“Lannahi?”
She opened her eyes. She must have dozed off because she didn’t remember hearing the footsteps, and the presence of a man kneeling beside her startled her. She felt she should have been concerned, but her surprise, like her fear, seemed to come from a very faraway place.
Someone’s fingers brushed a strand of hair away from her face. She blinked.
“Don’t sleep, Lannahi.”
The request seemed strange to her—after all, she was already awake—but for some reason the relief in the man’s voice seemed even stranger. Then, the large hands turned her onto her back and she saw that the man had the eyes of a wolf.
Before she decided whether this was good or bad, Ashared slid his hands under her and lifted her off the ground. “Don’t sleep,” he murmured, holding her gaze.
Then he looked away and started walking.
Lannahi stared at him, trying to grasp the thoughts that were escaping her, but she was tired, and the rocking was so soothing that she felt herself slipping away.
Time seemed to slow down and speed up.
“Roshanak, run to light a fire at the nearest hideaway,” she heard at one moment.
“There is Sevii’s smell on her belt pack,” she heard in the next.
One minute there was only a gentle rocking, the next she was lying on the ground, feeling the heat brushing her skin in the places where someone’s hands touched her. She was looking at the stone ceiling, but after blinking, she was laying on her side staring at the fire. Suddenly needles pierced her body and she was shaking from the cold. Then she was warm and comfortable.
Because “warm and comfortable” was her last memory and the first thing she felt when she awoke, she thought she just took a nap, but the details she started realizing told her she’d slept longer. Her throat was itchy, but she no longer had to fight to keep her mind awake. Besides, she was lying in a different position.
She focused on the last thought, anxious all of sudden. She was under a blanket on something warm and hard that smelled of the forest. Whatever it was, it was alive, as she felt herself rise with each of its breaths.
Lannahi stiffened. She lay naked cuddled on the chest of an equally naked man.
“You were freezing,” she heard Ashared’s voice over her head. “This was the fastest way for your body to regain its normal temperature.”
Lannahi twitched, surprised by the sound of his voice, and reflexively began to rise, but the man broke away, rolling her over onto her back and pressed down her with his weight. He held down her arms over her head with one hand and clamped down on her mouth with the other.
The thought of hiding her fear didn’t even cross her mind. She lay still, staring at him with pure terror. She didn’t know what to do.
“I will let you go in a moment,” Ashared said gently, looking into her wide eyes. “I just want to make sure that there is no misunderstanding and you don’t start hurling curses around.”
Overwhelmed by his strength and proximity, she needed a moment to grasp the meaning of his words. After another, it occurred to her that though he held her firmly, his touch wasn’t brutal.
“You fell into the lake,” the man continued, seeing the change in her expression. “You got out, but you couldn’t reach the shore. I brought you here to warm you. No one here has done or will do you any harm. Do you understand?”
Misty memories swirled in her head. A gentle touch as her wet clothes were removed. Howling of wolves in the distance and the reassuring whisper, “You are safe.” Strong arms embracing her. Warmth.
She nodded slightly.
Some tension seemed to leave Ashared, but he asked anyway, “Can I count on you not to curse me when I let you go?”
When she nodded once again, he took his hand off her mouth but immediately placed it on her forehead. “How do you feel?” he asked, ignoring her surprise.
When she realized that he was checking to see if she had a fever, she felt strangely self-conscious.
“I’ve been better,” she said hoarsely and immediately regretted it.
The man didn’t need to act with such caution. Lannahi had a hoarse throat.
She couldn’t cast an enchantment even if she wanted to.
Chapter 19
