21
BUTTERMILK PANCAKES
Aslight jostling awoke me. A slip of a strong arm from under my waist. Elden was moving ever so gingerly, trying his best not to wake me. He tumbled from the bedroll, keeping the blankets snug about my neck. Then he put on his boots quietly and crept over to the horses to lead them outside.
I rolled over, trying my best to fake sleep—as if I could sleep through this! I was keenly aware of every breath, every slight movement. I didn’t know what to say to the male after spending a night so warm and comfortable in his arms. I fit so perfectly there in the curve of his body. The thought of it brought a deep blush to my cheeks.
Elden said my name last night as he’d held me in his arms. He’d called me Noelle… and I was ashamed of the way that one word undid all of my pent-up frustration and anger in one swift blow.
I let him put one large boot in the corner of my heart. Just the corner. Not nearly enough to let him all the way in, but I’d be afool to pretend he wasn’t on his way cracking through the hard protections I’d built around my heart, little by little.
I could deny it no more.
I was falling in love with the Elf King.
But he’d smiled at me in that crooked way. He’d rubbed my freezing cold feet. He’d spoken of his past. He’d explained the truth behind the maidens, and if there had been a human queen married to the Elf King before then, perhaps?—
I groaned and covered my head in the blankets.
I was a fool.
Elden and the horses scuffled about in the snow outside my tent. I sat up and stretched, then shook my head, trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of my predicament.
“I am well and truly an idiot.” I mumbled to myself.
I needed to focus on the task at hand. I needed to master my magic.
Two days. We had two days until we’d make it to the foot of Winterthorn. An ache pulsed in my injured leg. I rolled down my stockings to see black poison spreading in small fissures outward from my wound like a great crackling spider’s web. I had weeks left before this blackness would reach my heart, and I knew with deep regret that Elden had just as little.
Time was not on our side.
I looked toward the flaps of the tent, steeling myself to sprint across the clearing to my tent to gather my boots, jacket and satchel, when I saw my things folded neatly and placed at the foot of my bedroll. Warmth touched my heart at the kind act. Elden had brought them over for me.
A smile tugged at my lips as I dressed for the day. Elden had warmed me last night. He’d even laughed when I’d burrowed my frozen feet between his legs. Whatever this was between us, it was precious and delicate. I would have to proceed with caution.
I stepped out from the flaps of the tent into the light of dawn and gasped. A blanket of multifaceted crystal snow covered the ground in magical white. Icicles gleamed from the tips of the trees, swaying in the gentle morning breeze. The sky shone a clear pink and orange of sunrise. Puffs of hot air rose from the breaths of the horses and Elden, who tended a small fire. Snow crunched beneath my boots as I approached.
“Seems we were visited by no fewer than five wolves last night,” Elden said by way of greeting, pointing to the faint paw prints still visible in the fallen snow.
“They were real wolves, right?” I asked. “Not the shade monsters?”
Elden shook his head. He’d rebraided his black hair this morning, and it fell past his broad shoulders and down the middle of his back. “No, these were mountain wolves. They shouldn’t be this far west. The monster must be running them out of their own territory.”
Dread pooled in my stomach. “How will we survive this journey?”
“Jel has brewed a potion or two for us to use in an emergency.” Elden sat back on a snow-covered log. “But I am not worried. I will protect you, this I promise.”
Elden looked at me then, truly looked at me, and my heart soared at his deep golden eyes. All thought left my mind in a dash.
I stood dumbfounded for a moment too long, then remembered myself, cheeks heating and nodded. “I thought I could make us a quick breakfast this morning before we left.”
It was Elden’s turn to smile. “Excellent. Then it is time you learn the third and last pillar of magic wielding.” Elden stood from where he stooped over the fire and made his way toward me through the crisp snow with purposeful strides.
My stomach flipped at the sight of his strong bearing.
“I have taught you that you must have intent, true intent in your thought. Touch is the second pillar. Lastly, there are words that must be spoken or thought.”
“Words?” I asked.
