Chapter Thirty-Three
Fallyn
Icouldn’t stop myself from eyeing the source of every single noise, lest it be guards running in our direction. Paranoia stabbed at my mind like a chisel on ice, slowly chipping away at my sanity. If they found me, gods above and below only knew what would become of me.
A persistent ache built up in the base of my neck, radiating up my neck into a throbbing headache, a sure sign of an oncoming storm. A bad one too, if the severity of the ache were anything to go by.
“We have to make camp early,” I announced to Ash who turned to give me a questioning glance. “It’s going to storm soon.”
Ash made a show of looking up through the canopy of leaves above us to see nothing but warm sunlight shining strong, and another glance out of the trees to see nary a cloud in the sky.
“It’s likely coming down over the mountain, where we can’t see. My neck is aching, and it always does when it’s going to rain.”
“I don’t smell any rain,” Ash said sniffing the air. “Not yet at least. We should have lots of time before rain hits.” But when the first thunderclap boomed loudly enough to shake the earth, my grin was brighter than the following lightning.
“I told you!” I shrieked as the freezing cold rain plummeted into me like its mission was to freeze me entirely. Within seconds we were both soaked.
“I told you.” His mocking, high pitched voice said back with an added eye roll.
I laughed harder. “Was that supposed to be me?”
“It was a perfect rendering, and I’ll take no criticism on it, thank you. Now help me scope out a cave or something before we drown standing up!” He took one look at me still cackling. “I’m not living that down, am I?”
“Absolutely not!” Using my magic on the tree we stood under, I forced the tree to shake its leaves, depositing even more water on him, and while I splashed myself in the process, his incredulous look was worth the freezing goosebumps rising over my skin.
As if Tyche, the goddess of luck herself guided us, and most likely because the road followed the forest and foothills of the mountains, we found an unoccupied cave quickly and all but fell inside.
Not that I wasn’t grateful for the coverage from the rain, but with the rest that came with sitting in the cave, the freezing air became more of a problem.
“Fire is going to be difficult,” Ash mused, narrowing his eyes at the rain in contempt. “All the wood is…” He trailed off as my magic produced new wood, dry and ready to burn. “Well, aren’t you just full of answers today?”
With only a few minutes, a carefully arranged pile of firewood, and two sticks rubbed together, we had fire.
Blessed, warm fire. I couldn’t stop rotating my body, trying to get every aspect of me warm, but every time the part of me abandoned the fire in place of a freezing one, my body released the heat immediately.
“We should air out as much of our clothing as we can,” Ash commented, removing his fur cloak and shaking it out. He fanned it out next to the fire, along with his armor until all he was in was a single shirt and pair of pants. Even his boots were kicked off and he was looking at me expectantly.
With nervous hands, I followed suit, removing my coat first, flapping the excess water off of it, my boots and socks following suit, until I too was only in a simple shirt and pants, wishing I could throw myself into the fire.
“Does your neck still hurt?” Ash asked from his place next to me. I nodded, regretting it immediately when my neck stiffened up. “Why does your neck hurt during storms?”
“I don’t know. It’s always done that. My father used to theorize I must have been beheaded in a former life, but that just sounds so superstitious to me.
” Ash’s face hardened and I realized what was a joke to my father and I, was definitely not funny to anyone else. “I swear it was funnier with him.”
“I might be able to help with the discomfort. If you’d allow me to try.” He didn’t look at me. His voice was gruff.
“What do you mean?” I couldn’t keep the suspicion out of my voice.
“Sit between me and the fire.” When I hesitated, Ash scooted backwards to give me more room.
“Nothing funny, and I promise to be a gentlemale. You’re safe with me, little shadow.
” Maybe it was the fact that my head felt like it was going to explode, maybe it was the exhaustion making my decision making more questionable, but I shifted until I was seated cross-legged between him and the fire.
His legs on either side of me, his massive body just behind me, careful not to touch me.
I flinched when his cool hands caressed my neck, gently squeezing where my shoulder met it.
“Safe,” he whoofed as he squeezed the top of my shoulder again, this time bringing with it a rush of relief from the knotted tension there.
My head lolled over to get out of his way as he pressed and wrestled my muscles into submission.
