“Didn’t figure you had.”
He tugs at the cloak I’m positioned on. Of course, he’ll want that back to sleep with. I scoot over so he can pull it out from underneath me and tuck my own cloak under my legs. “How is it so cold here? It wasn’t nearly this cold in Samore.”
“The weather here is erratic. It used to be controlled by the barrier but it no longer works all that well. You had regular seasons behind the theurgynate, I’m assuming?”
“Pretty much. Except the rains stopped.”
“Right…” he says looking contemplative. “Wonder why that happened.”
I watch him warily as he clears an area of rocks and sticks with his boot and drapes the cloak across the ground. I don’t think I’m going to have the courage to lay out in the open like that. I think I’ll stay right here against this log.
He settles on the edge of the cloak, stretching out his legs and propping himself up on his elbow before patting the ground beside him almost as if he’s inviting me to... My gaze darts to the area of the cloak he’s gesturing to and back to him.
That’s exactly what he’s suggesting.
My heart lurches in my chest. “No…” He shoots me a stony look. “No,” I say more firmly this time, pointing a single finger at him. “We’re not.”
He rolls his eyes. “How did I know you were going to make a big deal of this?”
I can’t sleep with him. Notlike that.“I’m fine. I’m going to stay right here,” I say, banging a fist against the ground. “I’m not even tired,” I lie.
He sits up, face contorting into a scowl. “Why do you always have to be so difficult?”
I shake my head vigorously. “Nuhuh. Nope. No way. Not happening.”
“Pandora.”
That one word travels through me like a powerful jolt from the daemon. It straightens my spine. The sound of my name in his mouth. He remembered, and he’s going to use it against me like that? Like he’s brandishing a weapon. An effective one, and based on the hint of a smirk on his mouth, he knows exactly what he’s done. “I shouldn’t have even told you that,” I grumble.
His gaze turns sharper, more severe. “You shouldn’t have told meyour name?” he asks incredulously. “You should’ve told me sooner. Why didn’t you?”
“Because it was the one thing I got to keep for myself,” I snap.
His face turns solemn, however he doesn’t bugger off, still giving me that expectant look. He raises himself into a crouch, and I scramble to my feet.
“No! Stay back!” I shuffle backward, bumping into the log and clumsily maneuvering myself around it. “You can’t make me. You don’t even have your magic!” I say gleefully.
He scoffs. “I don’t need magic for you, pet. You’re no match for me on a good day, and this is not a good day for you.”
I continue shuffling backwards and the gleam in his eyes turns predatory as he straightens. He watches every step I take, readying himself to pounce like a wolf after a rabbit.
Panic flares wildly in my chest and I quicken my pace only for my foot to catch on a large rock. I crumple to the ground, air puffing out of my chest.
“You’re going to hurt yourself,” he scolds.
He starts forward, slow and steady, and I scramble to my feet, turn on my heel and run for my life.
I get a whoppingten feet before his arms secure around my abdomen, lugging the air out of my lungs as he hauls me back into his chest.
My heart surges with a pulse of adrenaline that releases itself, to my dismay, in the form of sputtered laughter. He blows out another amused breath as he dutifully carries me back like a mother cat and her errant kitten.
I struggle against him, trying to break his hold as he stops to lean down and sweep my cloak from the ground. It’s futile. He’s as solid as stone. However, he does halt to tug me further up so my face is level with his neck before he continues forward. “You shouldreallynot do that,” he says darkly.
“Why?”
He puffs a breath with a laugh. “You really don’t want to know…listen, I have expended a lot of effort into saving your life. I’m hardly about to waste all that by letting you freeze to death,” he says, voice low in my ear.
“It’s not even that cold!” I lie.
