“Sergeant Bailey, I—”
“Shh. Don’t say anything. Just lie there and catch your breath.”
Pieter did as he was told, watching her face as she hovered above him. Her black hair had come out of its bun and was loose around her face. She looked absolutely beautiful, even if she was soaking wet and covered in mud. He noticed the detached way she checked his vital signs and realized at once that his attraction was completely one-sided.
With a pang of sadness, he knew he shouldn’t have expected anything else. First of all, Eva didn’t even know his real name. Secondly, he knew he appeared arrogant and distant whenpeople first met him, no matter how much he tried otherwise. He’d been coached by royal caregivers and advisors from the time he was a toddler on how to behave in public, and he knew his air of detached superiority was always with him, no matter how much he tried to lose it.
“I have to tell you something,” he said suddenly.
“I know. You’re grateful to me for saving your life, blah-blah-blah.”
“No, that’s not it. There’s something I have to say.”
“I know. You didn’t count to sixty before you jumped in. I expected you to disobey me, but I came very close to not rescuing you. It could have cost you your life.”
“No, it’s not that either, even though I realize I owe you. And you’re right. I didn’t listen. But that’s only because I saw how fast the current carried you downstream, and I was worried I’d lose you.”
Eva looked at him for a long moment, and although he couldn’t read her expression, he had the sense she was really hearing, for the first time, the emotion he was trying to convey.
“Yes, well, there’s no need to thank me,” she said. “It was my idea to jump in the river. I knew it would be cold, but I’m so cold right now I can’t even remember what it feels like to be warm.”
“M-m-m-e too,” Pieter replied, his teeth chattering.
“Okay, that’s not a good sign,” Eva said, looking down at him with a furrowed brow. She unfastened the bottom two buttons of her shirt, reached inside, and pulled out a small crossover bag that she wore next to her body. Pieter watched as she unzipped it and pulled out a folded-up foil-insulated blanket. She unfoldedit and wrapped it firmly around Pieter’s torso, tucking it underneath him.
“Th-thank you,” Pieter said as his whole body began to shiver.
“That should warm you up soon,” Eva said, standing up. “I’m going to look for some pine needles to start a fire. I’ll be back soon.”
“P-please, don’t g-go,” Pieter said, his teeth chattering so violently his jaw hurt.
“Don’t worry. Nothing’s going to happen to me. I’ve done this before, remember? If I don’t get a fire lit soon, we’re both going to freeze.”
Pieter blinked twice to show her that he understood, then watched as she quickly walked away. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine that the rocks he was lying on were hot from the sun, warming his back and the backs of his legs. Then he imagined the foil blanket Eva had placed on him was an electric blanket, sending warmth to the corners of his body.
He tried all of the visualization techniques he could think of, from picturing himself standing in front of the huge fireplace in the Grand Hall of the palace, the same one he’d stood in front of when his parents had called him in to talk about his fate. He wanted to hold on to happier memories of his parents, so he thought about times when they’d gone sailing together as a family, the sun warm on his face.
Pieter imagined he felt Eva’s body curled up against his, her body heat seeping into his skin. He felt her warm breath on the back of his neck as her face dipped into the groove there. All at once heat radiated out from his core, and he concentrated on the sensation as it spread out to the tips of his fingers and toes andfinally to his head. He lay completely still, savoring the feeling of warmth throughout his body and the electric charge that ran through him from Eva’s skin.
He opened his eyes, wondering if the sun had miraculously broken through the dense cloud. He saw Eva crouched down over him, her face lit coral by the fire that she’d managed to start underneath a rocky overhang while he’d been trying to think himself warm.
“I was worried about you. You were moaning,” she said, looking at him with relief.
Pieter hoped she couldn’t read the embarrassment on his face as he remembered how wonderful it had felt to be lying next to her, her warm body pressed up against his own. “Sorry, I must have drifted off for a minute.”
“Feeling any warmer?” she asked.
“Much. That’s an impressive fire.”
“As long as the wind doesn’t change direction, I think it’ll be okay. I’ve got enough kindling and wood to keep it going for a couple of hours. It’s not enough to get us through the night, though.”
“Thank you, Sergeant Bailey. I meant it when I said I owe you.”
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” she said. “And I think it’s about time we ditched the formalities, don’t you?”
Pieter smiled slightly. “I do. Thank you, Eva.”
She nodded once. “Now, do you want to try to sit up and warm your back against the fire?”
