Nadine untied the bed roll from her pack. Magnus watched in quiet curiosity that morphed to outright fascination when she shook the thing out and brought it to where he sat against Yrsa’s body. She held it up high against herself and stopped just in front of him. “Scoot over.”
Magnus arched a brow. “Why?”
Nadine glared at him. “Move.”
Magnus rolled, and Nadine set the bedroll down alongside Yrsa’s body as though she meant to sleep tucked up against his mount’s belly. Precisely where Magnus had been sitting.
She pointed at the roll. “Sit there.”
Magnus did as she bid. He sat on her bedroll, but left his boots planted in the snow in front of him. Plenty of space on the roll to his left side. His stomach fluttered as a possibility ignited within him.
No. She wouldn’t.
Nadine returned to her pack and dug out a pair of wool blankets. She didn’t unfold them, merely set them down in a stack in the empty spot she’d left on the bed roll. Then she turned to Magnus, who stared up at her with what could only have been incredulity. Her next words threw him off even further. “Aren’t you going to take off your clothes?”
Magnus peeled his tongue off the roof of his mouth. “I . . . um, yeah. I was just waiting to warm up a bit first.”
Nadine rolled her eyes so hard Magnus thought she might lose them inside her skull. “Shuraa ket, you’d think I’d grown up in lands of eternal winter. I’ll be back.”
She started toward the camp. Magnus watched her go with excitement brewing in his chest. He shouldn’t allow himself to hope. After all, she might very well return only to set him up with a place to sleep and then be on her merry way. But then, why had she used her things to do so? He glanced toward Yrsa’s head, which was already half-buried in the snow. “I think we’re going to get lucky, girl.”
Yrsa huffed, melting the snow around her nostrils.
Nadine returned with dry clothes she must have retrieved from Erik. Her expression looked tighter than when she’d left, and Magnus made a mental note to question Erik later. Had he been rude to her? It wasn’t like his older brother to make enemies of people. But then, these were difficult times, and the Ebronians were difficult people. Even so, irritation welled in Magnus’s gut. Nadine was his hamma. Erik would respect that, or he and Magnus were going to have a problem.
“Change into these.” Nadine dumped dry pants into Magnus’s lap, and they hit his legs with a dull thump.
Magnus grinned. “My fingers are still pretty numb.”
Nadine pursed her lips. “I can slice them off if you think there’s no saving them.”
Magnus chuckled, then climbed to his feet. Nadine surveyed the camp as he changed. His relief was almost instant. He should have done this as soon as he’d left the lake, but he’d been too cold to get started. His Dokiri blood was likely all that had saved him from shock at this point.
“You can turn around now. It’s safe.” Enough.
Nadine gave him a quick glance up and down and nodded. “Sit.”
He obeyed as she gathered his old clothes and shook the snow and ice off them. She disappeared once more, probably to hang them up. Magnus realized suddenly that he was being cared for much like a prickly mother might her son—or a hamma, her hatu. He tipped his head against Yrsa. He could get used to this. Someday, when Nadine had claimed him, this ritual would include food in both their bellies and nights wrapped up in lovemaking until they’d both completely spent themselves in pleasure. Until then, watching his beautiful bride tend to his needs while he sat half-frozen against his gegatu on the side of the mountain would have to do. He smiled. No complaints from him.
When she returned with a second bedroll under her arm, Magnus found himself holding his breath. She bent to yank off his boots, then laid the second roll out under his feet. In one fluid motion, she dropped to her knees and shoved the folded up blankets aside to sit next to him.
Magnus slung his elbows over his propped knees and turned his head only a little so he might watch her from the corner of his eye. She grabbed the first blanket and shook it out, then tucked it neatly around her lap before carelessly tossing it over his. She did the same with the second blanket and leaned forward only to be sure they covered his feet. Magnus snuck a glance down the slender length of her back and rounded ass. Oh to have her sitting in front of him. He wetted his lips before she leaned back.
She spent another minute fussing with the edge of the blankets. She was stalling, putting off the moment she’d have to acknowledge the enormity of what she’d just done. Finally, she met his gaze. She blinked at him, and he, at her. If she thought he would make it easy on her, she didn’t know him well enough. He raised a brow.
“Go to sleep,” she commanded.
Magnus sputtered, then laughed. “Go to sleep?”
She stared him down, or rather, up. Her full lips formed into a line. “I didn’t come here for conversation.”
Magnus made a show of dramatically looking at the sky. “It’s not even twilight, woman.” In truth, he was exhausted. But he wouldn’t forsake this chance to tease her.
Nadine looked undeterred. “Your mount doesn’t seem to care.”
Magnus snorted. “My mount sleeps all but as many minutes as it takes for her to eat. A fine way to live life, but not one I’ve been able to get away with.”
“Fine. Don’t sleep. Only, don’t talk to me.”
“Glanshi.” Magnus frowned with mock mortification. “Then why are you here, woman? If not for a stimulating conversation?” He grinned. “Looking for another kind of stimulation?”
Nadine pulled the blankets around herself and huffed. “You saved my second’s life today. And you did it after volunteering yourself at the front. I respect that. As commander of this mission, it would be foolish of me to let you freeze to death.”
“So you’re here to warm me up?”
Nadine inclined her chin in assent.
Magnus bit down on his tongue to keep from laughing. Oh, he was cold, to be certain. His own brother, Hollen, had died and been resurrected after being plunged into an icy lake. But he was Dokiri and naturally resistant to the elements. She’d have been more useful warming her pathetic friend. Of course, he’d go diving back beneath the ice before he admitted that to Nadine. In fact . . .
Magnus manufactured a shiver and threw his arm over Nadine’s shoulders. She went rigid.
“Easy, now. Just accepting your offer.”
To his utter surprise, she didn’t immediately throw him off. Instead, after a breath, she relaxed into him. Magnus could almost feel guilty for pretending. Almost.
Nadine inhaled and exhaled a little sigh that sent an all new kind of shiver down Magnus’s flesh. Oh she was warming him all right. From the cock out. She was softer, easier, than she had been when he’d held her against the wall of the temple or when he’d carved his mark into her on the altar. This time she wasn’t fighting him.
This time she was simply with him.
11
Flares in the Night
The sun had never burned so hot. Or dark.
Nadine’s sleep-dried eyes slid open. A million stars shone from the black sky above. She was sweating, a fact that became all the more apparent as she shifted beneath the heavy wool blankets she shared with the barbarian. Yudvir, he was warm. Had he caught a fever? Panic shot through her, and she turned toward him to test his temple with the back of her hand.