Compilation Of Short Stories
The faint, residual heat of her body began to melt a microscopic layer of frost on the pelt’s surface.
Cian knelt beside her, his presence a wave of intensified cold. “Close your eyes.” When she did not immediately obey, he added, “The lesson requires it.”
With a slow blink of defiance, she complied. Her world narrowed to the sound of his breathing, the scent of frost and night-blooming flowers that clung to him, and the overwhelming cold.
His touch, when it came, was a shock. Not painful, but profound. His long, cool fingers rested on the bare skin of her forearm, just above her wrist. A jolt went through her, a spark of something that was not quite warmth, but a reaction nonetheless.