Chapter 5: Cold?

Liora's POV

I beamed at him.

"Honey cake, candied nuts, and a little bowl of berry jam!"

I even held up both hands to show him exactly how big I wanted the bowl.

"About this big."

Small enough to fit between my palms. Just two spoonfuls. That was all I needed.

I couldn't explain why those things, specifically.

Only that the smell and taste of them drifted through the very back of my mind like scraps of something half-remembered, and they made me feel safe.

They had to be the foods I loved most, before!

I wanted them. I wanted them right now.

I looked up at Severin, expectant and certain he would say yes.

The corner of his mouth moved. Just barely. A faint curve that might have been nothing, except I knew it wasn't nothing.

My heart jumped. I got even more hopeful.

Then he spoke.

"Tonight's menu has already been decided."

I blinked.

My mouth stayed open a little.

I waited for the rest of the sentence — but I can add to it, or we can arrange it for tomorrow, anything at all. I gave him a full beat, then another.

He just stood there. Expression already settled back into its stillness, that tiny curve completely gone, like it had never been there.

He was serious.

I pulled the corners of my mouth down.

The disappointment came fast, pressing up from my chest and lodging in my throat. I looked down at my hands and swallowed it, hard.

Don't let him see.

A voice flashed through my mind, sharp and achingly familiar.

Are you trying to get yourself killed? Look at you! Is this how the future Alpha is supposed to act?

I went still for a second. That was my voice. My own voice, saying it.

Why would I ever talk to myself like that?!

Something had to be wrong with my memory. Was my mind broken?

That voice couldn't have been me.

Could it?

I tried to think about it.

Nothing came.

I gave up. Why put myself through all that trouble?

I sneaked a glance at Severin from under my lashes. He had already turned away, moving toward a side alcove, his back to me, completely unaware.

A thought crept in.

Tomorrow morning.

Before he sets the menu.

I would get there first. I would list everything — honey cakes, sugar-glazed nuts, the berry jam — before he had the chance to decide a single thing.

The moment the light came through the stone windows, I would open my mouth before he opened his. This time, I wouldn't give him a chance to say no.

The moment that plan took shape, the lump in my throat dissolved. Something small and bright replaced it.

I pressed my lips together and kept my head down so he couldn't see the smile pulling at the edges.

It was settled.

I was still quietly congratulating myself when Severin came back from the alcove and pushed a folded piece of clothing into my arms without ceremony.

"Clean yourself up. I'll take you to eat. The bath is through the corridor here."

He walked to the stone wall beside us as he said it and knocked twice with his knuckles.

A seam split open in the rock, silent and smooth, revealing a dim passageway with a candle burning somewhere deep inside.

I blinked.

Then I tucked the clothes under my arm and hurried inside, practically bouncing with excitement.

When I pushed open the stone door at the end of the corridor, I stopped completely.

The bath was a natural pit carved out of rock, several times larger than the bed I'd slept in.

The bottom was lined with dark, smooth river stones that caught the light in faint gleams.

A few sprigs of something floated on the surface. Steam rose in lazy white curls, thick enough to fog the cold air around it.

My eyes went wide.

Wow.

I didn't stop to think. I pulled off my clothes, stepped to the edge, and put my foot in —

And froze.

The water was cold.

Not cool. Cold.

The kind of cold that punches straight through the sole of your foot and drives up into your bones, flooding up your calves, filling your whole body in an instant.

I scrambled back up the stone edge, and dropped onto the dry floor in a heap.

I grabbed my own foot with both hands and stared at the pool, wide-eyed.

It was still steaming.

I watched the white curls rise off the surface, slow and steady, exactly as before.

How is it steaming if it's freezing cold?

That made no sense. It made absolutely no sense. I pulled my foot tighter against my chest.

My toes were already going numb. The cold from the stone floor crept up through the soles of my feet and kept climbing.

I dragged my clothes back on, hunched my shoulders, and made myself as small as I could.

I looked back at the stone door.

The candlelight from the corridor flickered quietly in the gap at the bottom. No sound from the other side. No movement.

I waited.

And waited.

My toes had gone completely quiet. I looked down at them. They were still there. I just couldn't feel them anymore.

I was so mad.

"Severin! Come here!"

Nothing.

"Come save me! Severin!" I let the end of his name rise, a wobble creeping into it — half cold, half urgent, and maybe a little indignant too.

Still nothing.

I drew in a long breath. I leaned toward the door.

I opened my throat and used every bit of power I had.

"Severin! I'm going to freeze to death in here!"