Chapter Five
There were a few options.
The girl could have been a figment of his imagination; he considered that carefully, but dismissed it.
If he’d imagined a girl who looked like her, she would have been naked, and on her knees.
Then, she might be an astral projection. Something close to daydreaming, but more real – she could be out there, somewhere, but linked to him through daydreams.
That wasn’t unheard of; but he ruled that alternative out, too. He really was missing his coat. That meant she was real.
That also meant that she was no human girl.
He hadn’t pegged her as a fay, and certainly not as a Wilderling; but what else was out there?
Witches? He’d heard of them, but there weren’t many proofs, past whispers and myths. That didn’t mean much, though: most people knew nothing of elves.
So, for the sake of the argument, he agreed that she might be some kind of witch; and a benevolent one at that, if the way the land had turned into a wonderland since her arrival was any indication.
Kai didn’t believe in coincidence; now he thought of the timing, he was certain the girl had something to do with the water, the birds – everything.
Well, wonderland was an exaggeration: the mountain was still pretty damn cold, and while there was more fauna now, food wasn’t exactly abundant either.
“Something is troubling you, boy,” Fyn said, sitting next to him, her wise eyes fixed on the fire around which they’d roasted the deer.
Anyone else, he could have shrugged off, but not her; the old lady would bug him until he talked.
“There’s… a woman.”
“Ah!” she smiled, delighted. “Perfect. Who is she? Is she fertile?”
He rolled his eyes, ignoring the second question.
“I don’t have her name. She’s rather mysterious. Quick to disappear… Fyn, she’s out there somewhere. In the mountains. Things have changed since she’s appeared.”
Fyn turned to him, looking deep into his eyes, making him feel like a child.
Then, she chuckled.
“Well, you’ve always been ambitious,” she muttered, so low he wasn’t sure he was supposed to hear that. Then, she got up, patting his back. “If there’s a woman living in this mess, she might need your help.”
Kai doubted it; while he didn’t say it out loud, Fyn shook her head, before telling him:
“Kailan Eldorian, the land is merciless around here, as you well know. Whoever she is, this is no place for a lady to be by herself, that’s for damn sure.”
The first couple of nights, she returned home, but this time, she’d fallen asleep in a shallow cave, curled up against Bear, sharing his warmth; it was supposed to be a short nap before heading back, however, it was morning when she woke. No surprise: it had been a thousand times more agreeable than any sleep she’d had on the hard bed of ice, in her frozen palace.
A noise woke her up; a rhythmic tap, too loud and obnoxious to be a woodpecker.
She opened her eyes and frowned.
What the hell.
No wonder the cave had been so comfortable; a fire was dying out next to her, and there was a thick fabric blocking the entrance, keeping the cold out.
Eira pushed past it, and her jaw hit the floor.
The unapproachable, expressionless elf she’d met a couple of times was outside, his coat tied to his waist, his jumper discarded; he was half naked, axe in hand, splitting logs of wood.
She told herself she was unable to talk because this vision didn’t actually make a bit of sense, but to be entirely truthful, her state of speechlessness was majorly due to the fact that oh, all heavens and hells, he was a delectable sight.
The term ripped had probably been invented to convey exactly what her eyes were roaming over right now. He was as tall as Belle’s husband, and perhaps not as large, but every bits of his exposed flesh had definition. The beads of sweat running on his skin made it glisten in the sunlight.
Eira personally knew Narcis, Apollo, Adonis and they had nothing – nothing! – on that guy.
She might have whimpered, or made some equally embarrassing sound, because the elf turned her way.
Shit. The face really did match the rest of the picture; she’d thought he’d been quite pleasing to look at, before, but well, now she saw the whole package, he took it to a whole new level.
He wore his hair long, like Aiden Archer, but his wasn’t trimmed or tied; it did what it wanted to around his face, making him look like some kind of barbarian.
“What are you doing here?” she frowned, hoping to sound forbidding.
It came out as a breathless plea. Shit.
Aphrodite. Aphrodite had to have something to do with this mess. She turned around, half expecting to see her old friend hiding in the corners.
That bloody goddess had tried to force her to feel those powerful, uncontrollable waves of lust for centuries.
“You were shivering,” he shrugged, as though that explained everything.
And it probably did.
It explained who he was, despite the scowls: the kind of man who could not see a woman shivering in her sleep without building a shelter, making a fire, gathering and cutting enough dry wood for a fortnight.
Oh my. She was in a whole load of shit.
“I’ll be fine,” she told him, meaning each word.
The elf shrugged again, before going back to his chopping.
She gathered her wits and managed to formulate something that sounded logical in her mind; opening her mouth to deliver her tirade, she was interrupted by an embarrassingly loud grumble.
“Did that come from your stomach?”
Did he really have to point it out?
The elf advanced towards her, his walk pretty damn sexy, and got something from his pocket.
It was dark and smelt fucking amazing. She stared at it for so long he lifted his hand and pushed it against her lips until she opened them.
