Page 103 of The Hunter's Empire

For a moment, genuine irritation flashes across her face. Then I see the answer click into place. Her expression changes almost instantly as she remembers the bullets tearing through the aircraft and the people who had gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure she didn’t survive.

Her eyes drift back toward the darkness beyond the cave. "Oh."

"Yeah."

Silence settles between us again, broken only by the wind weaving through the rocks. It whistles into the cave, carrying enough cold with it to make her shiver once more.

"Great." She mutters, rubbing her hands over her arms. "So we're stranded on an island with a group of armed psychopaths somewhere outside."

"Looks that way."

She keeps staring toward the entrance for several long seconds before letting out a quiet, humorless laugh.

"You know, when I imagined paradise, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

I lean my head back against the cave wall, unable to stop the faint smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth. "Your standards are unreasonable, Elf."

She rolls her eyes so dramatically that I almost laugh.

For the first time since she opened her eyes, though, I catch the faintest hint of a smile trying to break through the fear, and somehow, that feels like the first genuinely good thing that's happened since the jet fell out of the sky.

The cave grows noticeably colder as the last of the daylight disappears. Zora tries to ignore it, hugging her arms around herself as if stubbornness alone could keep the cold at bay, but the steady shiver running through her body tells a different story.

I watch her for a moment before finally speaking.

"Take off the wet clothes." I say.

Her head turns sharply in my direction. For a second, she simply stares at me, as though she’s trying to decide whether I actually said those words or if the near-drowning experience has finally damaged her hearing.

"I'm sorry?" She replies.

"The wet clothes." I repeat. "Unless your long-term survival plan involves freezing to death."

Disbelief flashes across her face. "You cannot be serious."

I let out a slow breath. "You're shaking so hard your teeth are practically filing for divorce."

The look she gives me suggests violence.

"I'm cold." She says.

"That's usually how hypothermia starts."

Zora stares at me for another moment before narrowing her eyes. "Did you really just use hypothermia as a pickup line?"

A laugh escapes me despite myself. "If that's what you took from that sentence, I have concerns."

"You have concerns?"

"Several."

Another shiver runs through her before she can continue arguing, immediately destroying whatever dignity she is trying to maintain. I don't even have to say anything. The expression on my face does the work for me.

She notices. Predictably.

"Don't look at me like that." She warns.

"Like what?"