Page 49 of Ties of Frost

Loved him?

I startled as Kyrundar placed a pale hand over mine on the hilt of my sword.

“It’s all right. You’re safe now.” His expression hardened. “From now on, if we must sleep outside, you’re staying in my shelter with me. No magic or person can enter without me sensing it. I’ll put an enchanted threshold on the door of any Haven we stay at as well. I don’t want to count on the heartbond awakening me in time again.”

“The heartbond?”

He nodded. “I was awoken by a sense that you were in danger. I’m sure it was because of the heartbond.” For a moment it seemed like he might say something more, but then he closed his mouth.

So the heartbond had some usefulness. Hating something that had saved my life was more difficult than hating something that caused only discomfort.

Well, not only. The last few nights, the heartbond had felt oddly comforting. Safe, in a way.

“In fact”—Kyrundar picked up his swords—“we should go inside my shelter in case the assassin returns.” He stood and started back in the direction of camp. “I’ll need to make it larger first, though…” He kept mumbling something half to himself as I trailed after him.

It didn’t take him long to enlarge the shelter. While he did that, I returned my sword to its scabbard and gathered up my cloak and pack. As soon as Kyrundar announced theshelter was ready, I ducked inside. By the look he gave me, he’d expected me to argue. But with my throat and lungs still aching and bruises covering my body, I was more than ready to accept some reassurance that I wouldn’t awaken again to slithering shadows wrapping me in a crushing embrace of death.

I felt my way through the darkness inside the shelter and sat near a wall, listening to Kyrundar move past me and fumble for something in his pack.

“Where is it…ah-ha.”

A golden-hued light flared to life, and he placed a glowing stone the size of his fist on the ground. The light elf magic cast a warm illumination over the spacious interior. Next he pulled on a thin white shirt, then retrieved a roll of bandages and a knife. He moved to my side and reached for my arm.

“You started to shift, so I need to check on this. Don’t argue.”

I cast him a flat glare. “I wasn’t going to.”

“Oh. Good.” He unwrapped the bandage. Soon I felt the gentle coolness of his magic prodding around the aching wound. “I don’t think the curse has spread, but my barrier is weakened. I’ll have to strengthen it again.”

“Understood.” I didn’t meet his eyes as I added, “Thank you.”

Either I was getting used to the pain, or it wasn’t as bad. Perhaps because Kyrundar didn’t have to pull the ice curse back through my veins this time. His expression still tightened with discomfort, but it was over quickly.

“We need to travel faster,” he muttered. “Do you feel that?”

“What?” I looked down to see his fingertips pressing against the discolored edges of the dark-red puncture mark.

Kyrundar sighed and started wrapping my arm in a fresh bandage. “You’re losing sensation around the affected skin. The cold is likely killing your flesh. I’m trying to slow it, but the curse itself needs to come out. It needed to come out days ago,” he added under his breath.

“Thank you for doing what you can,” I said.

His eyes locked with mine. “You’re welcome.”

The warmth of his sincerity crackled through the heartbond. I cleared my throat and stared across the shelter at the curved wall of packed snow. “I didn’t know the heartbond could be sensed while you’re asleep.”

His hands slowed, but then he tied off and trimmed the bandage. He moved to sit with his back to the wall beside me. “It might be because I fell asleep while…I don’t know. Holding it? Concentrating on it might be a better way to explain it.”

“Why would you do that?”

He wriggled as if getting more comfortable. “You’ve seemed restless. I hoped somehow I could put you at ease. Help you calm your emotions enough to sleep.”

A lump caught in my throat. That was why the last few nights the heartbond had felt so…cozy? Kyrundar was doing that? Onpurpose?

I didn’t know what to make of it.

That wasn’t true. I knew why he would do that; I evenknew why I might like it.

But I didn’t want to admit that I’d realized he liked me, and I certainly didn’t want to admit I liked him as well. These feelings were a ridiculous and passing side effect of the heartbond.

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