Total pages in book: 219
Estimated words: 210867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 703(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 210867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 703(@300wpm)
I looked at Kieran again. “The Craven you picked up on earlier today? How far do you think they were?”
“Far enough.” He paused. “For now.”
I knew what he was saying. We wouldn’t be able to rest here for too long. Sooner rather than later, the Craven would realize that fresh blood and flesh were moving about their domain.
“Been talking with Phillips a bit,” he said.
“I’ve noticed.”
“He asks a lot of questions and is observant as fuck. He’s suspicious.”
“Of us?” I found Phillips in the distance, guarding the western side of our camp.
“So far, just in general,” Kieran answered.
“So far is a common theme, I see.” I checked Poppy. Her eyes were closed. She was still shivering.
“You surprised me earlier,” Kieran remarked.
“Yeah?” I turned my attention back to him.
Kieran was looking in Poppy’s direction now. “You laughed.” He squinted. “You laughed in a way I haven’t heard you do in years.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, and we stood there in silence for several moments.
“She’s cold,” I finally stated.
“She appears to be a moment away from shaking herself across the forest floor,” he observed dryly.
“She’s not used to this.” My eyes narrowed on Poppy. “And she’s not us.”
“I was just pointing out that she’s cold.” Amusement filled his tone. “No need to get defensive.”
“I wasn’t—” I cut myself off. I was being defensive. Of her. My shoulders tightened.
“You should see if you can warm her up,” he said, and I arched a brow. “Before any of the others get the idea to do so.”
My spine stiffened. “That will not happen.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.”
I ignored that as I watched her. “She has bad dreams sometimes,” I said, lowering my voice even more as I faced Kieran. “Night terrors.”
Kieran, who’d witnessed mine hit more than either of us cared to admit, glanced back at her. “The scars?”
I nodded.
“Well, now you have even more reason to join her.”
“Shut up.” I turned back to Poppy. Her eyes were open again, and she was shivering even harder now.
I left Kieran’s side, his quiet laugh following me across the small clearing. Stopping, I knelt in front of Poppy, who now had her eyes closed, but I knew she was awake. I looked at her, grinning at how she’d wrapped herself in some sort of cocoon, leaving only her head visible.
“You’re cold.”
“I’m fine,” she muttered, teeth chattering. The tip of her nose was red, but her cheeks were pale.
My smile faded as I tugged off a glove, shoving it into the pocket of my cloak. I touched her cheek, drawing open her eyes. Shit. “Correction. You’re freezing.”
“I’ll warm up. Eventually.”
I appreciated the front she was putting on and her unwillingness to complain, but this could turn dangerous. “You’re not used to this kind of cold, Poppy.”
Her red-tipped nose scrunched. “And you are?”
“You have no idea what I’m used to.” I’d been in far colder and more…unpleasant situations than this, but I wasn’t mortal.
Poppy was.
I rose, going to where my bag sat a few feet from her head. I unhooked what I needed. Stepping over Poppy, I laid it out behind her. She watched me as I spread out the bedroll, then lowered myself next to the heavy fur blanket.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Making sure you don’t freeze to death.” I draped the pelt over my legs. I wasn’t that cold moving around, but lying still like this on the ground? My body would cool off. “If you did, that would make me a very bad guard.”
“I’m not going to freeze to death.”
“What you’re going to do is lure every Craven within a five-mile radius with your shuddering.” I stretched out next to her, briefly reminded of those few hours I’d fallen asleep beside her after the night of the Rite. She’d basically been unconscious then, and I hadn’t noticed how the entire length of my body so easily curved around hers.
“You can’t sleep beside me,” she stated.
“I’m not.” I rolled onto my side. Facing her, I took my blanket and draped it and my arm over her, but kept my hand hanging in the air.
Poppy blinked. “What do you call this, then?”
“I’m sleeping with you.”
Her eyes, only a few inches from mine, went wide. “How is that any different?”
“There’s a huge difference.”
She turned her head to the branches above us. “You can’t sleep with me, Hawke.”
“And I can’t have you freezing or getting sick. It’s too dangerous to light a fire, and unless you’d rather I get someone else to sleep with you,” I said, and other than Kieran, that was so not going to fucking happen, “there really aren’t many other options.”
“I don’t want anyone else to sleep with me,” she argued.
“I already knew that,” I teased.
“I don’t want anyone to sleep with me,” she corrected, head whipping toward mine again.
I met her gaze and held it. “I know you have nightmares, Poppy, and I know they can be intense. Vikter warned me about them.”