Page 103 of North Queen
He didn’t respond. Naturally.
“Did you not hear me?” she pressed.
“Before nightfall,” he clipped shortly.
Norah pursed her lips in agitation. His answer brought little comfort. Nightfall was still a far way off. Despite her cloak, the wetness had begun working its way into her layers, and she started to shiver. As they rode on, the wind picked up and the air felt colder. The snow began to layer on her arms and legs. The winter wind burned her face, and she buried her chin into the fur collar of her jacket. Time passed slowly, and Norah found just breathing to be difficult.
She couldn’t bear it any longer. “We need to stop,” she called to the commander. “We should build a fire.”
“We can’t stop.”
They continued into the late afternoon. Norah couldn’t control her shaking. The cold stabbed the inside of her chest, and she couldn’t draw a breath.
They trudged on, with their horses starting to struggle in the snow. The reins slipped from her frozen fingers. She couldn’t make her hands work to get them, but her horse followed his. Her teeth chattered, and she bit her tongue but didn’t feel the pain. Sleep called to her.
The commander looked back at her and mumbled what she assumed to be a slew of curses. He reined back beside her and pulled her from her horse, sitting her in front of him. She would have rather frozen to death, but she didn’t have the strength to fight him. He wrapped his cloak around them both and urged his destrier forward again.
The temperature dropped quickly as nightfall drew near. The commander held her close as they rode, trying to build warmth between them. Norah could barely hold her head up. Her body was so cold that it no longer shivered.
“Stay awake,” he said, but she couldn’t keep her eyes from closing. “North Queen,” he snarled, “you need to stay awake.”
But she couldn’t help but let the darkness consume her.
Norah’s eyes fluttered open, and she found herself tangled in Alexander as they lay in a wheaten field under the summer sun.
“Alexander?”
He smiled down at her, his blue eyes shining.
She’d missed him. “Am I dreaming?” She put her hand on his chest and spread her fingers against his skin.
“North Queen,” he said.
“Why do you call me that?” she whispered. His body felt good close to hers, and she burrowed into him. “I’m cold, Alexander. I’m so cold.”
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. His warmth was inebriating, and she smiled as she nestled deeper. Norah let her lips graze his chest and felt a surge of heat inside her. She kissed the smooth warmth of his skin and let herself rest blissfully in his arms.
She opened her eyes again, and confusion rained over her as dark markings sprung from his skin. Ink bled into ominous patterns, patterns she’d seen before. The summerscape fell away, and she was inside a stone room. The darkness of night was held at bay by candlelight and a crackling fire behind her.
But her eyes were on the markings.
Panic flooded her. She sat up quickly and gasped as she saw the commander lying on the bed, looking back at her. The covers fell away, revealing her near nakedness underneath, and she grasped desperately at the blankets, pulling them to cover her chemise.
He chuckled in amusement as he rose from the bed, and her breath shook in horror at seeing his nakedness as well.
“Now you’re not dreaming,” he jeered with an evil smile. He walked around the bed and crouched in front of the flame, putting another log on the fire and stirring the embers with his sword.
“Don’t worry yourself,” he said, although he seemed to relish her panic. “I wasn’t improper with you.”
Heat radiated from her face. “What do you consider improper if not forcing a woman naked into bed?”
“You cannot imagine,” he said in a low, disturbing voice. “But you’re not entirely naked. And I didn’t force you. You were merely an unwitting participant.”
“Of which I’m sure you enjoyed,” she snapped.
“Quite the opposite. I like a good fight,” he said wickedly. “Actually, I would have preferred to leave you to die in the storm, although it would have been too kind a death.”
She found his words as chilling as the winter air. What was to be her death then? She couldn’t think of that right now.
