Page 100 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

I rise from the bed, a little more wobbly than I care to admit. Mine grabs a long white shirt from his trunk.

“I’ll help,” he mentions as he slides the shirt over my head and carefully pulls my arms through the sleeves. The hem ofthe shirt almost reaches my knees, so I suppose now I’m pretty covered. But I still don’t feel too comfortable having this much flesh on display. Perhaps no one will notice when I walk back to my dorm because it’s dark out. Hopefully, my roommates will not notice either. Otherwise, that will start rumors.

I let out a deep sigh.

It seems that Aperion and Anthropa have much in common—both are ruled by stringent regulations and social mores. More than anything, both are ruled by gossip and hearsay.

“Can I borrow a coat, too?” I ask as I think better on it. I don’t want to risk being the subject of gossip this early into my job. I’ve heard how the females in this world talk about “easy girls” and I don’t want to be branded one.

“A coat?” He frowns. “Why? Are you cold? Do you need another sweater?” He’s already rummaging through his trunk for more clothes to give me, which I must admit is rather sweet.

“No, I’m fine. I just need something to cover myself while I walk to my dorm.”

He stops what he’s doing. Slowly, he turns to me.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he states in a resolute voice, folding his arms across his chest.

“Yes, I am.”

“No. You are not.”

“What are you on about, Mine? I can’t possibly stay here.”

“Why not? You’re injured. What if you bleed through the night and someone in the dorm sees? What if someone sees you walking alone across the base when you should have gone to sleep hours ago?”

“Well…” I trail off. He does have a point. “But I can’t sleep here,” I whisper. “It wouldn’t be proper.”

“I think we’re past propriety, Minnie. Wouldn’t you say so?” he asks with a lift of his brow.

“I suppose so.” I sigh. “But there’s only one bed.” I point to the bed behind me. It’s small, too. Not that I plan on sharing it with him. That’s out of the question.

A shiver goes down my back as I fail to control my imagination and I picture us both on the same bed. He’d be behind me, holding on tightly to me and lending me his body heat throughout the night. His body would be flushed against mine, and with our size differences, he would easily cradle me in his arms. His breath would be in my hair, blowing onto my cheek—warm, sweet…intoxicating.

Eyes growing wide with shock, I shake myself.

“You will take the bed. You are the injured one, after all. I can sleep on the floor.”

I glance at the unwelcoming floor. There’s some kind of covering put on top of the ground, but it wouldn’t be enough to stop the cold from seeping through. And itiscold at night. No matter how many blankets he were to put on the floor, he would still catch a chill.

“But it’s so cold,” I voice out my concern. “You will get sick. And you are human, Mine. A mere breeze can kill you,” I point out squarely.

An amused grin pulls at his lips.

“A breeze will kill me? Ah, tiny darling, you really have that little faith in me?”

“Well, yes. You are human.”

He blinks.

“That was a rhetorical question. You did not need to answer,” he mutters drily.

“But it is the truth. Would you rather I lie to you? You humans are so fragile. A little cold and you’ll catch that dreadful illness. What was it? Consumerism?”

“You mean consumption,” he corrects. “Though consumerism isn’t a wrong assessment.”

“Consumerism, consumption. Same thing. You’ll catch that and then you’ll be dead and who will help me defeat this greed demon?”

“I didn’t know you valued my help so much,” he drawls with a smile.

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