“You are surprising,” she says. “The poetry, the paintings, and… this. I think I finally understand how you’ve been Teo’s closest friend for solong.”
I tilt my head to the side. “What about it was not clear?”
She shrugs. “Teo is extremely kind and open. You are the opposite.”
“Not all people open like unlocked doors, Firelocks. Some take time—like winter-bound rivers, slow to thaw, but no less deep.”
She nods slowly. “I think I’m seeing that.”
Her answer doesn’t sit right with me.Seeing that, as if it was not something she instinctively understood, as I have come to understand parts of her.
She squirms under my gaze.
“I think you always knew.”
She sucks in a breath. “What?”
“You’ve never noticed how you lean into me when there is danger? How you seek me in a crowd? Perhaps you do not always love to see me, but you always want to know if I am there.”
“I—” She blinks, chest rising and falling rapidly. “I think?—”
Heat pulses between us and I walk the line between action and inaction. I could touch her.
My fingersacheto touch her.
My blood is hot in my veins, for the first time in gods know how long.
But that would be cruel to both of us. I shift out of the way, giving her a bit more space.
“It is fine, Firelocks. I am merely making an observation.”
We are silent for a time. Then her body angles from me and she stands, “Thank you for this. Really. I don’t want to cut it short, but—” her gaze goes to the tub in the corner. “I would like to bathe before you bind me again.”
My pulse jumps and I sit up. “Here? We should talk about the morning.”
“Technically there,” she says, breathless, nodding toward the hollow basin large enough to fit a human. Next to it, a stream of clear water pours from the wall. “I know you think I should stand around while you craft a master plan, but we’ve been walking for days. We can’t do anything until morning. It’s been a very long time since I was this dirty.”
“With me in the room?”
She purses her lips. “There’s a covering. And I think you have more than earned my trust that you won’t look.” Then Arlet casts me a devious smile. It’s playful, not at all sexual.
But Ihaveseen her naked. I had a very strong reaction. The thought of her undressing near me…
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. What if we need to leave quickly?”
She groans.
“Mi Cielo,I promise you, I will not manage to open the room to this door and wander outside into the cold, misty forest so I can freeze to death.”
I say nothing, forcing my gaze to stay fixed on the floor.
Mi cielo.
My sky.
Hmm. Why would she call me that?
She walks past me, close enough that I can smell her—salt and wind and something faintly sweet. I clench my fists.