Chapter 19
LUALHATI
Warden Hallum was right. No more snow fell. It didn’t all melt right away. There was just too much of it, and temperatures remained just slightly too cold for that. But once he and his men shovelled the hospital site, it remained clear for their work to begin.
We settled into a new routine right away.
In the morning, while I was waking up and getting ready, Warden Hallum would do his morning chores around the property.
We’d eat breakfast together, then head out to the saloon and hospital site.
We still took the sled. I really liked riding in it, and figured that I might as well enjoy the last of the snow while it was here.
Between Warden Hallum’s relentless pace and the help of Xennet, Dorn, and Rivven whenever they were available, the foundation and frame of the hospital were ready in less than a week. It wasn’t a large building by any means, but I still couldn’t believe just how fast they were putting it all up.
When they were working on the hospital, I spent my time doing various activities.
Sometimes, I watched them, advising on things like the placement of a solar battery and its corresponding outlet.
Warden Hallum had already made several changes to his original design, informing me that, after having met me, he’d doubled the size of my bedroom and added three extra closets.
Other times, I hung out with Shiloh in the saloon.
Sometimes, I just explored. It was a beautiful area, with that picturesque pond Shiloh had painted.
The ice was too thin to skate or step out onto it now, so I made sure to keep to the edges.
More than once in my wandering, I came across a big, snow-covered hill that would be perfect for sledding down.
I wanted to try our sled out on it, but never seemed to find the right time to ask Warden Hallum to carry it all the way out there for me.
I felt a little silly asking him to stop doing crucial work on the hospital just so I could slide down a hill shouting, “WEEEEE!”
But he must have sense that I wanted something. On a very mild day, he suddenly stopped hammering a nail into a wall and said, “What is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“You want something. You keep looking off into the distance with this longing look on your face.”
“I do not!”
“You do,” he argued. “Just tell me what it is. So that I can go secure it for you.”
I raised my hands then let them fall back down. “The snow is melting!”
“And?”
“And I think it’ll probably be almost all gone by tomorrow!”
“Yes, that is likely correct. What is the problem with this outcome?”
“The problem is that there’s a snowy hill nearby that would be absolutely perfect for sledding down,” I admitted in a rush. “I used to do that all the time as a kid on Terratribe II. My lola would bring me out. And I just thought it…might be…fun.”
I withered under his icy stare, my voice trailing off.
“This is why I didn’t tell you,” I cried when he suddenly walked away from me. Then, just to myself, I added, “I knew you’d think it was stupid.”
I stood there, chewing the inside of my cheek, wondering where the heck he’d gone. By the time I sucked it up and decided to go look for him, he’d already returned. The sled was balanced on his right shoulder.
“Show me,” he said.
“Oh, we don’t actually have to!” I spread my gloved fingers in front of me and shook my head. “I don’t want to waste your time.”
“If you do not wish to waste my time,” he said, “then show me where the hill is. Instead of just standing there staring at me like you are right now.”
“Are you sure?”
His eyes challenged me. He lifted his chin.
“Do I look like a man who’d stop his work and go to fetch a sled if he were not sure?”
“No,” I whispered.
“Good, then. You understand me. Lead the way.”
Even though he’d told me to lead, we actually walked side by side, winding our way together through the velvet green trees. The branches and needles glistened with snowmelt. Birds trilled, filling the sunny air with their song.
It was the sort of spring day that normally would have made me giddy with happiness. Especially since Warden Hallum was catering to my sled whim.
But I wasn’t. And I knew it was because the hospital would be ready soon.
But there was nothing I could do about that. Might as well buck up and try to force myself to enjoy the sledding.
And in a way, it actually did kind of work.
Sledding down the hill was exactly what I’d hoped for.
Adrenaline coursed through my body, and I whooped with delight on each ride down.
Warden Hallum watched me slide down from the top of the hill, looking like he was trying to figure out just what was so exciting about the activity.
“Why don’t you give it a shot?” I suggested, grinning and panting.
There really was no reason for me to be breathing so heavily.
Warden Hallum was the one who’d dragged the sled back up the hill after each run.
He was doing so now. When we reached the top once more, he said, “I have no interest in sliding down a slippery hill.”
It really was slippery. The surface melt was making everything slick.
