The Snowmaiden, A Bride for Krampus - Jeanette Lynn Page 0,37

his head as I gave him a sheepish smile, he turned back to whatever he was watching. A strange, steady snick sound rent the air. Shnikel winced at whatever he was watching. Grimacing, glancing away, he found my gaze once more.

‘What’s going on up there?’ I mouthed, but he just shook his head.

Louder, heavier steps issued, a single pair that fell with loud stomps. Shnikel stiffened. Swallowing thickly, he looked like he was forcing himself to watch as those steps were loud enough I knew the person, being, was in the main cave room we resided in.

There was the sound of shuffling, like something being dragged, and weird popping noises.

Shnikel swallowed thickly. He looked ashen, pale even beneath all that fur.

Our gazes met again and held.

Ignoring the question in my eyes, he dropped down, motioning for me to go with him further down into the tunnel. Just at the mouth of the point we’d need to duck down for crawling space only, he gathered me up, wrapping my pelt around me tighter, and just held me close.

Wrapping my arms around him, realizing he was trembling, whatever he’d witnessed shaking him to his core, I pressed a kiss to the middle of his furry chest.

There, huddled in the dim light from the crystal-like bits, he whispered those three little words that I’d found creeping in on my thoughts more and more of late. Was it too soon? Could it happen that fast? All I knew was, I cared about the male, dearly, and couldn’t imagine myself without him, even if it meant staying in Hinter so we could be together.

“Love you, too, Shnik,” I whispered back. Tilting my head up, his mouth met mine in a sweet, tender kiss.

After more time passed, the odd popping noises and dragging sounds ceasing for a tinkling, shuffling sound, and then retreating steps and nothing, he stared at the lid to our hidey-hole with a haunted look. “You trust me, don’t you, Lumi?” he said finally into the silence that followed the odd turn of events.

“Yes,” I said simply.

Letting out a deep breath like he’d been holding it, he nodded. Dragging me into his lap, until we were both snuggled up in the pelt around my shoulders, he nuzzled and then pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Good.”

Chapter 13

Maybe it was just me, but Shnikel was being weird today. He’d been off kilter, in fact, since we’d climbed out of the hidden compartment a few weeks back to find the Krampus’ numbers were significantly diminished, at least by half, and a strange layer of sparkling silver stuff, like a glitter confetti, craft herpes tragically gone wrong of epic proportions let loose, had overtaken the place.

Even now, if I ran my finger along the cave floor, it would come away sparkly.

Shnikel had been leaving for longer stretches. He was searching, was all he’d tell me. He seemed lost. I left him to it.

Left in the cell with the keys, only myself and the random curious Krampus come to rattle the cage bars and snarl at me, it wasn’t an ideal situation, but Shnikel kept insisting he was trying to find a way out of here for us. By out of here, I had no idea if he meant safely out of the mountain or Hinter. I didn’t ask because I was afraid to, if I was being perfectly honest. I was too absorbed in trying to get by now to even think about the future.

Ded had come up a few times in conversation. Shnikel said he’d gone full Krampus but had yet to track down his friend, only to find signs of the places he’d denned down long after he’d left. Ded’d yet to venture this far down the mountain. I couldn't be sure I’d recognize him now either way.

In the back of my mind, should Shnikel find him, would he ask me to try and help his friend become Elkfen again, return him to his old self? Considering how long Ded had been Krampus, I had a feeling Shnik hadn’t even bothered to ask because it was a lost cause.

Shnik still wouldn’t talk about what had happened all those nights ago, the brief chaos that had taken over the cavern to disappear just as fast. For weeks after, the Krampus huddled in tight groups, muttering about ‘Claws’. Was there a beast roaming around out there worse than a Baumbel or Krampus? For the sake of being able to fall asleep at night