Page 99 of Frost Bound

Dahlia stared to the right for the longest time. Had she really just asked him that?

Imbecile.

Lia scrambled for the pillows, burying her mortification.

She layon her back when the king came out of the shower room. She didn’t look away from the ceiling as he moved into the wardrobe. Her nerves were tightly strung. She’d never spent the night with a man.

Avallos,as the Loriians liked to say.

She pulled the covers up to her chin as she heard him leave the wardrobe and fiddle around with the fireplace on the rightside of the room. The light grew bright, but still she didn’t look. Her pulse galloped as he paused at the bottom of the bed before chuckling.

“Do you think you could make a bigger pillow wall between us?”

“I could try,” she croaked.

The bed dipped, but she still refused to look away from the ceiling. Neve’s head entered her vision as he leaned over the pillow wall.

“Calm down,” he groused. “I’m not going to molest you in the middle of the night.”

“You mean like you did this morning?”

He lifted his brows. “I didn’t know you were here, and again, it’smybed.”

She reached up and flicked his nose. “That side is yours, my lord. This side is mine.”

He shook his head and disappeared from view, the mattress jiggling as he got comfortable. Lia swallowed hard and tried to calm her nerves. It wasn’t as if the king found her attractive. She tipped her head and watched the flames dance behind the bathtub. Much bigger flames.

He’d stoked the fire.

“Thank you,” she whispered, tracing on of the scars on her palms. It had become a habit over the last week.

“For what?”

“For adding wood to the fire.”

A pause. “I now know how fragile you are. I won’t have the queen getting sick because she’s not warm enough.”

An insult, but she’d take it if it meant she stayed warm.

Eventually, her anxiety abated, and fatigue crashed down upon her. Lia closed her eyes and slept.

She was so bloody warm.

Dahlia snuggled closer to the furnace and dozed.

Rosemary. Yum.

Her furnace snored softly, and Lia’s brows furrowed. That wasn’t right, was it? Slowly, she opened her eyes, blinking blearily, early morning light just outlining the indigo chest she was plastered against. She gaped at her hand, which was pressed against the king’s pec, his piercing tickling the center of her palm.

Ever so slowly, she turned her neck and inwardly groaned. Somehow, she’d burrowed under the pillow wall, which was still intact, and cuddled the Frost King during the night.

Lia faced forward, noting the large bicep under her cheek. How the devil was she supposed to get out of this without waking Neve up?

Carefully.

She lifted one finger at a time from his chest and peeled her palm away from his heated skin. Next, she untangled her legs from his, freezing occasionally as his breathing changed. Lia inched her legs underneath the pillow wall until she could roll onto her belly. Sweat dotted her forehead as she stared at the king’s bruised ribs.

Now all she had to do was slither away.

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