“Alrighty, then. This can be my last go.”
The sun was dipping lower, stretching out the spiked shadows of the trees.
“I’m gonna give this one a real running start,” I said.
“Make it a super good one to end things off!” I gripped the left side rail, starting to push it down the hill, using my own speed and our combined weights to make the sled pick up enormous speed.
It started going so fast that I worried I wouldn’t be able to jump into it very well.
I ended up sort of falling into it. My tumble sent the sled shifting to the right, picking up speed as it headed straight towards a clump of trees I hadn’t even come close to hitting before now.
“Shit!”
There was no way to steer the sled. I tried leaning to the left side and yanking on the right rail, but that did absolutely nothing. And the sled was so heavy, and so fast, that if I tried to use my feet as brakes at the front, I worried I’d break both my ankles.
The trees raced towards us. Somewhere behind, Warden Hallum bellowed my name.
He would never reach me in time. My spine was about to get snapped in two. Or my skull smashed in.
Goodbye, brain. Nice to know you.
There was nothing for it. I had to abandon ship. Or, abandon sled, in this case. Moments before collision, I said a little prayer, scrunched my eyes shut, and threw myself onto the snow.
Momentum carried me further than I would have liked. I rolled until I was dizzy, coming to a stop flat on my back at the bottom of the hill, to the left of the trees. Dizziness overtook me. Blood rushed in my ears. I lay still, trying to slow my breathing.
“LUALHATI!”
Uh oh. Warden Hallum sounded pissed. After cracking my eyes open, I immediately saw why. His lovely sled was completely smashed, nothing but splintered wood and two sad, disembodied metal skis.
There was the sound of skidding, then his face above mine.
“Lualhati!” His hands cupped my face. His eyes searched mine.
His white eyes.
Oh God. I’d never seen them like this.
He really was mad. Like, super duper mad. I hadn’t even seen his eyes go white when Xennet almost nailed his tail to the hospital floorboards the other day.
“I’m sorry!” I choked out.
“Are you hurt?”
“I…Sorry! The sled!”
“Lualhati!” He leaned over me, prodding my jaw, my neck. “Forget the sled! Are you injured? Do you have pain anywhere?”
His white gaze tore from my face now, frantically scanning my body.
That wasn’t rage tightening every feature of his face. It wasn’t anger making his eyes burn bright white.
It was panic.
Fear.
I never wanted him to be afraid.
“I’m alright,” I said. I wiggled my toes and fingers experimentally. My left shoulder, which took most of the impact, was definitely sore. But I could already tell it wasn’t a serious injury. My back and head were fine. “Nothing’s broken or dislocated.”
His breath left him in a hissing rush.
“Thank the blazes,” he said, every word a strangled stab, “that you jumped out in time. When I saw you heading for the trees, when I realized that I would not reach you in time…” He gritted his fangs together and pressed his forehead to mine. “You do not know what that moment did to me.”
“I’m alright,” I said again, softly. Tears pricked, heating my throat at his obvious distress. I’d never seen him so affected. Not knowing what else to do, I wrapped my arms around him. “Everything is OK.”
He let out a choking groan.
And I wasn’t sure how the next part happened. Who adjusted their position first, who tilted their head just so. I don’t think either of us meant to do it. As least, not consciously.
It happened anyway. Our lips touched. So tiny. A tremor of the flesh.
But it split me open like a bomb at the side of a dam. All the desire, all the feelings I’d repressed, came gushing out. I moaned, parting my lips immediately.
Warden Hallum went rigid, freezing up.
“Oh, no,” I said against his mouth. “Please don’t stop.”
If he stopped now…
I didn’t even know how I’d recover. I’d probably wish I’d hit the tree after all.
OK, maybe not. But it would have been terrible.
And I didn’t want terrible right now. I simply wanted him.
The only part of Warden Hallum that moved was his chest. It surged with his ragged breathing. His lips hovered over mine. I couldn’t tell now if they were still touching mine or not, and the not knowing made me feel like I’d go mad.
“Please.”
I tentatively touched my tongue to his lips.
I don’t know if it was the second “please” or the tongue that did it. But something shattered in him then. His frame shuddered violently with the force of it.
He crashed his mouth to mine.