Perhaps I ought to leave the day on my skin, let her breathe it in all night.
Instead, I tossed my tunic on the floor, landing it a few pacesfrom her feet.
She wrinkled her nose, but it seemed intentional, like she wanted me to believe she found me utterly repulsive.
Fine. Let the games begin, Fire.
The door to the washroom was on her opposite side, and when I reached it, she shifted, barring her shoulders against me, actively not looking at me. If I had to guess, her cheeks might have some of that rosy heat in them.
“I won’t be long.”
“Take your time. I have plenty of pages.”
I was about to commit a travesty greater than murder according to my brother. Wasn’t my fault. I was the villain in her eyes and had no choice but to rise to the occasion.
“She chooses the last brother, by the way.” I clapped the frame of the doorway. “The weakest. Her belief in his heart and strength transforms him into the fiercest warrior and he goes on to win back the kingdom in the end.”
Skadi whirled around, my fire alight in those fierce blue eyes. “I . . . I just got to her interactions with the first brother and . . . I hadn’t gotten there yet!”
“Oh, apologies.” I shrugged. “Well, I saved you some time.”
I closed the door in the same moment she let out a strangled shriek. I chuckled, back against the opposite side. The dance between indifference and murder continued, and if I was still breathing at dawn, the night could be claimed as a success.
When I stepped back into the room, Skadi had taken the place in my bed nearest to the wall. She was curled up beneath the quilts, back facing me.
I dragged a hand through my damp hair, shaking a few drops free from the strands, and made my way to her side.
Her eyes were clenched unnaturally and her breaths were too forced. She was awake.
“This is my side.”
Skadi cracked an eye. “I suppose you’ll need to take the other side. This is also the side on which I sleep.”
“It’s my bed.”
“I thought everything was meant to be ours.”
The thud of my pulse filled my ears. “Scoot over, Fire. Or I sleep on top of you.”
This damn woman merely hugged my pillow—mine—a little more in her arms and nestled deeper in the bed.
“All right.”
I tossed away the quilts, ignoring the way my bleeding cock twitched at the sight of her in the green sleep shift, much too diaphanous for my thoughts not to wander to how soft her skin looked, how her body would fit so well beneath mine.
Dammit. I needed to keep focused.
Skadi propped onto one elbow, readying to battle, no doubt, but she wouldn’t get the opportunity.
I scooped her up beneath her knees, taking her into my arms. She squirmed and shoved against me. “Put me down. I was sleeping!”
“Hmm. You’ll sleep better over here.” I tossed her to the other side of the bed.
Skadi let out a cry of surprise when she plopped onto the edge of the mattress. I took my place under the quilts.
“So warm.” I tucked my pillow against me, breathing it in. “Smells perfect too. Many thanks.”
Those flames in her eyes were going to devour me. Part of me hoped they would.
