My nose wrinkled at the smoky stench wafting from the bundle. I was too tired to wash them right now, and clothes were too much of a precious commodity to throw them away. However, they wouldn’t be coming into our tree house until I scrubbed them.
I held the blanket open for him, but he shook his head and tugged it closed around my shoulders again. “You mu… st be free… freezing,” I protested through my chattering teeth.
“It’s invigorating.”
“Ryker—”
“I’m fine. Let’s get you back to the camp.”
“You’re na… naked.”
“I am.”
This was apparently perfectly fine for him; it wasn’t for me. I didn’t want anyone else seeing him like this.
Before I could say anything more, he draped his arm around my shoulders, tucked me against his side, and started walking back toward the encampment. I glimpsed some of the other amsirah moving through the woods, but no one approached us, and I didn’t think they could see him; I still didn’t like it.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Ellery
When I continued to shiver,Ryker ran his hands up and down my arm. “You have to get warmed up, and you need some sleep.”
“So do you,” I said; my teeth still chattered, but not so much that they made speaking difficult.
“My father isn’t going to relent.”
“No, but you can’t keep going until you collapse. That won’t do anyone any good.”
“I have some things I have to do; I’ll meet you in the tree house.”
“What do you have to do?”
“I need to make sure everyone is prepared for him tounleashmoreviolence. We’ll have to move fast when that happens.”
“Your father lost a lot of men last night. The poltergeists were ruthless, and many creatures from the forest ate well; he won’t send more men into the woods so soon after those losses. Many of them might rebel against it happening.”
“No one is going to rebel against my father.”
“You did.”
“It took years of abuse for that to happen, and he controls alotmore of Tempest now than he did then. He’ll do something soon.”
I sighed as I tried not to lose patience with his stubborn nature. “You need to rest, Ryker.”
“I will… soon.”
“Notsoon, now. And there’s not much you can do, considering the fact you’re naked.”
He glanced at himself like he’d forgotten this before shrugging. “It’s fine.”
I glowered at him. “It’s notfine. You wouldn’t let me traipse around here naked.”
Where his lips twitched toward a smile, my eyes narrowed. He held up his free hand. “I’ll get dressed before I go.”
“You should get dressed before we enter the camp again.”
I didn’t blame him for not putting his filthy clothes back on, I certainly didn’t, but while there were amsirah in this area, they weren’t close enough to see him. That would change once we entered the camp.
