled under the weight of it.
Brother, Slate prompted.
I know.
With a sigh, I got to my feet and plucked the branch from her grip before settling it across the fire, then grabbed some smaller branches to poke closer to the coals.
“Can’t just drop a massive lump of wood on top of embers,” I said, waving my hand to try and fan the flames higher. “Too much fuel and not enough fire and you’ll smother the coals and they’ll go cold.”
For a moment, I stared at the fire, watching the flames start to crackle, but when I looked up, Fern was staring down at me.
“Is that supposed to be some sort of metaphor?”
I considered her words, snorted, and then turned back to the fire.
“It could be. I’m sure there’s a lesson in there for me to learn, but it remains true of fires, too.”
With a shiver, she shuffled closer, holding her hands out to the flames. That was enough for me. I got to my feet, retrieved my blankets, and then swung them over my shoulders. Fern jumped as I settled myself behind her, going to rise, but an arm around her waist put her right where I wanted her.
On my lap.
Gods, I needed this. Stifling that feeling, I whisked the blankets around the two of us and, sure enough, the shivering stopped. My mouth hovered over the nape of her neck, the need to kiss her pressing hard. Instead, I said, “There. That has you feeling better, doesn’t it?”
“The warmth is welcome.” That prim little voice had me smiling. “The company? Not so much.”
“Well, misery loves company and I…” My grip on her waist tightened.
The way her body moulded to mine, the softness, it drove me mad, which is probably why I said this.
“I like yours just fine.” Holding her close like this, every second was another blow, destroying my restraint.
“So much so I’m putting you in my bedroll for the rest of the night. ”
“What?” Her yelp echoed across the campsite and the snuffles from the others had her going perfectly still. “You are not. I’ll go back to my own bed—”
“Where you’ll keep me awake half the night with the sound of your teeth chattering.
” I tightened the blankets around us, hoping to make clear just how snug and warm she’d be if she let this happen.
“Take pity on a man who’ll be spending most of the day in the saddle.
If I slip and fall, how can I show you the Tomb of Terror? ”
“Just to sleep?”
That little voice had me grinning, but I didn’t bother with a verbal reply.
Instead, I scooped her up and then carried her over to Slate’s side.
My dragon’s eye opened a crack, and he snorted in response to what he saw, then closed it again.
I laid Fern down on my bedroll. I might not have Dain’s visions, but my very vivid imagination showed me what this would be like if I were laying her down on my bed at the estate.
She’d wear a pretty dress, made just for the handfasting ceremony. She’d be mine, and I’d be hers…
I was getting ahead of myself.
The woman stared up at me from my pallet with a strange mixture of fear and curiosity, and that meant I had to lie down beside her and throw our blankets over us.
“I thought we might sleep in our own blankets,” she hissed. “Surely we can share body heat effectively that way.”
“Not as well as this.”
Tucking her head against my arm, my body against hers, that was what I needed to let out a full breath. The way her face fitted into the hollow of my neck, it was like we were two parts of the same puzzle.
“But—”
“Sleep, Lady Fern. You have all your clothes on and I have most of mine. No impropriety will happen tonight.” My eyes opened a crack as I peered down at her. “Not unless you want it too.”
“You are insufferable!”
Her hands planted against my chest, trying to shove herself away, but I had her now.
And I didn’t intend to let go.
“Insufferable? Yes, but also warm. Focus on that and go to sleep.”
I was about to follow my own suggestion, when I heard a small voice.
“Master Dain, it was a true dream that plagued him, wasn’t it?”
“Probably.” Slowly but surely, my mouth came to rest just above the crown of her head.
Fern smelled of roses and sunlight, now my favourite scent.
“But we’ve been dealing with his visions and making sure the worst doesn’t happen for years now.
Whatever it is, we’ll keep you safe from danger, don’t you worry. ”
Strangely, that was what it took for her to go limp in my arms. Soft, sweet and warm, those feelings washed over me, growing and growing until I fell back to sleep. That pleasure, the feeling of rightness infiltrated my dreams, right up until a sharp voice cut through the soft haze.
“Get up.”
Lance stood over us wearing an impressive scowl. Fern caught that too, resulting in her trying to scramble free.
“No need to hurry off, lass. If the lieutenant wants to join us.” I glanced down at her. “I’m sure we can make room.”
“Kael…!”
Her strangled cry was followed by her hurried exit from my bed. Watching the swivel of that shapely arse was almost enough to soothe the sting of Fern’s rapid exit.
“You—” Lance snarled.
“What?” I replied with a smirk. “I was just keeping her warm. Very, very effectively.”
“Didn’t you say we were leaving at first light?” Lance glanced meaningfully at the sky. “Then let’s go.”
“So what really happened last night?” Lorien asked as I approached ‘Fang. The fire had been doused and all our equipment stowed.
“Exactly as I said.” I looked around the campsite. “Now, where’s Dain? He had another nightmare and…” The man himself appeared from behind Lorien’s dragon with a scowl. “I need to know what we’re flying into.”
“Nothing,” my brother said, then shook his head at my intent stare. “Nothing that will put anyone here in danger.”
“Dain—” I started to say.
“Let’s go.”
With that, he marched over to Argent, climbing up into the saddle. As everyone else was doing the same, I found Slate, scratching at his jaw when he pressed his head into my chest.
Argent tell you anything important? I asked as I climbed onto his back.
Just that he was glad to be going home, even if its just for a night, my dragon replied.
Me too, brother. His feet moved over the ground, getting faster and faster before launching himself into the air.
Auren streaked off in front of us, but my dragon and my brothers’ beat their wings faster, catching up quickly, then taking up position either side of the queen, above and below.
I leaned over and stared at the view beyond, able to see the pine tree forests that grew thick on the border of Harlston. Me too.