Chapter 7 #2
She could not deny it. Fear alone had drained her more than she cared to admit.
Kaelan rose then and crossed toward the raised stone bed near the wall. He slipped off his cloak and spread it across the surface before stepping back.
“You will sleep there.”
“I will not take your only warmth. My cloak will suffice, and where will you sleep?”
His gaze shifted briefly toward the bed then the fire. “You will make use of my cloak, and I have rested in worse places and with less clothing.”
Bria could not keep her cheeks from flaming, an image of him naked rising vividly in her mind. Though how accurately it was, she could not be sure.
“I’d be more than happy to satisfy your curiosity,” he said with a faint chuckle.
Her cheeks flamed as hot as the logs, embarrassing her even more and she scolded him. “It is not proper for you to assume what my thoughts might be.”
“You are even more appealing when you blush, and you should know that I am anything but proper,” he cautioned.
You are even more appealing… his words continued to ring repeatedly in her head.
He found her appealing. That might explain his kiss, as faint as it was and tempting as well.
“This is not the time or place,” she scolded once more.
“Nay, it isn’t, but one day, soon enough, it will be.”
Again, he spoke with confidence that could not be ignored, as if he knew something she didn’t.
“You assume too much,” she said.
“I assume nothing, Bria, and in time you won’t either. Now sleep. We have much walking to do tomorrow.”
There were those words again… in time. She was tired of hearing them, annoyed that they explained little, and wondered what they meant.
“Sleep,” he said. “I will keep watch.”
The fire burned lower as time slipped quietly past. Outside, Driochmor seemed to breathe around them.
Strange calls drifted through the trees now and then, some distant, others unsettlingly near.
Once, something large moved beyond the clearing, branches cracking softly beneath its weight before silence swallowed it once more.
Through it all, Kaelan remained calm, watchful, and somehow that calm continued to ease her.
Bria had spent much of her life sensing the emotions of others, learning to soothe fear and pain before it consumed them. Yet never before had another person’s presence affected her so strongly in return.
When Kaelan drew near, the unease inside her quieted. When he touched her, warmth spread through her that had nothing to do with fire. And that frightened her in ways Driochmor could not.
The cold deepened steadily as the night wore on. Though Kaelan kept the fire still burning, chill crept through the ruins, curling through cracks in the stone and settling heavily across the floor. Bria pulled his cloak more tightly around herself but could not stop the shiver that ran through her.
Kaelan noticed at once. Without a word, he crossed toward her.
Bria looked up as he crouched beside her.
“You are cold.”
“And you are not? You need your cloak. Take it,” she said, going to pull it off her.
He stopped her, his hand resting on hers. “It will worsen before dawn. We will share it and our heat.”
She should have protested when he stretched out beside her. She should have moved away when his arm settled around her and tucked her against him, drawing his cloak over them both.
Instead, the warmth of him reached her instantly, strong and steady, easing the chill that had worked too deeply into her bones for the fire alone to touch.
“This should not comfort me so much,” she admitted softly before she could stop herself.
“And yet it does,” he said, feeling the same.
She lifted her head slightly to look at him. “I barely know you.”
His arm tightened faintly around her before easing once more. “There are some things you are not ready to understand.”
The answer should have frustrated her, but it didn’t. Perhaps because she sensed no deception in him, only comfort, a touch of pleasure, and some restraint.
Bria rested her head cautiously on his chest growing too tired to understand anything and to seek any more answers. Her eyes closed on their own, exhaustion taking hold, and she slept.
Kaelan had taken a chance climbing in bed beside her and taking her in his arms. It wasn’t that he couldn’t resist her, though that was growing more difficult, it was that she had shivered so badly he couldn’t let her suffer.
Every instinct within him sharpened at the feel of her wrapped in his arms, resting against his side, and trusting him despite her uncertainty. It took more restraint than she knew not to pull her closer still.
In time, she would understand what she was feeling. With that thought easing his own, he settled into a light sleep.
Bria stirred and seeing how much the fire had faded, she knew sunrise couldn’t be far off. She had slept well in Kaelan’s arms, their shared heat making for a pleasant sleep. Even now she was reluctant to leave the warmth that wrapped close around them.
It had been a necessity, she told herself.
So, why then did she want to linger there in his arms, keep her head rested on his chest, and enjoy not only his warmth but the earthy scent of him that somehow felt familiar.
Thankfully nature called and she reluctantly and gently began to ease herself out of his arms.
“Where are you going? Dawn has yet to break,” he asked, his voice free of sleep.
“Nature calls,” she said quietly, embarrassed to say more.
Understanding touched Kaelan’s expression at once. He rose with her. “You need not explain.”
The cold struck as soon as they got out of bed and again once they stepped beyond the ruins.
Night still ruled Driochmor, though she wondered if night ruled more than day here.
A normal mist, if anything could be considered normal in Driochmor, wound low through the trees, pale beneath the darkness. Ravens no longer watched from the branches, yet Bria somehow found that even more unsettling, the silence too heavy.
Kaelan stepped a short distance away to see to nature’s call, while she moved behind a thick cluster of twisted brush.
He kept watch over the area and kept a keen ear as well.
Bria finished quickly and went to turn and step back toward him—then froze.
The massive beast, its white fur pale against the darkness, stood amongst the odd-shaped trees. Its strange eyes, gold in color, remained fixed not on her… but on Kaelan.
It stood perfectly still, enormous and silent between the trees while Kaelan slowly turned toward it.
Kaelan stared directly at it. Neither moved. Neither appeared startled.
Bria’s breath caught as something strange passed between them, something she felt deep within her.
Recognition.
The creature gave a low rumbling sound, not threatening, almost… acknowledging. Then it slipped silently back into the darkness and vanished.
Bria stared after it, her pulse unsteady.
Kaelan remained still a moment longer before turning back toward her.
But now another fear had begun to take shape inside her, not fear of the creature. Not entirely.
A question, and it was one she could not push aside.
What connection could possibly exist between the beast… and Kaelan?