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“You haven’t eaten in just as long as me—”
“I’ll hunt if I’m hungry. Eat so we can get moving.”
She dropped her argument and ate the entire thing with her fingers, cleaning off by rubbing snow across her lips and palms. “I can see the ocean. We’re getting close. But how are we going to get down?”
“I have no idea.”
“We can’t climb.”
“We’ll have to find a way once we get closer.”
“Or we can go back the way we came—”
“Suicide.”
“And you think climbing down a snowy mountain isn’t?” she snapped.
“Look, I could have just left you there and rode off on a horse. I’m only stuck up here because I saved your life—”
“Because you needed me for a ship, asshole.”
I released an irritated sigh, feeling a subtle migraine behind my temple because I was hungry and tired. Getting the venom from the golden serpents had come at great sacrifice—and I’d better be rewarded for it when I returned home. “Let’s keep moving. We need to cover as much ground as possible before dark.”
* * *
We had a clear view of the ocean just before dark, and I knew we didn’t have much farther to go. The mountains jutted up against the cliff, and the only way higher was the path carved into the rock.
That meant we had to go down.
She got to work starting the fire for the night.
We’d gotten lucky these last few nights, with no one on the mountains spotting our small campfire and the smoke that wafted up into the sky, and I feared our luck would soon run out. But if she didn’t stay warm, she would probably die. I could tell she was sick by the way her voice sounded different. She did her best to hide it, like being sick was a sign of weakness, and I feared it would turn into something more serious if I didn’t get her back quickly.
She sat in front of the fire, the cloak tight around her, and she said nothing as she stared at the flames. Even when she was sick and cold and in the same clothes for several days in a row, she was still a beautiful woman. The elements could conquer a mountain, but they couldn’t conquer her looks.
“You need to get some sleep.”
“What about you? You don’t sleep, eat, or wear a cloak, and you’re fine…”
Now I knew she was intimidated by me, that she felt pressured to keep up or she would look weak in comparison. It was a competition, but if she knew what I really was, she would know it was a competition she couldn’t win. “You don’t have to prove anything to me, Harlow.”
“I’m not proving anything.”
“Then sleep.”
“How can I sleep on a cold rock in the snow?” she asked incredulously. “I’ve tried, and it doesn’t work.”
“If you don’t sleep, your cold will turn into pneumonia and kill you.”
“I’m not sick—”
“You said you weren’t trying to prove anything.”
Her arms circled her knees, and she pulled them close, her eyes glaring into mine before going back to the fire. “I dropped my guard around you, and you made a fool out of me. I won’t do that again.”
“And pretending you aren’t sick and cold and tired does that, how?”
“My father always said to never let your enemies know your weakness.” Her eyes moved back to mine, and there was a surge of anger that accompanied it, anger so powerful I could feel it despite her waning strength.
