A faint breath of amusement escaped him then, quieter than laughter yet warmer than she had heard from him before.
“Nay. Only when I know something to be true.”
Bria studied him for a moment. “And you know I will sleep?”
“I know you are exhausted.”
She could not deny it. Fear alone had drained her more than she cared to admit.
Kaelan rose then and crossed toward the raised stone bed near the wall. He slipped off his cloak and spread it across the surface before stepping back.
“You will sleep there.”
“I will not take your only warmth. My cloak will suffice, and where will you sleep?”
His gaze shifted briefly toward the bed then the fire. “You will make use of my cloak, and I have rested in worse places and with less clothing.”
Bria could not keep her cheeks from flaming, an image of him naked rising vividly in her mind. Though how accurately it was, she could not be sure.
“I’d be more than happy to satisfy your curiosity,” he said with a faint chuckle.
Her cheeks flamed as hot as the logs, embarrassing her even more and she scolded him. “It is not proper for you to assume what my thoughts might be.”
“You are even more appealing when you blush, and you should know that I am anything but proper,” he cautioned.
You are even more appealing… his words continued to ring repeatedly in her head.
He found her appealing. That might explain his kiss, as faint as it was and tempting as well.
“This is not the time or place,” she scolded once more.
“Nay, it isn’t, but one day, soon enough, it will be.”
Again, he spoke with confidence that could not be ignored, as if he knew something she didn’t.
“You assume too much,” she said.
“I assume nothing, Bria, and in time you won’t either. Now sleep. We have much walking to do tomorrow.”
There were those words again… in time. She was tired of hearing them, annoyed that they explained little, and wondered what they meant.
“Sleep,” he said. “I will keep watch.”
The fire burned lower as time slipped quietly past. Outside, Driochmor seemed to breathe around them. Strange calls drifted through the trees now and then, some distant, others unsettlingly near. Once, something large moved beyond the clearing, branches cracking softly beneath its weight before silence swallowed it once more.
Through it all, Kaelan remained calm, watchful, and somehow that calm continued to ease her.
Bria had spent much of her life sensing the emotions of others, learning to soothe fear and pain before it consumed them. Yet never before had another person’s presence affected her so strongly in return.
When Kaelan drew near, the unease inside her quieted. When he touched her, warmth spread through her that had nothing to do with fire. And that frightened her in ways Driochmor could not.
The cold deepened steadily as the night wore on. Though Kaelan kept the fire still burning, chill crept through the ruins, curling through cracks in the stone and settling heavily acrossthe floor. Bria pulled his cloak more tightly around herself but could not stop the shiver that ran through her.
Kaelan noticed at once. Without a word, he crossed toward her.
Bria looked up as he crouched beside her.
“You are cold.”
