Page 18 of Fates Fulfilled
He rubbed his hands in her hair, his fingers sifting through it and massaging her scalp.
“What are you doing?” she said, because his hands were like heating pads. She closed her eyes, and an uncontrolled hum of pleasure came from the back of her throat.
“Drying your hair.”
And somehow that seemed totally normal, a guy drying her hair with his bare hands.
He must have decided her hair was dry enough, because he stopped after a minute or two, and Lex frowned.
She reluctantly reached for her socks and the thick boots they’d given her after she’d stopped panicking in the Land of Ice, careful not to dislodge herself from the Garrin cocoon. Once her boots were on, she gripped the edges of his coat and pulled them together until she couldn’t see out.
“We should leave, Lex.” She shook her head, and he sighed. “Much as I am enjoying holding you, we must leave and make up the time we lost.”
Did he really enjoy holding her? As much as she enjoyed being held by him?
“What would happen if we didn’t go?” Staying warm and cuddling with Garrin seemed more important for survival at the moment.
She felt his chin rest on the top of her head. “We are running out of food.”
Until he said that.
8
Day after day they traveled, and Garrin was fairly confident they were going in the right direction. One never knew in the Land of Ice. But after centuries of trudging through the terrain, and with Amund’s sense of power levels centering them somewhere between Dark Kingdom and New Kingdom, he was certain they were on the right track.
Only every day that passed, Lex weakened, particularly this last week with the cold snap that had hit them.
This morning, she collapsed shortly after they’d started the long, arduous walk, and Garrin ran to her.
“Can’t,” she said, her lips barely moving. “Don’t feel well.”
“Shh.” He cradled her in his arms. “Conserve your energy,” he said, then shouted for Zirel.
Zirel and Amund hurried over, their cheeks gaunt, lips cracked, with dark circles marring the skin beneath their eyes. Garrin suspected he looked no better.
If he and his men were this bad off from malnutrition, cold, and lack of proper sleep, he could only imagine how Lex’s health fared. She might present with a Fae’s energy level, but her body wasn’t sustaining like a Fae’s.
After spending the last three weeks walking on her own and slowly losing energy, her lips were beyond blue; they were gray. Every night he lay awake worrying about her. He’d lost much of his magic due to exhaustion and could barely keep himself, let alone her, warm throughout the night.
He pulled off her gloves, and she whimpered. Her fingertips were charred-looking. Garrin’s stomach turned, and he clutched her closer.
“She is dying,” Zirel said.
“No.” Garrin’s jaw firmed. He wouldn’t allow it. He looked at Amund hopefully. “Your powers?”
Amund couldn’t take them any great distance, or they would have done so after they’d entered Tirnan, and now he was just as weakened as Garrin. But perhaps if they jumped through a few short portals, they could get close enough that Lex would be able to survive the last leg of the journey.
Amund’s cheeks were burnished from the bitter wind battering them daily. None of them healed like normal in the Land of Ice. “Drained after the last few jumps.”
With their food stores depleted, none of them had the resources to gain back magic.
Garrin looked at Lex, scanning her features desperately. “She cannot die.”
Zirel and Amund sank down, surrounding Lex and trapping in whatever heat they had left.
Amund lifted his head and closed his eyes, breathing in and out. “We are near the Great Ravine,” he finally said.
The Great Ravine marked the halfway point between Dark Kingdom and the other kingdoms of Tirnan. They were farther behind than Garrin had thought. Not only that, but the Great Ravine was said to be the origin of the magic that prevented Dark Fae from leaving their land. Many had fallen to their demise in its jagged depths.
