From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash #1) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,153

to sleep with you, there really aren’t many other options.”

“I don’t want anyone else to sleep with me.”

“I already knew that,” he replied, his tone both teasing and smug.

Heat blasted my cheeks. “I don’t want anyone to sleep with me.”

In the darkness, his gaze found mine, and when next he spoke, his voice was even lower. “I know you have nightmares, Poppy, and I know they can be intense. Vikter warned me about them.”

Sorrow pierced the embarrassment before it could even form, shattering it. “He did?” My voice was thick, hoarse.

“He did.”

My eyes squeezed shut against the burn of pain. Of course, Vikter would’ve filled Hawke in. He’d probably done so the very first night Hawke had to watch over me. I knew in my heart of hearts that Vikter had shared this information for my benefit instead of preparing Hawke for the night one of the nightmares drove me from sleep. He’d done it so Hawke wouldn’t react in a manner that would cause me embarrassment or stress.

Vikter was…gods, I missed him.

“I want to be close enough to intervene in case you have a nightmare,” he continued, and I opened my eyes. “If you scream…”

He didn’t need to finish. If I screamed, I could draw nearby Craven.

“So, please, relax and try to rest. We have a hard day ahead of us tomorrow if we have any hope of not being forced to spend two nights in the Blood Forest.”

A hundred refusals rose to the tip of my tongue, but I was cold, and if I did have a nightmare, someone needed to be nearby to stop me before I started screaming bloody murder. And Hawke’s heat…the warmth of his body was already seeping through the blanket wrapped around us, sinking into my chilled skin and bones.

Besides, all he was doing was sleeping beside me. Or sleeping with me, as he’d said. But neither of those things was forbidden.

And it wasn’t like we hadn’t already done things I should’ve protested or avoided. Compared to the night at the Red Pearl and during the Rite, this was extraordinarily chaste, no matter that I shivered now for an entirely different reason than the cold.

“Go to sleep, Poppy,” he urged.

Exhaling as loudly and obnoxiously as I could, I plopped my cheek back onto the bag and winced. The material had chilled significantly while I had my head up. I ended up staring straight ahead, focusing on the vague shape of one of the guards standing in the moonlight.

I closed my eyes, and immediately, my entire focus went to where Hawke’s body touched mine.

Hawke’s arm was all but curled around my waist, but his hand didn’t touch me. It must’ve dangled in the space in front of me. That was surprisingly…polite of him. His chest rested beside my back, and with every breath he took, it brought his body more into contact with mine.

The only sound other than my pounding heart—which I wondered if he heard—was the rattle of the wind stirring the leaves, reminding me of dry bones rubbing together, and the soft neighing of the horses.

Was Hawke asleep already? If he was, I was going to be so irritated.

“This is wildly inappropriate,” I muttered.

His answering chuckle stroked my nerves in all the wrong—and right—ways. “More inappropriate than you masquerading as a wholly different kind of maid at the Red Pearl?”

My jaw snapped shut so quickly and tightly, I was surprised I didn’t crack a molar.

“Or more inappropriate than the night of the Rite, when you let me—”

“Shut up,” I hissed.

“I’m not done yet,” he said, his chest pressing against my back. “What about sneaking off to fight the Craven on the Rise? Or that diary—?”

“I get your point, Hawke. Can you stop talking now?”

“You’re the one who started this.”

“Actually, no, I did not.”

“What?” A low laugh left him. “You said, and I quote, ‘this is wildly, grossly, irrefutably…’”

“Did you just learn what an adverb is today? Because that is not what I said.”

Hawke sighed. “Sorry.”

He didn’t sound sorry about it at all.

“I didn’t realize we were back to pretending we hadn’t done all those other inappropriate things,” he said. “Not that I’m surprised. After all, you’re a pure, untainted, and untouched Maiden. The Chosen.”

Oh, my gods….

“Who’s saving herself for a Royal husband. Who, by the way, will not be pure, untainted or untouched—”

I moved to jab him with my elbow, but forgot I was currently wrapped in one blanket and draped with another. All I managed to do was uncover the front