Chapter 8
Oskar woke slowly. He blinked his eyes open blearily, and the dingy little room came slowly into focus. He bolted upright. Damn it! He’d fallen asleep! He was supposed to be on guard.
He’d dozed off with his head at a funny angle and now a radiating pain slipped down one side of his neck and had him moving his head from side to side to try and work it free.
Serves you right, he told himself.Some guard you make.
What had he been thinking? He’d vowed to keep Lily safe hadn’t he? How could he do that if he was asleep?
He stretched his arms over his head, blinked a few times to clear the clinging grogginess, then looked over at the bed. Lily was still asleep. She was lying on her side facing him, her hair flung out behind her. She looked peaceful, not a line nor a care marring her features. Shehaddrooled on the pillow mind you, and she was snoring softly. Oskar smiled as a sudden flood of warmth went through him.
She was so strange, this lass from the future. She spoke her mind, wasn’t afraid to stand up to him, and oscillated between acting like a highborn lady and a tavern wench. Aye, she was a strange one all right. Strange and unsettling and yet also warm and full of vitality, like she intended to take life by the scruff of the neck and force it to her will. She was imperfect and flawed, just like him, but there was a raw authenticity about her thatdrew him in. She had revealed a little of herself last night but not enough. Oskar found himself wanting to know more.
Ah, will you listen to yourself?he thought sourly.Stop acting the fool and remember your mission!
The room was slowly filling with the soft light of dawn and the sounds of the village seeped in through the cracks in the walls. Oskar could hear the distant hum of conversation and the melody of chirping birds intermingled with the rhythmic tapping of a blacksmith’s hammer against an anvil.
A strange longing went through him at the sound of it. Once, so long ago that it felt like another life, Oskar had dreamed of being a blacksmith. There had been a smithy at the end of the filthy street where he lived with his mother and he’d spent hours there as a boy watching the sparks fly as swords and armor took shape under skilled hands. The sound reminded him of simpler days, before his life had taken the turns that it had.
Shaking his head at his own foolish sentimentality, he got up from the bench and made his way across the room, careful not to disturb Lily’s slumber. The worn floor creaked beneath his weight as he approached the window and opened the shutter a crack, just enough to look out.
He blinked at the scene that greeted his eyes. A blanket of powdery snow covered everything in sight, softening the edges of roofs and fences, giving an ethereal glow to the landscape.
“Oskar?”
Lily was sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes.
“My apologies, lass,” he rumbled. “I didnae mean to wake ye.”
“You didn’t. What time is it?”
“Perhaps an hour past dawn.”
She yawned hugely, stretching her arms over her head. “You know, I slept better than I thought I would although this blanket itches like crazy.”
She threw the blanket aside, hopped out of bed, and came over to join Oskar by the window. He swallowed uncomfortably. She was wearing next to nothing. Her top half was covered only by a thin vest that clung to the curves of her hips and breasts and her bottom half was covered only by her undergarments—if the flimsy things could be called garments at all—leaving her smooth legs bare.
Heat flooded through him, pooling in his stomach, and sending an embarrassing tingle right to his groin. He quickly looked away. Dear Lord, what was she trying to do to him? Was she even aware that she was half-naked? Was this kind of dress acceptable in the twenty-first century?
Oskar cleared his throat, the sound coming out more strangled than he intended.
Lily peeked out through the gap in the shutters then gasped in delight. “Oh my!” she cried. “It’s snowed! Oh, how beautiful!”
She pulled the shutters wide, flooding the room with light, and gazed out at the pristine white scene before them.
“Beautiful?” Oskar said. “Hardly that. It’s a pain in the arse is what it is. It’ll slow us down immeasurably.”
She frowned at him. “Killjoy.” She shivered, rubbing her arms. “Although it is a bit chilly.”
