Page 27 of This Frozen Heart

Kay nods once, his expression stoic, like his body isn’t trembling in my embrace. “Indeed, we did.”

Shaking my head at him, my heart pounding with joy to still be alive, I do the last thing either of us expects.

I kiss him.

Chapter Fourteen

Kay

Energy courses through me as I process how close Gerta and I came to certain death. But there’s no time for celebration, because our safety isn’t guaranteed. Neither is our marriage, which I am fairly certain Gerta would rather die than let come to pass. I certainly didn’t ask it from her.

Matrimony for us isn’t even something I have considered— at least not since a fleeting moment in boyhood. I certainly didn’t think Gerta would let the thought cross her mind, except now she is leaning toward me with puckered lips like she means to claim me forever.

Except . . . no official betrothal between us has been announced, so I turn my head. Gerta’s lips graze my cheek.

Considering how cold her lips are and how frozen my face is, the interaction shouldn’t have been anything other than chilly. Yet, it fills me with a strange warmth straight to my core.

Gerta pulls away and nearly topples backward. I have to catch hold of her to keep her from hitting the merciless white wall that would happily consume her. “I-I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me—”

“Your humours got mixed up in the thrill of the moment,” I assure, my voice coming out smooth despite the fact that even my fingers are twitching from her touch. “It is perfectly naturalto feel closer to the one who survived danger alongside with you, and I certainly won’t hold it against when your reason and logic return to you.”

“That’s very generous of you, I suppose.” She creases her brows like she can’t tell if that was an insult or not.

It’s not. I’m not sure I’m even capable of insulting her at this moment. Have her eyes always been so warm and brown?

Clearing my throat, I make sure Gerta is steady before disengaging from our awkward embrace. Then I hand her back her fur cap.

She stares at it for a long moment before putting it on her head.

Backing away, I slide to the back of the wall and glance down at my out-of-joint wrist.

“Does it hurt?” Gerta asks as she carefully slides to sit against the cliff with me. She looks a little nervous to be so close to me, but the other walls are moving, so it’s the best option.

“Not yet.” I uncuff my wrist to prepare for when my body registers pain again. Then, since Gerta can’t exactly go anywhere, I hand her the key next.

She quickly frees herself and then tosses the key into the white wall before I can register the possibility.

I purse my lips, and Gerta grins cheekily. Then she tosses the chain to the edge of our little refuge. It doesn’t get caught in the flow, though, and I grasp her leg before she can kick it.

“We might need that to climb back out,” I say.

Gerta glances down at where I’m grasping her thigh. “Hmph.”

I quickly release her. “Don’t think you can discard me as easily as that key, lassie. You’ll find I’m a bit harder to throw.”

“Please, if I wanted you dead, I’d have sacrificed you to the Snow Queen and saved myself all this unnecessary adventure.”

Rubbing my wrist that is losing its numbness faster than even my body can heal, I turn to her. “Whydidn’tyou sacrifice me? You had no qualms putting a knife into me a moment go.”Thatpain is gone, at least.

Flushing, she glances away. “I told you my code— freedom for myself and others. It would go against my code to sell you into slavery. Of course, it is within the parameters of my creed to defend my own freedom.”

“I am well aware.” Removing the scarf from the stab wound, I see the healed flesh beneath the hole in my tunic. Then I wrap the scarf around my wrist.

“What about you?”

“What about me?” I frown at the awkwardness of trying to tie a sling one-handed.

“Why didn’t you take the simple path and sacrifice me to the Snow Queen?”

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