Page 56 of Born of Ice

“Where are you trying to drag me to at…” I look around, finally noticing that the room is still bathed in semi-darkness. “Jesus Christ, why did you wake me up in the middle of the night?”

“It’s sunrise, Electra.”

I stop fighting him, stilling on the bed before I lift myself up. “Sunrise?”

“Yeah, they said it will be a clear day. So, I thought you might like that.” Exton rubs the back of his neck sheepishly while all I can do is blink and stare at him.

He remembered…but not only that, he got up and made sure I didn’t miss it either.

“Yeah,” I say past the thick lump in my throat. “Yeah, I’d like that very much.” I start to work my way toward my chair when two strong hands slip underneath me, lifting me up. “Wha—”

“Shhh, it’s too early for the angry elf energy to come out, okay?” He shuts me up and instead of getting me into my chair, he carries me out of the room like it’s the most natural, normal thing.

All of a sudden, I become very aware of my hands on his bare chest and of something poking me against my lower side, right above my hip bone where I can feel things. Oh God, is that…is he…hard?

My eyes frantically scan my own body, checking to see if I’m not flashing him again like I did the other night but when I look down, I see that I’m still in the same long sleeve and leggings that I had on last night.

And just like that the memories come back. From yelling to tears to confessions and hurting.

“Later,” Exton murmurs as if he can hear where my mind went. “We can get back to that later. For now, show me your whole sunrise magic.”

The corners of my lips curl up and I give him a soft, “Okay.”

Exton brings me to the living room, lowering me to the couch, but he doesn’t sit next to me, instead sliding to the floor with his back resting against my legs and a shiver runs through me.

A tiny prickle of something just flashes through there.There, where he is touching me.Thereas in my legs… No, no that couldn’t be.

“Cold?” he asks, looking over his shoulder and I nod, even though the temperature is more than comfortable. Exton looks around until his eyes catch on the knit blanket that I have laying on the chair and without needing to get up he extends his inhumanly long arm, snatching it up for me. “Here,” he says, and I take it from him, covering not only my legs but a part of his shoulders, because he never did get up from his position there.

“So, we just sit and wait?” he asks.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Riveting,” he mumbles with a yawn, and I chuckle.

“Well, it was you who got up first, so don’t complain now.”

“I saw today’s forecast and knew you wouldn’t want to miss it,” he says through another yawn and my heart skips a beat. Does he mean, he looked it up? Specifically, for me?

“Don’t think too hard over there, angry elf. It’s just a sunrise,” Exton adds, once again sensing my thoughts without me voicing them, but this time my cheeks heat up.

I didn’t mean it like that. I know he’s not interested in me like a man in a woman—although that erection he has going on does confuse me—I meant it more in a friendship way. From his side.

No, we won’t discuss it from my side. Nope.

“Then shut up and enjoy it.” I try to get back into our normal banter and it works because his shoulders shake with a silent chuckle.

And then the magic happens. The first rays of that morning light warm up the cold skies above, painting it in shades of faint yellows and pinks as they shimmer against the frozen, sparklylake. It’s like watching millions of diamonds wake up and dancing just for us.

It’s beautiful, mesmerizing, enchanting. It’s moments like these when you feel nothing but awe for that ice, and a connection so deep it might as well be a part of your DNA.

“Tell me what you feel?” Exton says softly, stealing my attention for a second before I give it back to the magic in front of us. It doesn’t even surprise me anymore that he somehow knew what I was thinking about once again. No, it doesn’t surprise me at all, not after last night.

So I sink into the cushions of the couch he deemed too uncomfortable to sleep on and inhale the beauty before my eyes. “I feel it calling me.”

Without explanations, Exton knows what I mean. That’s something I can also feel, but don’t say out loud.

“It is,” he tells me. “I can hear it too.”

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