I bit my lip to keep any awkward sounds of relief from finding their way from my throat.
My muscles warmed and turned languid under his ministrations, and true to his word, the pain in my neck dulled.
My headache disintegrated, and his hands were kept only where I’d given him permission to be.
I didn’t remember the moment I finally felt warm and mostly dry.
I didn’t remember when my back collapsed against the pleasant warmth of his chest. I didn’t remember why I didn’t move, didn’t protest. I didn’t remember anything after my eye lids began to flutter closed.
“Sleep well, Fallyn.” Ash’s whisper was a caress against my ear, but sleep had already claimed me.
I thrashed myself awake to find a hand over my mouth, muffling my screams. Instinct kicked in, as my father always hoped it might, my knife moving from my side to my hand to the tip aimed upwards towards a clearing throat behind me, my eyes searching the deep dark for my assailant with my heart pounding in time with the crashing thunder outside.
Panic steeped every thought as I thrashed against the arms around me.
“I mean you no harm, shadow. You’re safe.
” His murmur was darker than the shadows the fire kept at bay.
“You were having a nightmare. I covered your screams, so nothing heard you.” I stubbornly refused to move, my dagger vibrating with my shaking hand.
He dipped his head lower, so his lips grazed my ear, setting my nerves alight where fear tangled with an unexpected warmth. “Are you afraid of me?”
“No,” I said immediately. Too immediately. I felt his lips twist slowly upwards. Why did he keep asking me that?
“Are you convincing me, or yourself?” He tsked.
“Why do you care if I fear you?” My voice was lower than I’d anticipated. Breathier. And distinctly lacking trepidation or fear.
“Because you might be the one person in this entire realm with nothing to fear from me,” he responded, swallowing thickly against the freshly sharpened steel kissing his throat.
His lips toyed with my ear, sending heat so potent through me, the cold could never lay claim to me again.
“So can we either remove the knife, or do something much more fun with it.”
Suddenly, I could feel every place we were connected. His body was folded heavily around mine, heat welling up in me, my thoughts turning cloudy. Soft. Fuzzy. Difficult to sort through. His smoky scent rifled through my sanity, stealing my resolve.
I froze and he pounced like that was what he was waiting for.
He lowered his head further, my armed hand yielding to him in my haze.
His hand bade me to look over my shoulder at him, for our gazes to clash every bit as much as the storm clashed with the world outside.
His eyes stayed steady on mine as he closed the distance, an ask, before I could no longer see the blazing depths of his eyes.
Warmth started along the hollow of my throat, where his lips grazed, playing with the pulse point there.
His lips twitched into a grin feeling how my racing heart was taking off without me.
The knife slowly dropped from my grasp as I relaxed ever so slightly, curving into him of my body’s own accord.
His hand slid to move the blade delicately from me and placed it somewhere away from us before his hands were on me again, sweeping every curve of me, exploring every line, pausing when little gasps left me.
His lips never once stopped their ministrations on the hollow point of my throat.
Kisses and soft bites tangled messily together, causing my chest to heave, leaving my back to hollow away from his chest, searching for more contact.
“So responsive, shadow,” he purred. “Fuck, I like that.” My hands fisted his shirt, pulling him closer in my rising need.
His answering grunt only fueled the mad frenzy stirring within me.
It was only when his kiss roamed upwards, towards my chin, my lips, that ice washed over me, the panic.
Ash stilled immediately, sensing the change.
He pulled himself back, creating distance between our bodies with a question between us.
“I think you’re right. I should get some sleep,” I said, effectively dismissing him.
“As you wish.” There was no inflection to his tone. No disappointment, no anger. Just a question he didn’t voice. He rose, taking his body heat with him and padded over to his side of the fire, leaning against the opening of the cave and staring into the darkness. "Sweeter dreams, shadow.”
I hoped I did, but I didn’t know how to calm my racing heartbeat any more than I knew how to send off my morbid nightmares.
In the quiet, in the dark of the shrinking fire, away from Ash’s gaze, I could admit it to myself. As I readied my bedroll by the fire, I let the admission rattle inside my mind.
I liked Ash on some level. And that scared me more than anything on this plane.
And worse, I had no idea why.