What Lies Beyond the Veil (Of Flesh & Bone, #1)(48)

He pushed me, challenged me, but there was nothing that he’d done to deserve my ire. He’d even saved my life. So what was it about the stupidly handsome man that kept me in a constant state of vacillating between wanting to fight with him and wanting to kiss him?

“I’m not your anything,” I said, laying myself on the ground next to him. I kept my distance, ensuring that no parts of our bodies touched. I wouldn’t allow myself to show how cold I was, gritting my teeth as I fought back the chattering that wanted to overtake my jaw.

“We’ll see how long that lasts,” Caelum retorted with a chuckle, turning his body toward mine. He scooted forward, inching across the grass, dirt, and dead, dried leaves beneath us. They crackled, the sound grating on me as I stared up at the last, bare hint of light in the sky above us. Shortly enough, there would only be the moon and stars shining in the dark sky.

Something slid over my wrist, and I squeaked as quietly as I could and shoved it off. The flesh of a male arm against my hand drew a relieved sigh from me, the lack of scales or slime reassuring against the initial instinct that I’d attracted something far more menacing.

Though some nights in Lord Byron’s library had made me question if there was anything more menacing than a man when he didn’t get what he wanted.

“What are you doing?” I asked, flinching back as he wrapped that arm around me more tightly and pulled me into his chest. He was somehow warm, his body heat radiating into me as I pressed my freezing hands against his stomach.

“You’re going to freeze,” he said, acting as if it was obvious. The shadows hid the expression on his face, masking it from my view except for the faintest trace of his bone structure. He grabbed hold of his cloak where it was wrapped around me, unclasping it from around my throat and shifting it to cover us both as he slid his other arm underneath my neck and offered it to me as a pillow. “Get some sleep, Little One. I’ll take first watch.”

I nodded, and I would have sworn that my mind wouldn’t allow itself to fall asleep with a stranger so near. I’d never just been held in my life, never lain with a man at my side. For all that I’d experienced in terms of physical affection, between the abuse of Lord Byron’s hands on my skin and the hurried moments of passion I’d had with Loris, had I ever really known anything of true intimacy?

I could think of nothing more intimate than the feeling of Caelum’s breath rustling my hair, and his rhythmic heartbeat thumping against my face softly as I curled closer into him.

For warmth, I assured myself as he shifted his body, and I felt his gaze on my face as my eyes drifted closed. The softness of his lips brushed against my forehead, sending a tingle through the back of my neck in response as my exhaustion claimed me.

Most definitely for warmth.





16





We were on our way once again after Caelum caught a quick breakfast of wild hare. He’d managed to trap it while I was still sleeping. He’d never woke me in the night to take watch, and I didn’t know if it was because he had fallen asleep, as well, or because he’d been afraid I might in fact take his balls off while he slumbered.

I’d slept straight through the night, waking long after he had, at any rate, and we’d continued our trek toward the Hollow Mountains, much to my dismay.

The dress Caelum had snagged off the clothesline was a size too small, the fabric clinging to me more tightly than felt tolerable, but the alternative had been to continue to wear my thinner, damp, and muddy dress that had more holes than I cared to count.

Caelum had continued to be largely silent most of the day, letting me stew in my grief as we traveled. Being with him stung with betrayal when Brann had wanted me to stay away and go our own way, but I wasn’t capable of making the long trip to the safety the Mountains at Rochpar might offer on my own.

I didn’t know the way. Didn’t know how to navigate the same way Caelum seemed to, only pulling an engraved compass from his trouser pocket every now and then.

My legs throbbed with endless movement, the walking and uneven terrain something that I was far from used to. My midnight strolls to the Veil could never compare to the steady and relentless pace Caelum set.

We came to another dip in the valley, a drop of uneven terrain that would have hurt, had we dared to continue our path in the darkness last night. Caelum jumped down, landing smoothly on steady feet as he bent his knees to absorb the impact.

He stood, turning back to face me as I approached the ledge and prepared to follow suit, hiking my dress up my calves. He gripped me around the waist, lifting me off my feet and pulling me into the front of his body, lowering me down as he’d done countless times. I stared up at him and resisted the urge to argue. There was something in Caelum that needed to care for someone, a gentleman who couldn’t let me prove to be capable of taking care of myself.

I’d been fending for myself for so long, part of me liked being taken care of for once, even if I would never admit it. I’d jumped off the edge of a cliff and managed to get myself to the bottom without dying; I could handle a dip in the path, and he Gods damned knew it.

The moment my feet touched the ground at the bottom, he lifted a single hand from where the fabric of my dress hugged my waist. His cloak still hung off my shoulders, wrapping me in a warm embrace. His tunic couldn’t possibly be warm enough, but just like with the drops in the valley floor, he somehow insisted on my comfort over his. Despite how strangely he made me feel, I couldn’t help thinking that there weren’t enough men like him left in my world. Too many were far too consumed with the need to own people and possessions, to the point that they forgot what it meant to care for others.