He patted her cheek, then pinched her nose. “Based on how difficult it looked for you to admit that, I actuallybelieveyou.” He bent down to examine her face. “You look exhausted. Come on, let’s go back to our suite so you can get some rest before we find out what nonsense Otto has in store for us next.”
“Wait.” She grabbed his wrist. “You need to see this.”
He let her lead him toward the barrier and she flattened his palm against the invisible wall.
Ronin sucked in a sharp breath. “What is this?”
“Some kind of ward. Probably what’s deactivated the commstones. It’s impenetrable. We’re locked in.”
Ronin vented a bitter laugh. “Sothat’swhy you agreed to stay. You still want to leave, but you can’t.”
He turned to walk away from her and she grabbed his hand again.
“No, Ronin, you’re right. I’m not… I’m not good at this. At having someone else to depend on.” His brows rose. “I’m sorry I ran away without discussing it with you. I won’t do that again.”
She intertwined their fingers, and he dipped his gaze to the contact, his breath shuddering out.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For catching me last night. And for rescuing me today when I didn’t deserve it.”
He raised their intertwined hands to his chest.
“Youalwaysdeserve it, Mireille.” His face was intense. Sincere. “I’m not going to abandon you over a screw-up or two. That’s what friends do—we take on the messy shittogether.”
A lump formed in Mireille’s throat, and she dug the nails of her free hand into her palm to keep from crying.
Friends.
It was a concept she was wholly unfamiliar with. No one had ever promisedtogetherto her before either. She knew it was her own fault. Knewshewas the one who’d never let anyone behind her defensive walls. And perhaps it was her utter exhaustion, but she could feel them crumbling.
Here in this snowy clearing, standing before a male that she had made far too many assumptions about, she vowed to try harder. To do better. To be a good partner—a goodfriend—to Ronin. At least until the end of the assignment.
“Friends.” She shook his hand, then let out a tiny shriek when he scooped her into his arms. “What are you doing?”
“Friends don’t let friends trudge through the snow when they’re tired. And don’t think for a second that I’m not going to force you to eat when we get back to our suite.”
Mireille smiled against his shoulder, his leather jacket a cool comfort against her cheek. She allowed herself a rare moment to lay back and let someone else take the lead for a change.
She was surprised by how much she enjoyed it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Mireille felt refreshed when she awoke from her nap.
Or at least she did for the split-second before glancing out the window to see the first bruised hints of dusk breaking through pines.
“How long did you let me sleep?” she grumbled.
“As long as you needed,” Ronin murmured from the armchair, elbows on his knees, hands clasped beneath his chin. A chessboard, mid-game, perched on the table before him.
Anxious energy buzzed through Mireille’s veins, and she shot to the bathroom.
She wanted to lash out at him. Ask him why the fuck he let her sleep so long. The stakes of this assignment were so much higher than she’d imagined. And now that she’d fully re-committed herself to it, there was so much they needed to learn. She should have spent the afternoon doinganythingother than napping.
Chewing on her irritation, she scrubbed her face with cold water then ran a brush through her tangled hair. Despite her annoyance, she had to admit she felt better. Clearer. As if the food he’d insisted she eat and the rest he’d encouraged her to take had lifted some invisible weight. The weight that hadconvinced her she couldn’t do this? That she’d needed to run in the first place?
Such an odd thing, for someone else to recognize her body’s needs. To know what she needed even as she pushed herself to the brink.
“You alive in there?” Ronin called out.
