“You should see if you can warm her up,” he said, and I arched a brow. “Before any of the others get the idea to do so.”
My spine stiffened. “That will not happen.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.”
I ignored that as I watched her. “She has bad dreams sometimes,” I said, lowering my voice even more as I faced Kieran. “Night terrors.”
Kieran, who’d witnessed mine hit more than either of us cared to admit, glanced back at her. “The scars?”
I nodded.
“Well, now you have even more reason to join her.”
“Shut up.” I turned back to Poppy. Her eyes were open again, and she was shivering even harder now.
I left Kieran’s side, his quiet laugh following me across the small clearing. Stopping, I knelt in front of Poppy, who now had her eyes closed, but I knew she was awake. I looked at her, grinning at how she’d wrapped herself in some sort of cocoon, leaving only her head visible.
“You’re cold.”
“I’m fine,” she muttered, teeth chattering. The tip of her nose was red, but her cheeks were pale.
My smile faded as I tugged off a glove, shoving it into the pocket of my cloak. I touched her cheek, drawing open her eyes. Shit. “Correction. You’re freezing.”
“I’ll warm up. Eventually.”
I appreciated the front she was putting on and her unwillingness to complain, but this could turn dangerous. “You’re not used to this kind of cold, Poppy.”
Her red-tipped nose scrunched. “And you are?”
“You have no idea what I’m used to.” I’d been in far colder and more…unpleasant situations than this, but I wasn’t mortal.
Poppy was.
I rose, going to where my bag sat a few feet from her head. I unhooked what I needed. Stepping over Poppy, I laid it out behind her. She watched me as I spread out the bedroll, then lowered myself next to the heavy fur blanket.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Making sure you don’t freeze to death.” I draped the pelt over my legs. I wasn’t that cold moving around, but lying still like this on the ground? My body would cool off. “If you did, that would make me a very bad guard.”
“I’m not going to freeze to death.”
“What you’re going to do is lure every Craven within a five-mile radius with your shuddering.” I stretched out next to her, briefly reminded of those few hours I’d fallen asleep beside her after the night of the Rite. She’d basically been unconscious then, and I hadn’t noticed how the entire length of my body so easily curved around hers.
“You can’t sleep beside me,” she stated.
“I’m not.” I rolled onto my side. Facing her, I took my blanket and draped it and my arm over her, but kept my hand hanging in the air.
Poppy blinked. “What do you call this, then?”
“I’m sleeping with you.”
Her eyes, only a few inches from mine, went wide. “How is that any different?”
“There’s a huge difference.”
She turned her head to the branches above us. “You can’t sleep with me, Hawke.”
“And I can’t have you freezing or getting sick. It’s too dangerous to light a fire, and unless you’d rather I get someone else to sleep with you,” I said, and other than Kieran, that was so not going to fucking happen, “there really aren’t many other options.”
“I don’t want anyone else to sleep with me,” she argued.
“I already knew that,” I teased.
“I don’t want anyone to sleep with me,” she corrected, head whipping toward mine again.
I met her gaze and held it. “I know you have nightmares, Poppy, and I know they can be intense. Vikter warned me about them.”
“He did?” Her voice was thick, hoarse.
“He did.”
Her eyes closed, and damn, I wished I could ease the pain I saw skittering across her pale, tight features.
But I knew I couldn’t.
“I want to be close enough to intervene in case you have a nightmare,” I continued, which was true. So was the fact that I was worried it may be too cold for her. “If you scream…”
Poppy exhaled slowly.
“So, please, relax and try to rest. We have a hard day ahead of us tomorrow if we have any hope of not being forced to spend two nights in the Blood Forest.”
She was quiet as she eyed me. So, I stayed that way, too. She didn’t know I’d fallen asleep beside her before. Having someone of the opposite sex sleeping beside her wasn’t something she’d experienced.
But she kept staring at me.
My lips twitched. “Go to sleep, Poppy.”
The exhale she let out was impressive, as was how she dropped her cheek back to the sack she used as a pillow. I sort of wondered if she’d hurt herself.
Silence fell between us, but I knew she didn’t sleep. Her shivering and the constant little movements gave her away. It was like being with her on Setti once more.
“This is wildly inappropriate,” she muttered.
I chuckled, always amused by what she found inappropriate compared to what she willingly engaged in. “More inappropriate than you masquerading as a wholly different kind of maid at the Red Pearl?”
She went silent.
“Or more inappropriate than the night of the Rite, when you let me—”
“Shut up,” she hissed.
“I’m not done yet.” I inched closer to her. “What about sneaking off to fight the Craven on the Rise? Or that diary—？”
“I get your point, Hawke. Can you stop talking now?”
I grinned at the back of her head. “You’re the one who started this.”
“Actually, no, I did not.”
“What?” I laughed. “You said, and I quote, ‘This is wildly, grossly, irrefutably…’”
“Did you just learn what an adverb is today?” she asked. “Because that is not what I said.”
“Sorry.” I wasn’t sorry. “I didn’t realize we were back to pretending we hadn’t done all those other inappropriate things. Not that I’m surprised. After all, you’re a pure, untainted, and untouched Maiden. The Chosen. Who’s saving herself for a Royal husband,” I went on. “Who, by the way, will not be pure, untainted, or untouched—”
Poppy attempted to hit me but only managed to uncover half of herself.
I laughed.
“I hate you.” She tugged the blanket back to her chin.
“See, that’s the problem. You don’t hate me.”
Poppy couldn’t deny that.
“You know what I think?” I said.
“No. And I don’t want to know.”
Of course, that was a lie. “You like me.”
Again, Poppy couldn’t deny that.
“Enough to be wildly inappropriate with me,” I pointed out. “On multiple occasions.”
“Good gods, I’d rather freeze to death at this point.”
I grinned at her snippiness. “Oh, right. We’re pretending none of that happened. I keep forgetting.”
“Just because I don’t bring it up every five minutes doesn’t mean I’m pretending it didn’t happen.”