Page 73 of Cruel Crown

We strolled into the forest, and I followed Daphne since she knew the terrain. Her steps were slow and unhurried for the moment, but I wondered how much pain she was in.

“Say the word, Petal, and I’ll carry you.”

She turned to look at me, giving me a leisurely once-over. “Save your strength. We’re going to get altitude.”

We walked for about three hours, something that would have taken us half the time if Daphne wasn’t in pain. She walked a little more, and then we started to curve with the path. It was a good thing there wasn’t a lot of snow because this would have been a different experience.

When Daphne stopped, I noticed that we were on top of a cliff, and then there was a drop.

“Let me set up the sniper rifle, and then I will help you set up camp.”

“I got this, Petal.”

She turned to look at me as I took the shit out of the bag and gave me a smirk but didn’t say more. I took out a bunch of stuff that Bas said I would need. I’d never camped in the snow, but how hard could it be to figure this out?

Instead of figuring it out, I watched as Daphne dropped a black tarp on the snow, and then sitting down, she started to assemble her sniper.

Once that was done, she put it on the ground and lay down as she scanned the area from our view.

My dick was hard again.

Being a decent guy was bullshit.

“If you’re wondering, I’m even more turned on now,” she said when she noticed I was staring at her. She raised a brow at the mess I had laid before me. I hadn’t done shit.

When she started to get up, I held up a hand to stop her. “Just tell me what to do.”

My pride could take a hit if it meant she wasn’t overdoing it by trying to prove she was strong.

“You’re going to want to grab the tarp first, and with your foot take out the excess snow. Once that is done, lay it down, grab the tent, and put it over the tarp.”

Easy enough. I worked fast as Daphne kept resting, but I felt her eyes on me, and fuck did I like that. The tent looked like a caterpillar; to be honest, the material was strong enough to break wind.

“How cold will it get?” I asked as I started to work on our beds.

“Twenty negative.”

“Fuck, only you pompous arses would think this is some training bullshit exercise.”

She shrugged. “It tests a lot of skills.”

Our beds were supposed to inflate a bit so we weren’t lying on the ground. I looked around, but I didn’t find any sort of pump, so I started blowing on it. Twenty minutes later, one bed was fully inflated, and I regretted being a gentleman.

Sighing, I was about to grab the other bed when I felt her next to me. She grabbed what I thought was a pillowcase. She brought it down fast, letting it gather air, holding it like she would an unknotted balloon. Daphne inserted one of the covers to the bed, squeezing the air out.

“What the fuck, Petal? You sat back and let me breathe my life into this shitty bed!”

When she started to laugh, I knew I would fucking die blowing those damn beds if it meant I get that reaction.

“Give me that,” I said before I ripped it out of her hands. “Finish setting up.”

She started to walk away but then stopped herself and bent. It pissed me off because she just kept pushing her body to resist the pain she was in.

“I thought it was a turn-on watching you get our beds ready.”

“Get away from me before I stop giving a shit about your well-being and I fuck you senseless.”

“Promises, promises.”

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