Chapter 19
T here was no way to climb into bed that wasn’t awkward, but I refused to lie down while she was still standing and I was waiting for her like a forlorn lover.
Der’mo, how did I get stuck in this situation?
Oh, right. It was her fault. And Iiro’s, of course.
The bed was narrow, on top of everything else. I wondered how the soldiers who had to double up were faring, but at least they were used to huddling together for warmth on the road.
I, on the other hand, was likely to be smothered in my sleep by the living thing that was the princess’s infinite curls.
She puttered around a moment before approaching the bed with the same dogged determination she had used when facing the earlier storm. Biting back a sigh of irritation, I stoked the meager fire before getting into the side that was closest to me.
As I predicted, the bed was narrow. If the princess had been any broader, we would have been forced to touch, but I should be able to avoid contact with her at this rate. Which was good, since I liked touching people even less than I liked letting them share my personal space.
I settled onto the very edge of the bed, wishing our room was closer to the pub below so I couldn’t hear each soft inhale and exhale. The sound rankled at me, coupled with the way she had wrapped the blanket around herself like a stuffed blini, not bothering to leave any for the other occupant of the bed.
I grasped the edge closest to me and pulled it over myself, still leaving her with more than her share, but she pulled it right back.
Typical.
We engaged in one of the more childish games of tug-o-war I had ever had the privilege of being part of, while I contemplated the solution of shoving her off the bed entirely. Taking a deep breath for patience, I finally tried reason, little good as I suspected it would do.
“Spending all day needling at me may not be taxing for you, Princess, but I would like to get some sleep.” Unlikely as that was, at this point.
Mostly, I would just like for her to be less of a brat, but it actually was cold in here. Goosebumps pebbled along my skin, the room too close to the edge of the building to retain any real heat.
“As would I,” she gritted, turning enough that her rather round backside was precariously close to my hip. “So give me the blanket.”
So much for reason. “There would be plenty of blanket for both of us if you would quit taking all of it. Have you always been this selfish?”
It was a rhetorical question, since I could surmise the answer well enough on my own. Whatever momentary insight she had shown for twelve to eighteen seconds earlier did not negate the evidence of her general self-absorption.
“If by that you mean, have I always put my own comfort above that of my self-proclaimed owner, then let’s go with yes ,” she bit back.
I took another deep breath in through my nose, weighing the merits of kicking her to the floor one final time before I pulled the blanket back, hoping that she would relent and go the storms-damned hell to sleep.
She didn’t pull it back toward her. Worse, she scooted closer to me. Only my pride kept me from throwing the blanket over her so she would go back to her side of the bed and out of my space.
I would never be able to sleep this way.
Hell, I barely slept under the best of circumstances, let alone with a princess fidgeting and breathing in the space so close to my own. She was surprisingly warm for someone who claimed to be cold enough to need the entirety of a blanket, the heat emanating off her in the inch or so between us.
She shifted again, tossing several strands of curls over my shoulder. I glared down at the offensive tresses, glowing in the firelight like fresh scars against my stark white shirt.
Storms knew I had plenty of those already.
Still, I didn’t bother to move them when they would doubtless be invading my person again in mere minutes. Somehow, even in my irritation, my eyelids grew heavy much more quickly than I was expecting.
The princess had managed to exhaust me in a way that even a week with the Summit hadn’t.
For all that I had gone to bed chilly, it was suddenly almost too warm, but not unpleasantly so. I leaned into the feeling, unusually disoriented.
And why did it smell like something heady? Amber?
“Theo,” a low voice murmured.
My eyes flew open, my senses returning to me with the single, distasteful nickname. Bleary green eyes blinked up at me, and I didn’t think before bodily putting her as far away from me as she could go.
Before this situation got even more awkward for us both. As it was, the heat lingered along my skin, eliciting all of the responses one might expect when waking up in bed with soft curves pressed against them—no matter who those curves belonged to. It was understandable. Obviously.
“Do you mind, Lemmikki?” I growled, tossing the blanket after her so she didn’t have any reason to scoot closer again. “You can have this. It’s plenty warm in here now.”
She took the blanket with a sheepish expression I never thought I’d see her wear, rolling over to face the wall once more.
There was no more sleep, though. Not for either of us, if her tossing and turning was anything to go by.
When the first rays of dawn crept in, I gave up entirely, getting up to see to my men. For all the dread that awaited us at Bear Estate, I was eager to get back and get it over with now.
Nearly as eager as I was to get some storms-damned space from my newest pet.