Page 19 of Twins for the Secret Prince
Pieter sat up and held the foil blanket out to her. “You should use this for a while.”
Eva shook her head. “No, I want you to keep it around you. At least until your clothes are dry.” She watched him for a moment and added, “Good. You’ve stopped shaking.”
“I’ll go and collect some more wood in a minute,” he said, meaning it. He had to dosomethingto contribute to their survival. But, just as soon as he had the thought, Pieter felt a wave of dizziness and thought he was going to pass out. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths.
“Take it easy. I’ll go,” Eva said.
Pieter could hear the frustration and exhaustion in her voice. He’d let her down, and he knew it. He doubted she’d ever forgive him, and he couldn’t really blame her.
CHAPTER 7
EVA
Eva grumbled to herself as she hooked her fingers into a groove in the rock face and pulled herself up to the area where just half an hour earlier, she’d found the firewood. She was glad that Pete was unharmed; of course she was. But she couldn’t help but feel annoyed with him for disobeying her. Hauling his wet body out of the river had hurt her shoulder, and even though she’d never admit it to him, she wished he would — orcould— take a turn fetching wood for the fire.
Her clothes hadn’t even had time to dry through before she’d set out in search of more wood, and a chill had seeped into her bones, making her feel like she’d never be warm again. Meanwhile, he was lounging by the fire, staying warm and drinking some of her precious tea supply. She knew she should feel more magnanimous about the situation, but instead, she felt annoyed and grumpy. And tired — she felt tired enough to sleep for a whole dayandnight.
As Eva made her way back to their temporary camp, she slipped on the wet rock edge and fell with a thud onto the rocks below. She lay there for a moment, stunned and out of breath, thenchecked for any signs of broken bones. Fortunately, it seemed like she was only winded. She picked up the pieces of wood she’d dropped and carried on, limping slightly with a shooting pain in her right ankle.
When he saw her approaching, Pete rushed over and tried to take the firewood out of her arms.
“No, don’t. I’ve got it balanced. You’ll just make it worse,” Eva said, anger palpable in her voice.
“Thank you, Eva. I’m very sorry I’m not of more use to you.” Eva could feel his eyes on her as she added some wood to the fire, and then he asked, “Did I see you limping?”
“I slipped on the wet rocks coming down. Nothing serious.”
“Let’s get your leg elevated to try to keep the swelling down.” Pete made as though to put his arm around her waist, and Eva stepped away from him quickly. Pain shot up her leg.
“We need to keep this fire going. The wind’s picking up, and I don’t want it to go out.” She practically spat the words out, she was so angry.
“Okay. Please take this,” Pete said, holding out the foil blanket. “I know you haven’t had the chance to dry your clothes or warm up since we got here.”
Too tired to argue, Eva took the blanket and wrapped it around her body. “Are you hungry?” she asked after a minute.
“I’malwayshungry,” Pete replied, and the wistfulness in his voice made Eva smile.
“It’s not exactly cordon bleu, but I have a pouch of chili in my bag.”
“Chili? You have actual chili?”
“It’s dehydrated, but we can boil some water on the fire.”
“What do we cook it in?”
Eva nodded in the direction of the rocky overhang under which she’d set her thermal pot. Pete went to retrieve it, and she watched as he walked back to the fire, inspecting the flat pot.
“Pass it over,” Eva said. Pete handed it to her, and Eva quickly assembled the flat metal disc into a small cooking pot. “Ta-da.”
“Why have I never, ever seen anything this beautiful before?” he asked, looking at the pot in wonder.
“Haven’t you ever done wilderness survival training?”
“I have, but they never gave us equipment like this.”
Eva surprised herself by laughing. “It is a really amazing thing to have. You keep it in your survival bag, flat against your body, but then when you need it, hey presto, you can put it over an open flame.”
She filled the pot with rainwater, which took just a couple of minutes because it was raining heavily. Eva boiled the water, poured in the contents of the chili pouch, and stirred.
