Page 113 of A Tale of Ice and Ash
Chapter Eighteen:
The Blood of a King
Eirwen was slumped beside him, not quite close enough for him to touch, but near enough that the warmth of her seemed to invade the space between them. She was pale, her expression glazed, as if her thoughts were drifting around her. She looked almost sick with exhaustion.
He opened his mouth to say something, but Merry started dividing out portions of the cave crawler.
Wren passed a leg to Cole. “Here,” she said, grinning. “Chew slowly.”
“Wait–” Eirwen started, as Cole sank his teeth into the meat.
His eyes started to water. He coughed, choking it down. “My, my, that’s a… unusual flavour.”
His face contorted with the force of trying not to gag. The dwarves roared with laughter, hooting into their meals.
Eirwen glared at them. “That was mean. You don’t have to tease him! You weren’t like that when I first tried cave crawler.”
“Yeah, but you were a tiny child–”
“It’s his first time!” She clapped him on the back. “Sorry,” she said. “I should have warned you. Here, try the ribs. It’s not quite as bad…”
“Thanks,” he said, still coughing. “The dwarven palate is a little different from ours, eh?”
“A bit, sure.” She pressed a tankard into his hands. “Take this, too.”
He murmured another thank you as he knocked back the ale, sucking a bit of meat off the bone before the taste could really get to him. He glanced up at the Huntsman, who was doing something similar. He cast him a sympathetic look.
Eirwen fell backwards into the bed she’d made for herself.
“You all right?” asked Cole. “You look–”
“Tired…” Eirwen groaned, burying her face in her rolled-up cloak. “Are you all right?”
“Hmm?”
“Finding out about Janus and that your mother–”
“It’s fine, Snow. Stop worrying about me.”
“Never,” she said softly, her hand stretching out towards him.
He wanted to reach out and grab that hand, grab all of her, pull her into his arms and bury his face in her shoulder. He wanted to curl up with her like he had last night. Perhaps if they lay down next to each other, they would gravitate towards one another during the night, when everyone else was asleep–
Onyx marched between them, throwing his bedroll down on the ground.
Cole sighed and turned away, but he thought Eirwen might have shook her head too, like she’d been thinking the same thing and was disappointed. He couldn’t quite catch her gaze.
∞∞∞
They settled on a routine for the night watch and fell one by one into slumber. Onyx took the first one, possibly to make sure Cole didn’t crawl round him into Eirwen’s bed. He could still see her, now that the dwarf was sitting on a crate to the side of the room, drawing on a pipe. She lay on her side, one hand outstretched, the other underneath her head. It seemed completely wrong that there was any space between them at all.
“Still awake, young giant?” Onyx asked.
“Er...” Cole wasn’t sure he wanted to reply. It was too late now.
“Can’t sleep?”
“Um…”
