"C'mon," he said. "We have a lot to do."
He walked off and left her to find her own way.
"I need your help, Zarek. I need you to tell me where things are so I don't walk into anything."
It was on the tip of his tongue to remind her of the fact that she'd claimed she could watch after herself. Then his memories surged and he remembered what it was like to only see shadows.
To walk into things because he couldn't see them.
He didn't want to touch her anymore.
He hated the very thought of it because every time he felt her, he craved more of her.
Against his will, he found himself taking her hand into his. "C'mon, princess."
Astrid bit back her smile. His tone was harsh and yet she felt a small victory inside her heart. Not to mention the fact that he had stopped using "princess" as an insult. She didn't think he even realized that now when he called her that, his voice softened ever so slightly.
Sometime during their dreams, the insult he'd used to keep her at a distance had become an endearment.
Zarek led her into his cabin.
"Stand here," he said, placing her to the left just inside the doorway.
She heard him rustling around to her right. While he was busy, she brushed her hand against the wall to feel her way over to him. What she found there surprised her.
Frowning, she ran her hand over the deep dips and planes of the wall. It was an incredible tactile sensation. Intricate. Complex. But what she touched was so large that she couldn't quite understand what it represented.
As she followed the design with her hand she realized it covered the entire wall.
"What is this?" she asked.
"A beach scene," he said distractedly.
She arched a brow. "A beach scene is carved into your wall?"
"I get bored, okay?" he snapped. "So I carve things. Sometimes in the summer, I run out of wood and I carve the walls and shelves."
Just like the wolf he'd sculpted in her house.
Astrid stumbled over something as she reached for the next wall. Several things fell, scattering over her feet.
Zarek cursed. "I thought I told you to stay put."
"I'm sorry." She bent down to pick the things up to find that they were carved wooden animals.
There seemed to be dozens of them.
She was stunned by the intricacy of each piece as she ran her fingers over them, picking them up from the floor. "Did you do all these?"
He didn't answer as he snatched them up and piled them back.
"Zarek," she said, her tone stern, "talk to me."
"And say what? Yes, I carved the damned things. I usually do three or four of them a night. So what?"
"Then there should be more of them. Where are the others?"
"I don't know," he said, his voice a little less hostile. "I take some into town and give them away and the rest I burn whenever the generators go out."