Page 52 of Winter's Scorching Kisses
“Thank you, but I did have a good teacher.”
“I’m just glad it wasn’t a waste of my time.”
She shrugged. “I might be a lady used to the finer things in life, but that doesn’t mean I can’t learn survival skills. It’s not as though I’m simpleminded.”
“I’m sure there are plenty of ladies where you come from that wouldn’t bother learning.”
Adorra couldn’t disagree with that. “I know several women who wouldn’t bother, yes.” She laughed to herself.
“What?” He turned to look at her.
“I probably wouldn’t be so inclined to learn if it was warmer up here, but I wanted the fire faster than you could provide with your hands full putting up the tent.”
He chuckled as well. “Motivation is a good teacher.”
Adorra was surprised by how easy their conversing was going. She would’ve expected it to feel a bit more pulled and strained but the longer they traveled along together, the more relaxed she felt near him.
“Here,” Mathar passed her the bag of dried meat, “you must be starving.”
“I am.” Adorra eagerly took the bag out of his hands, opened it, and grabbed a couple of pieces of dried meat before passing the bag back over to him. “You said that large creature we saw earlier was a mountain cat?”
“It is.”
“I’ve never seen or heard of anything like it.” She was still finding it hard to believe what she’d seen even though it’d been right in front of her face.
“We’re lucky to still be alive after such a close encounter. Not many men survive to tell the tale, but those that do… they’re something to be feared. Rumor has it that the fire giant king as taken on several of them.”
“You wouldn’t be able to take it on in a fight?” She worried her bottom lip wondering how much danger they’d been in back there.
“I would’ve battled it if I had to, but there is no guarantee who the winner would be. Those cats can be willy and extremely dangerous.”
“Why didn’t it attack?”
He shrugged as he leaned back against a nearby tree trunk and kicked his legs out towards her fire. “It either figured we would be too much effort or it had recently eaten and didn’t need the risk of getting injured in a battle.”
Adorra shivered. “How terrifying. I couldn’t imagine growing up around such a threat.”
“Dryden loved teasing your sister about being eaten by a mountain cat. Maybe he was less teasing and more warning her. Not that she really listened to him.”
Her ears perked up at the mention of her sister. “Dryden?”
“The ice giant who fell in love with your sister and the father of her unborn child.”
Adorra resisted the urge to snort in delirium. “I’ll be the judge of that.” Because she doubted an ice giant could come to love a human or vice versa.
“Judge all you want, but nothing will stop those two lovebirds. I tried talking reason into him several times, and he never listened to me.” Mathar shook his head as he folded his arms in front of his chest.
“If my sister thinks she’s in love, I will be sure to set her straight.”
Mathar just stared at her like she was daft.
“What?” Adorra felt her hackles rise at his silent staring.
“Can’t you be happy for your sister?”
“Of course I can! I just don’t believe any of this is her choice!”
“Well,” he took a bite of dried meat, “you’ll be able to find out for yourself tomorrow when we arrive at the castle.”
