STERLING
The water burned my legs like fire.
I tried wading to the bank, but I couldn’t feel my feet. By the time I crawled out of the river and sat in the wet snow, my feet were somehow both numb and also in excruciating pain. My muscles cramped and seized up, and I couldn’t reach for my shirt or coat.
It hadn’t been close to an hour yet. Did Cassian know? Was Cassianokay?
“Sterling!”He shouted distantly.
I tried to answer, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even turn to look.
His footsteps crunched through snow, and then my shirt came over my head just before Cassian’s arms wrapped my dry coat around me. He pulled me up and rubbed my arms. “I’m so sorry!” he said, watching me with wide blue eyes as he walked me toward the inn. His brows angled upward. “Are you okay?”
“G-g-ood t-t-t-timing,” I stammered. Speaking was much more difficult than I expected.
He threw me a confused smile, which made my stupid answer worth the surprising effort. “What?” he asked, pushing me through the inn door.
“Th-the j-j-ja-jar is f-f-full.”
He watched me for a moment, his mouth falling open. “Oh my gods, you’re insane,” he said. “You could have died!” He pushed me a little firmer through the lobby and into his bedroom. “You could still die, actually. Let’s warm you up.”
“Y-you d-d-don’t n-need to d-do that,” I said. Now that we were indoors, it was getting a little easier to speak, but it was still out of my control.
“Hush,” he said, reaching for the buttons of my trousers, but he hesitated. “May I take your pants off?” he asked, flushing deep red and refusing to look me in the eye.
I wanted to sayanytime you want,but I knew it would not sound very sexy right now. “Y-yes,” I said.
Cassian unbuttoned my trousers and peeled the icy fabric away from my legs, which were almost blue. He muttered to himself and sat me down in an armchair beside the fire, pulling off my boots before peeling my trousers all the way off. He fetched a towel and a blanket, and then draped the blanket around my shoulders.
“Cassian—”
“Sterling, don’t,” he said, patting my damp legs down with the towel.
“I wasn’t going to…” I didn’t know what he thought I was going to say. Did he really think I would flirt with him at a time like this? This was the unsexiest situation I’d ever been in. Except for the fact Cassian was there, of course.
“You were going to tell me you can do this yourself and I should go back outside and keep helping Willorunia because you’ll be fine, and it’s all okay now because you’re by the fire,” Cassian said.
Oh. So he did know what I was going to say.
He looked me in the eye while still patting me down as if challenging me to refute it. When I didn’t speak, he said, “You can let people help you. You don’t have to do everything yourself.”
“Can you b-blame me for wanting to do this myself?” I asked. It was much easier to speak now. “This isn’t the most flattering look on me.”
Cassian focused on the towel, a shy smile creeping up on him. “I wish I could say I agreed.”
I watched him carefully, afraid to respond. He said I was being inappropriate earlier, so I was ready to give up. Iwasbeing inappropriate, but something about him brought out an unrecognizable part of me. Everything new I learned about Cassian made me want him more. Some deep part of me begged me to win him over no matter what, because I’d never met anyone like him. He had asked me to stop, and I tried hard to respect his wishes, but nowhewas flirting withme?
“I prefer to do things myself. It’s just how I am,” I said.
Cassian shook his head, wrapping the towel around my feet and squeezing. “I’ve noticed. You’ll make yourself uncomfortable just to avoid someone’s help.”
“Like when?” I asked.
“Like…” He paused. “I truly believe if I didn’t bring you food, you would learn to hunt before asking for a meal.”
I scoffed. “That’s not unreasonable. I have no money. Why should I ask you to feed me?”
“Because everyone deserves to eat, including you,” he said. He moved his hands under the towel to rub my feet. “I’m trying to get your blood flowing, sorry if it’s uncomfortable,” he said.
