Page 18 of Desire

The empty bedframe beside me shook against the floorboards.

“Stop talking,” I said, fisting my hands and fighting for calm.

No one else spoke.

It was a long time before I fell asleep.

I woketo the sound of a steady drip and wet, cold feet. Curling into a tighter ball, I moved my feet away from the leak.

“They’re trying to fix it,” Liam said from below. “Do you want another blanket?”

My answer was to ball up the one I had and toss it over the edge. A few moments later, a new blanket landed on me. A second followed.

“Let me know if you need another,” Liam said.

I huddled under the dry blankets and rubbed my feet together as I listened to the rain fall outside. Eventually, the drips stopped.

“That’s it,” Garron called.

Daemon said something I couldn’t quite hear.

“She’s awake. Her bedding was wet,” Garron said softly.

The light from the fire increased as one of them added wood. Outside, the sky rumbled softly.

The door closed, and I listened to the soft rustle of clothes.

“Kellen?” Brandle called softly.

“The leak stopped,” I said. “Go to sleep.”

“What happened before dinner…we didn’t mean to?—”

The bed started shaking beside me.

“Go to sleep,” I repeated.

“We can’t. We’re worried about you.”

“You should be. Unless you want this cottage to shake apart, you will remain silent and give me the peace I need to calm myself,” I said.

Eadric, that sweet man, was the first to succumb to sleep. His soft snores comforted me, and I eventually joined him.

When I woke, rain still fell outside, but the sky was lighter—light enough that I could see inside the cabin.

I rolled onto my back and opened the book beside me.

“There are oats on the table when you’re hungry, Princess,” Darian said from below.

His soft footfalls sounded across the floor, and I heard the latch rattle. As soon as the door closed behind him, I turned onto my stomach and peered over the edge of the loft.

The cottage was empty save for a bowl of steaming oats on the table near the fire. The food called to me since I’d skipped my dinner, but I descended from the loft and slipped on my boots and cloak instead of eating. Though I had no desire to face the men of the glade, I needed the privy.

Pulling my hood low, I opened the door and stepped out into the steadily falling rain. I didn’t look to see where they might be but walked the path to the privy alone. When I finished, I fetched a pail of water and carried it back to the cottage.

After shedding my cloak and boots, I filled the washbowl and warmed it with a silent spell. Twice. I washed my hands and face with the steaming water and began to feel more like myself.Enough so that I sat at the table, opened the book I’d been reading, and ate the oats.

The book consumed my thoughts, for which I was grateful. I learned to light a candle before starting a more in-depth study of the energy cost of spells.

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