And then what happened afterwards…
The icy coldness that spread through my body after hours of being exposed outside. Any ounce of warmth was immediately sucked away. I remembered the demon king taking me inside, stripping me, placing me in the bathing tub of hot, painful water as heat prickled through my limbs. I remembered his gentleness…I remembered him calling me brave.
My limbs were all around him, clinging to him. Legs between his own, one arm draped over his abdomen, my face pressed into his warm neck, my breasts pushed against the massive barrel of his chest.
It embarrassed me. But I was warm, that frightening coldness banished from the night before.
When I dared to pull my head away and braved meeting his eyes, I found that he was already awake. I found those eyes on me, half-lidded from sleep, yet somehow still alert.
The need to say something,anything, made my throat tighten, but a single sound would not emerge.
It was him that broke the silence between us.
“I think I wish to keep you in my bed,thissie,” he rasped, his voice dark and rich. “I thought it was I warming you, but it was you warming me through the night.”
My face went hot but when I went to pull away, his arms tightened around me, keeping me in place. One of his arms was underneath my head, cradling my neck, the other was draped over my hips. I felt his palm grip me there and my skin had never felt so hot before.
Though he held me in place, I didn’t feel the fear I’d felt before. For a strange reason, I knew he would never touch me, or try to take from me, if I did not wish for it. I felt that truth deep in my gut.
I think I surprised myself with that realization because I frowned, my brow furrowing together.
His grey eyes flickered between mine and he asked, “What is it?”
“Nothing,” I replied quickly, not wanting him to know the direction of my thoughts. “I’m quite warm now,” I informed him, hoping he would take the hint to let me go.
“I know.”
“Why are you still here?”
“Because I wanted to be certain that you were alright,” he replied, his expression changing from slightly amused to serious. “You made me worry last night,thissie.”
His words made my hands curl into his chest unexpectedly. No one had ever worried about me before and I didn’t know how his admission made me feel.
“I’m alright,” I assured him softly.
“And this?” he asked next, bringing his hand from its place on my hip to gently brush over the rope mark on my cheek. “It will bruise.”
“I’m alright,” I repeated, swallowing thickly at his touch. Because I felt an uncomfortable sensation building in my chest, I asked him, “What doesthissiemean?”
“That reminds me,” he murmured, not answering my question for the hundredth time. “I have a gift for you.”
Why was it that the prospect of a gift made my breath hitch and excitement flood my belly? I was discovering that I liked gifts very much—my new clothes, my dagger, and my rock most of all—and I wondered in the back of my mind if I should be embarrassed about that. Jana would tell me I was being greedy.
His fingers moved at the nape of my neck, sliding up into my hair. My scalp tingled pleasantly as my treacherous and curious tongue asked, “What is it?”
The demon king seemed content to look at me for another long moment, his eyes tracing over my face. But then he shifted and rolled away from me, pushing up from the bed. His sculpted backside met my eyes as chilly, frigid air rushed forward to take his place.
Wrapping the furs tighter around me, I watched as he moved to the three chests lining the opposite side of the tent. I’d never seen him open them before and I’d often been tempted to snoop inside, though I’d denied that curiosity.
Still, it didn’t stop me pushing up and sitting on the edge of the bed, craning my neck around him to try to catch a peek.
The horde king lifted the lid on one and took something from within it. I spied silks and sheer things, something glittering gold and blue, before he closed the chest again.
His expression was knowing when he turned back to me and saw me trying to look into the chest.
“You cannot help yourself, can you,kalles?” he murmured, his lips quirking.
My eyes darted to his closed fist and I said, distracted, “No.”
