I flash her an image of our new house with its clean floors and heated bathing pool.
She snorts as if I’m joking and shows me her bathing pool with ice forming at the edges. When she gazes upon my unimpressed expression, her frowns and suggests an image of her putting some water on to boil for me.
I release her breast and sit up. “No, I don’t want you to boil water for me. I don’t want you laboring away for anything anymore. There’s no need. There is a fine house with warm running water waiting for us. It’s clean and safe and full of everything you could ever want.” I show her the house, open the door, and welcome her inside. I take her hand and run with her to see the functional kitchen whereI’llcook for her.
16
DODIE
Still half-asleep, I’m sure I’m misunderstanding Hordan. He seems to be projecting some strange fantasy of us living in a fancy-schmancy mansion.
I laugh it off and extract myself from the soaking furs. Only warm where our bodies have been snuggled, they’re cold and wet and positively filthy. I can’t believe we slept in them, but it’s testament to how exhausted we were from all the wondrous fucking.
I flash Hordan a sexy grin as I head for the bathing pool. “You coming?”
He has a strange look on his face, and as he strides toward me, he offers me a choice between an image of my bathing pool edged with ice or my bathing pool steaming with heat.
I shrug. “Does it matter?” I gesture to the stream’s cute little pool. “This is what I have.”
He frowns and quickly fills my mind’s eye with my cave full of treasures and the two proposed bathing pools to choose from, then prompts me to answer again.
I hold one hand out and show him it represents the cold pool while the other for the hot. I meet his intense gaze and pretend to weigh the options. “If I had the choice?”
He nods.
I look at my empty hands, wondering why he’s so insistent that I answer pointless questions when we could be washing the stank off ourselves. Sex mess is much less sexy the morning after. “Depends on the weather, I guess?”
His expression remains blank, and he shakes his head before touching his lips. “Nah cha,” he says and taps his head. “Sharr.”
I nod and show him a naked tree in snow and then a lush green tree and sunshine. “What season is it when I’m making this fantastical decision?” I ask while walking over to the pool that actually exists and climbing in. “Because obviously a hot pool is nicer on a cold day, and a cold pool is nicer when it’s hot out.”
Hordan follows and sits next to the pool, opposite me. Unsure of why he’s not getting in too, I don’t waste time sitting idle in the cold water and get to scrubbing myself clean. The sun hasn’t been up long enough for things to warm up in here, and my teeth are chattering before long.
I lift my gaze to find Hordan with a face like thunder, and I quickly duck my head again.
Why does he look angry? What changed between last night and this morning? I’m just trying to get clean, and I miss the way he’s held me in close in the pool to wash me before with gentle hands while he shared his warmth with me.
He stands immediately, enters the pool, and opens his arms for me to snuggle in close as the memory suggested I wanted, but I stay where I am and finish bathing.
Hordan steps closer and snorts hot breath at me.
I glare at him. “Don’t you dare get huffy at me for keeping my distance when you’re acting weird for no good reason. It’s unsettling and it makes me wonder if I was wrong to trust you.” It’s hard to say that to his face, but I need to express myself, and it’s actually easier when I know he doesn’t understand mylanguage. “I don’t want to believe this has all been a lie,” I confess as my eyes fill with tears. “I’m too in love with you for that.”
He reaches for me, but I lean back.
Hordan quickly retracts his hand and regards it as if it has offended us both. He hides it behind his back, along with the other one, and then he searches my eyes and scans my body with great intensity. His eyes get all squinty, like he’s trying hard to focus, and then he gets out of the pool and stomps around the cave collecting a towel, a blanket, and what I assume is the warmest looking clothes he can find. He sets them on a rock next to the water, bows to me, and then goes to sit quietly by the fire, stoking it up until it’s blazing.
Maybe he gets crabby when he’s cold? That’s understandable, I guess. I’m feeling kind of crabby myself right now.
I shiver and leave the pool, grateful to have the towel he left for me. I pull it around shoulders in a tight hug and then hurry to dry off, dress, and wrap myself in the lovely blanket he gifted me.
Still unable to quite read his energy or gage his motives, I approach the hearth area like a skittish cat, ready to turn and run at any moment.
Hordan lowers his head into his hands with a sigh. He flashes me an image of me cowering from him as if he’s some big scary monster bearing his teeth and claws at me, and he quickly follows it up with an image of my cave having a front door. He shows me opening it to find him on mywelcomemat with a gift basket and a smile, and then show my screaming, closing the door, and locking it. He shows me peeking through a non-existent window to see him sitting sad and defeated on my doorstep. Then him unpacking the gift basket, one item at a time. And it’s a magical, physics-defying gift basket, too, because he pulls out far more than its capacity could possibly hold.
A golden crown covered in jewels and a pretty, broad, black velvet necklace with a little gold heart dangling from it. Then athrone.
And food.Spectacularfood. The kind that makes my eyes feel bigger than my stomach. The kind that puts my little garden harvests to shame.
