Her chest ached, just thinking about the possibility that this was all 'just for fun'.
The demon's breaths grew deep and even. He was falling asleep. She closed her own eyes, listening to the fire crackling, and trying to put her concerns to the back of her mind.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The eerie sound of howling winds woke Lephas from sleep. Their fire from the night before was long since extinguished. He stretched out, his limbs heavy from the cold.
Lori was curled against him with the hood of her fur coat up over her head. He watched her silently; her beautiful blue eyes were vacant, lost in thought. How long had she been awake?
Nothing about her expression gave her away. Lephas swallowed, eager to know how she was feeling about the previous night's events.
With a flash of embarrassment, he recalled the mess he had made all over her. The demon's stomach churned and he hoped it hadn't been a distasteful step too far for the princess. She hadn't appeared to have minded at the time but things always seemed different in the light of day. Was she already regretting it?
Lephas cleared his throat, drawing Lori's attention.
“Good morning.” She smiled tightly, but the emotion didn’t reach her eyes.
Oh no... Somethingwaswrong.
“Hi,” he replied simply, trying not to show his growing anxiety.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Like a log,” Lephas responded, punctuating his statement with a yawn. He covered it with his fist. “Have you been awake long?”
“A little while,” she mumbled, quickly getting to her knees. The wind whipped at the entrance of the cave, whistling angrily.
Lephas felt his face turn down into a grimace. “The weather doesn't sound too good out there.”
“I know,” Lori agreed. The demon watched as she pulled her hood down, untied her hair from a messy bun and re-braided it. He would never tire of watching her playing with her hair.
“That's going to make today more challenging.” Heshook his head, cautiously heaving himself up. Although his injury protested, he managed to get to his feet reasonably easily.
“Great,” Lori sighed irritably.
Lephas stood awkwardly and desperately glanced around the cave for something to occupy him. The faerie wasn't happy about something, that much was clear. A knot formed in his stomach.
He busied himself with folding up the woollen blanket and packing it back into the bag. Lori still sat on the mattress, so he left that down for the moment.
“Oh damn, we forgot to take the pot out of the fire,” he mumbled, picking up the metal container. The water within had been boiled dry.
“Well, we wereverydistracted.” Lori shot him a sultry smile that made his pulse race.
So, she wasn't too upset about the sexual nature of the night before. Lephas swallowed, silently relieved.
He realised that even in the short time he had known Lori, he had become familiar with her character. He had begun to easily recognise behaviour that was unusual for her – he had seen her happy, angry, sad... But he had never seen like this. The commander couldn't make heads nor tails of it. Something else was definitely bothering her.
“Yeah.” He smiled back at her and dropped the metal pot back into the bag along with the blanket.
“How much further do we have to walk, do you think?” Lori asked, finishing her braid. She turned her attention to the mattress and began rolling it up neatly.
“It's only an estimate, but before the weather turned I would have said a day or two. Now? I really don't know. We'll have to take it a step at a time and see how we go.” He shrugged.
“Could we just stay here until it calms down out there?” she asked.
Lephas shook his head. “Tempting, but every day we stay out here, the weaker and more exhausted we get. Besides, we need to keep moving. The longer we stay in one place, the more likely it is that your father's men will catch up with us.”
Lori shivered and nodded in agreement. She strapped the mattress to his bag.
