Page 25 of Saved

“Two have peanut butter and two have cheese.” I hadn’t appreciated how significant my choice of sandwich fillings had been when I’d gotten up early to prepare. “I wasn’t anticipating anyone else eating them.”

“Peanut butter’s good.” He took a bite, his gray eyes spearing me as he chewed.

“And the sleeping arrangements?” I shifted awkwardly on the hard chair as he took his time swallowing the first bite of sandwich.

The large room was silent, save for the occasional crackles from the fire. Far from reassuring, the quiet only amplified the anxiety his delay was heightening inside me. Fumbling with my foil-covered lunch, I couldn’t even contemplate taking a bite. The pang of hunger that had gnawed at me earlier was almost entirely absent.

“The bed is yours.” In the end, he played the gentleman, smirking before he took a second bite. “Good sarnie, by the way.”

“Thanks.” That was not what I’d expected him to say. “On both counts, but what about you? You need to sleep.”

“I’ll take the chair.” He nodded to the hearth. “And if we’re lucky, we can keep the fire going for a while longer.”

“A while longer?” Fresh apprehension tightened in my tummy at the idea of losing the source of heat we’d only just created. My legs were still freezing cold and our clothes still wet. We needed that fire. “But don’t we need the fire?”

“Yes, but we don’t have much wood.” His brow rose. “So, until I can check what, if anything, is stored outside, we need to ration the timber too.”

“Shit, you’re right.” Why hadn’t I thought of that?

Staring at the dancing flames, I felt like such a fool. I wasn’t even vaguely prepared for the challenges that Niantes had posed for me, and even then, after the ordeals of the day, my lack of experience showed.

“You should eat.” He gestured to the untouched sandwich in my hand. “Fueling your body is as important as fueling the fire. It will help to warm you.”

“I’m not really that hungry anymore.” I eyed the bread. “And anyway, it doesn’t feel right me eating in the warm and dry while Chelle’s out there on her own.”

My attention slid reflexively to the dark window beside the fireplace. The only thing visible beyond its pane was the relentless barrage of white flakes still falling outside. It was like an icy Armageddon had descended on the world without warning.

“You should stop tormenting yourself about Chelle.” He rose from the bed, dropping the foil into my bag. He’d demolished the whole sandwich in the time I’d been sitting there. “She’ll have found help by now.”

“We don’t know that.” The words caught in my mouth. “We don’t know what has happened to her.”

We didn’t knowanything.

“Please.” His harder tone captured my attention. “Eat one sandwich and then we can get some sleep.” Wandering closer to the window, he looked out at the pale expanse of smooth ice beyond the glass. “Hopefully, the snow will have stopped by morning.”

Pulling in a breath, I lifted the food to my mouth. Forcing myself to take a bite, my gaze fell back to the blaze.

How long before those flames started to dwindle? How long before the cold swept back into the cabin and closed its grasp around my ankles?

Closing my eyes, I tried not to dwell on the eventuality.

I didn’t like Eli’s plan, but it was the best we had.

---