Of fuck. That was good. The dry meat made her taste buds explode like nothing ever had, probably because she hadn’t eaten since Jereena, close to two weeks ago.
She didn’t need to eat… when she was sleeping. Being active used up a lot of energy; she should have sustained herself earlier, but that would have meant admitting that she really wasn’t going to fall into eversleep anytime soon.
“You like that?”
The elf smiled, propelling himself from the land of way too attractive for his own good and landing in the realm of pants off. Now.
She felt that smile teasing her between her legs.
Oh goodie. Two millenniums worth of hormones were hitting her in one go. Just what the doctor had not ordered.
“There. Eat more.”
She wasn’t sure why he was still feeding her like a child, but she wasn’t stopping it.
Finally, he ran out of supply; seeing disappointment in her eyes, he told her:
“Stay there. I’ll get you some food.”
On that note, he – unfortunately – put his coat back on his shoulders, before grabbing the bow and arrow he’d left down near his axe.
Then, her standoffish barbarian elf was on his way to kill something for her to eat.
For an obscure – and pretty stupid – reason, he’d decided to take care of her.
Her. Skadi, goddess of Winter. The Snow Queen.
Why the hell couldn’t she stop smiling?
Kai was serious about his responsibilities and today, he’d been on the rota as a hunter so first, he stopped by the village and dropped off a dozen rabbits and pheasants with Fyn, kissing the old lady’s cheek before trying to run for it.
“Wait a minute, boy. Where are you going so quick? And with… is that a duck?”
He shrugged, hoping she’d let it go, especially right now, as there were ten people with their eyes and pointy ears glued to them.
They’d noticed his absences, obviously; finding the girl had taken two days – two days when he’d barely been back to the village to sleep, before returning to his chase.
When he’d seen her curled up next to the bear, his heart all but stopped. It took a while to accept what his eyes were telling him: the animal wasn’t a danger to her.
Definitely some kinda witch, he’d reasoned.
Although she could apparently tame bears, she’d seemed so vulnerable in her sleep.
The animal had awoken when he’d approached, but guessing that it would be sharper than the average beast out there, Kai had told him he was no threat, willing every word to convince it.
Somehow, it worked. The bear watched silently, as he built them a fire.
Kai fed him most of the rabbit he’d trapped, before cooking himself a leg.
Then, he’d insulated the space as best he could, before going to sleep too, staying at the entrance of their cave until dawn.
It was the first night he’d spent away from the village, save for the scheduled trips to town, so he was hardly surprised at Fyn’s – and the rest of the villager’s – curiosity.
Catching his glance towards the preying eyes, Fyn offered: “Why don’t I walk with you?”
They’d barely closed the door behind them when the old lady jumped on it.
“You’ve found her, then?”
“Ladies. Always after a good bit of gossip.”
“Don’t underestimate me, boy. I’m after a niece, if you can manage it; otherwise, a nephew would do.”
Kai felt the corner of his lips lift again; it had happened more within the last few days than over the course of the previous decade.
“I’ve found the lady we spoke of, and built her a shelter. You might not recall how it works, but we’re a ways off from the baby-making process.”
He wasn’t denying that his pursuit might take him there; each time he saw her, he wanted to burry himself in her, to the hilt. It grew more violent, carnal every day – most especially when he’d felt her tongue on his finger, teasing him.
It also helped that Fyn, the oldest elder amongst them, hadn’t said a word against his infatuation, although she knew the girl was no elf.
“You may not want to carry this discussion forth, Kailan. I could tell you things that would make you blush about what I know of the baby-making process.”
He pretended to retch, and she chuckled, bumping him on the sides.
Truth was, Fyn had been the beauty of the Deldenhams, a long, long time ago. Hundreds had died to allow her to flee with books containing the history of their kind, when the gods had found their lands and destroyed most of their people, during the last war.
Or so the legend said. Fyn never breathed a word about those times.
All of that aside, he had no doubt that Fyn had had her fair share of suitors in her days, and she still did, fair as she was. The years had made her more unapproachable, but certainly no less appealing; although it hurt to admit that his aunt was a bombshell.
Kai frowned, thinking of the dozens of men she could choose from, because the little witch whose name he still didn’t know was just as stunning as the white-haired beauty by his side.
That meant she could have been tucked in safe, in a lord’s bed, if she’d wanted to be.
“Fyn, if anything was to make you change your mind about taking a companion, and raising a child of your own, what would it be?”
She thought it out for a long time, before exhaling a sighed.
“You’re asking the wrong person. I used to have a man and a child; it won’t happen again.”
That was news to him. He was tempted to push for an explanation, but she distracted him by answering the actual question he’d been asking:
“However, you’re wondering how to charm a girl who hides away in cold, frozen woods, isolated. I’d say the best thing you could tempt her with might be warmth. Company. Perhaps a little bit of love, too.”
He nodded. Right. Warmth, good company and love. Just what he was great at.
“You mean to say that I’m screwed.”
“Well, I’d vastly prefer if she was, boy.”