“She’s not sleeping,” Cassius says. “She’s freezing.”
“I’m fine,” I manage, but it comes out strange with my chattering teeth.
Sylvian pipes up, his head nearly touching my head. “Cassius is right. She’s shaking like a leaf in a gale… which I, of course, would be glad to help with.”
Oberon snorts again, this time with a little laugh at the end. “You volunteering to be the hot water bottle, Cassius?”
Cassius ignores him. He spreads his blanket over me and crawls under the small pile of blankets with me, careful and slow, like he’s taming a wild animal. His body is shockingly warm. Either water fae run hot, or he’s willing himself to be a furnace for me. He slides in behind me, one arm over my waist, hand flat on my ribs.
I tense up. He feels it, but just says, “This is for heat. Nothing else.”
I nod, too embarrassed to answer. My face is on fire, but the rest of me is ice.
He’s not lying. He just holds me. After a while, my shivering slows. The heat from his chest soaks through my shirt, his arm keeping the cold from creeping in under the blanket. I hate how good it feels. I hate that I need this. I hate that my body melts against his in less than a minute.
For a while, there’s only the sound of the fire and the wind.
Then Sylvian says, “If we’re taking turns, I'm next.”
Ashton answers, his tone hinting at humor, even though he sounds exhausted, “You’d crush her. She’d never thaw out again.”
Oberon grumbles, “Stop fighting. She’ll pick who she wants, and the rest of us can just make peace with losing.”
“It’s just keeping me warm,” I say softly.
“Is it?” Oberon asks, a strange note to his voice.
I stiffen. Cassius’s hand tightens slightly.
“What are you all talking about?” I say, voice muffled in the blanket.
There’s a pause. I imagine them exchanging looks in the dark.
Sylvian gently tells me, “You, Alette.”
“I don’t think I’d do a great job of keeping you warm back. I’m a piece of ice.”
Oberon’s voice is clear and hard. “That’s not it. Stop pretending you don’t know.”
I don’t turn to look at any of them. “What, then?”
There’s a beat, and Cassius is the one who says it, his voice low and certain, right in my ear. “We all want you. You have to know that by now.”
The fire spits, cracks.
I blink, waiting for the punchline.
Nothing.
I say, “You mean?—?”
Sylvian sighs. “All of us want to be with you. It’s not… a joke.”
I squeeze my eyes shut.It has to be a joke.
Ashton says, hesitant but steady, “You’re beautiful. And clever. And brave. And you make all of us want to be better. Even Oberon, and that’s a miracle.”
I stare at the side of the fire pit. “You’re fae kings. You can have anyone you want. You’re just stuck in this labyrinth with me. Why would you…?”
