Page 97 of A Tale of Ice and Ash
Eirwen smiled weakly, and grabbed the bucket of snow. She’d used some to clean and numb her leg, but now she was wrapping wads of it in cloth.
“What are you doing?”
“Take off your shirt.”
Cole grinned. “Usually, I’d be all too happy to oblige, but it israthercold in here…”
She narrowed her eyes. “Your back.”
“What?”
“You hurt it when the roof caved in.”
“It’s nothing. It isn’t bleeding.”
“Let me see.”
Cole sighed, pulling off his cloak, his tunic, and finally his shirt. The cold air slammed against him, and he shivered uncontrollably, hugging his clothes to his chest. Eirwen turned him gently towards her, keeping her leg extended at an odd angle as she held the sunstone to this skin.
“Damn, Cole–”
“It’s fine.”
She placed the compress to his left shoulder blade, it was awful and soothing at the same time. He seethed quietly.
“You don’t have to be brave.”
“You are.”
“Well, I’m exceptional.”
“Can’t argue there.”
She held his gaze, her eyes burning in the stone’s light, like sparks of fire. She did not look away, even as she slid the cloth to another part of his body.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“Why are you so surprised when people are genuinely nice to you?”
“Come again?”
“I’ve seen you with the young women at court. They must whisper sweet words in your ear. Stroke your ego.”
“Of course they do. And some of them are very, very good at it. But they’re just words. They don’t mean anything. People are rarely ever nice to me without wanting something in return.” He tilted his head. “Apart from you, that is. When you’re nice to me I know you mean it. Partly because you’re so mean the rest of the time.”
Eirwen snorted. She tied the compress to the worst of his bruises and helped him back into his clothes, her fingers stalling with the strings of his shirt.
“What now?” he said.
“We’ll have to stay here overnight. I’ve got some pumpkin seeds, a few nuts, a bit of bread, some stale biscuits and a bottle of ale.”
“A sumptuous feast,” he said. “Let’s start with the ale.”
∞∞∞
Despite the cold, they could not start a fire. There was little to use as kindling and even if they could break down some of the furniture, they couldn’t risk a fire drawing the shades to their location.
They drank half of the ale and as little of the food as they could manage. With the tunnel collapsed, it was a long way forward and back. Food would need to be rationed.
