“I suppose,” said Sam.
“On the other hand, this could be a horrible trap meant to lure us in, and something awful is going to happen if we stay.”
“What kind of something awful were you thinking?”
“Oh, the usual. Our legs get cut off if we don’t fit the bed. Forced marriage to a beast. My firstborn child is demanded as payment for—”
“Those are your worries? I was more concerned about axe murderers.”
“All right, ordinary axe murderers, then. But if that’s the case, our options are either a horrible fate in here or a horrible fate out there.” I gestured at the forest, now visible only in smudges of black and gray streaked with the dim whiteness of snow. “So I’d rather hold out hope that a kindly old hermit will twitter over us in the morning, since the only alternative is freezing to death.”
“You have a point,” he said, not looking happy about it. “All right. I’ll take the floor, then.”
“Take the floor for what?”
“To sleep on, obviously.”
I stared at him. “It’s icy-cold stone. That’ll be awful. Why wouldn’t you sleep on the bedroll?”
“Because I assumedyouwould be sleeping on the bedroll. And we’re not…I mean, you and I…”
Silence hung in the air between us until I took in what he was gettingat.
Then I burst out laughing.
“Oh, my goodness!” I said, gasping for breath. “Should I promise I’ll safeguard your unwedded virtue?”
“Stop it.” Sam was blushing, his pale cheeks turning a deep red. “It isn’t that funny. It’s just that we’ve not so much as had dinner together, and I didn’t think—”
“This situation doesn’t seem funny to you? At all?” I flung a dramatic hand to my forehead. “A snowstorm forced them together, and there was only…one…bed! What were they to do?”
Sam cracked a smile. “Well. When you put it that way.”
“Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if mischievous fairies put all this here to embarrass you.” I unpinned my cloak—too damp to be of any more use—and sat on the bedroll in question. It compressed under me but stayed springy as it took my weight. I bent over to pull my boots off, careful of my ankle. “That would explain how suspiciously convenient it is, don’t you think? Ow!” I winced as my foot moved in a direction it didn’t want to move.
“Let me help you with that.” Sam knelt in front of me and eased the boot past my injury.
“Thank you,” I said, leaning back on my elbows. “Look, you’re not sleeping on the floor, and neither am I. Warmth is more important than other considerations right now. And surely I can’t be that much of a temptation, canI?”
“Aye,” Sam said, looking up and meeting my eyes. “You are.”
My voice caught in my throat when I tried to reply. I found myself unable to tear my gaze from his.
“Sam,” I choked out when the lull grew uncomfortable. “You should know…”
He knelt there, waiting for me to continue. It wasn’t fair tokeep it secret from him. Not when he had revealed so much of himself tome.
I had to let him know there could be no future forus.
“You should know,” I said at last, “that I am affianced to King Gervase.”
He let out a long sigh. “You’re Princess Melilot.”
“Yes.”
“Why—” He answered his own question before I had a chance to. “Because someone is trying to kill you.”
“Which means I’d very much appreciate it if you kept this to yourself.”
