He frowned. “You aren’t using the fire in your blood to keep you warm?”
“I can’t do that while I sleep.”
He muttered what sounded like a curse under his breath. Then he lay down on the floor of the cave. “Lie on top of me,” he said. “I’ll keep you warm.”
His tone was matter-of-fact, but as I stretched out on top of him, my cheek resting on his heated chest, his arms wrapped around me protectively. It was impossible to not feel safe when he held me.
I could get used to this, to falling asleep in his arms while his fingers stroked my back.
FIFTEEN
Joriel
“How much longer do youthink it’ll take us to get out of here?” Laila asked, pushing her wet braid over her shoulder. It had been snowing since early morning, and rather than turning into angel icicles, we’d been using the fire in our blood to keep us warm. Which mostly resulted in us being permanently drenched in melted snow.
“Don’t tell me you’re sick of the snow, sweetness,” I said with heavy sarcasm.
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, you were right. Happy now?”
“Immensely.”
“You still didn’t answer the question.”
“Because I don’t know.”
There wasn’t much to see as we walked, no signs announcing how many miles until we reached the end of this hellish winter. This land was filled with what had to be legions of demons, all of them low-ranking ones. There were some humans too, just wandering around looking lost. So far, most of them had left us alone.
Hours passed and the landscape slowly changed. The snow melted and dried up, revealing a scorched, cracked ground beneath. Orange and black clouds hung above us, making it look almost like the sky was on fire. Hot wind whipped through the air, like when you open an oven and get blasted with sudden heat, and the air smelled of smoke. It almost looked like a fire had swept through, turning the land barren.
There was something ominous about this place that made me think we’d reached the fourth circle of Hell.
Laila looked around. “It’s probably really sad, but I think I like it here.”
I raised my brows at her. I was about ninety percent sure we’d just reached the Fields of Punishment, and she was saying shelikedit here?
“What? I wouldn’t exactly want to build a home here, but it’s warm, dry, and the sun isn’t beating down on us.”
She yanked her top over her head, and I bit back a groan. Her skin glistened with melted snow. The black bra hid her breasts, and somehow that was worse than if she’d been completely topless. I was dying to know what she looked like under the fabric, and the fact that I wasn’t going to was driving me crazy. I clenched my hands into fists at my sides as she wrung out her shirt and then her hair, completely oblivious to my internal war.
When she reached for the ties on her pants, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Laila.” Her name was a rasp on my lips.
She glanced over at me. “What?”
“You’re killing me, sweetness.”
Her lips turned up. She either didn’t know how dead serious I was, or she was enjoying torturing me. Her gaze held mine as she undid the laces down the front of her pants with slow deliberation. She was definitely enjoying this.
My teeth were clenched so tight I was surprised nothing broke. But I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she slid the fabric over her hips and down her legs, leaving her in nothing but the bra and cobweb-thin panties. The white silky material did nothing to keep my fantasies from going wild. And the look in her eyes wasn’t helping.
She looked at me like she wouldn’t mind if I gave in to what my body wanted. But there was more to it than that. There was something deeper than physical desire. Laila looked at me like there was something inside me that was worth looking at.
But she was wrong.
I didn’t deserve her. Even before I’d lost my soul, I hadn’t been worthy of her goodness, her light.
Touching her now was out of the question. I couldn’t risk ruining her, tainting her with my darkness. She needed to be exactly as pure and perfect as she was now by the time I got her out of Hell and back to the palace where she belonged.
