"I'll take you back to the sleigh. The winds are too harsh up here." His face is so close to mine, our noses touch.
I still struggle to believe that I somehow caught his attention. If it wasn’t for this wind, I'd insist we remain right where we are.
He takes my hand, and I race alongside him down the slope, staring out to the fairy tree one last time before it vanishes from sight behind treetops and the lofty kingdom wall.
By the time I climb back into the sleigh, my teeth are chattering, and the first feathery snowflakes cascade around us. Then it changes in the blink of an eye. Snow falls in thick sheets, the cold penetrating through to my core. I tuck the binoculars beneath our bench and touch the basket.
"We didn't eat our picnic meal," I remind him.
"It won't go to waste, trust me." Luther slides in next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and gripping the reins, then we are traveling through the woods again.
"The weather changed so fast." The earlier blue sky is now bruised with dark stormy clouds, darkening the woodland.
I rub my arms and curl in closer against Luther, absorbing his heat, though my nose still feels like ice.
The trees blanketed in snow blur past us as we move faster, and with the snow coming down quickly, I can barely see the track ahead of us, let alone anything else. Branches swing wildly in the blizzard, the wind howling around us.
My heart is beating with the thought that somehow we'll get stuck out here in the storm.
"Keep your head low," Luther instructs.
That's when I feel the ice pellets bounce off the blanket around my shoulders and my head.
A sudden gust of freezing air rushes past, colliding into us, throwing us back into our seats.
"Oh shit!" I gasp, and I won't deny, I'm more than a bit scared at how horrible the weather has shifted.
Luther whistles and drives our poor horse forward, then swings down a path toward the right. We're bouncing in our seat, and I can't stop shivering.
Before us, a small wooden cottage materializes through the curtain of snow.
A sharply pointed roof, windows covered by curtains, and a small covered veranda at the front door.
"Where are we?" I raise my voice over the blustery weather.
"Hunter's lodge. It's always open for anyone stuck out here during a storm." He comes to a pause a small distance away. "Run inside, and I'll be there soon. I need to take the horse into the stable in the back."
I nod, already climbing up as I grab the basket from under the bench, then I jump out of the sleigh. My feet sink into the snow instantly.
Not wasting a second, I hug myself, tucking my chin into my chest and shoving against the wind to the front door. I look back as Luther ushers the horse and sleigh around the side of the hunter's lodge.
Quickly, I stamp my feet on the veranda to get rid of excess snow and push open the unlocked door, rushing inside.
It smells stale in here. I shut the door, pushing it against the ferocious gusts that whistle outside, closing it with a thump. I'm trembling and hurry to pull back the curtains to light up the dark room.
It’s a spacious room with an enormous fireplace. Table and chairs near the door, a couch facing the fireplace, and a bed covered in furs in the back corner. I move forward and find another door, behind which lies a makeshift toilet. Basically a bench with a hole in it. At least it's not outside, so for that I'm glad. I close that door and make my way to the fireplace and the large stack of wood neatly piled against the wall.
I place a handful into the fireplace, but with no idea on how to start a fire without matches, I turn to the basket of food instead. Underneath the kitchen towel is an array of breads, sliced roast meat, cheeses, chutney, bottles of wine and water, and what looks like half a fruit cake. I lay them out on the table, finding not only plates, cups, and cutlery at the bottom, but also strips of cured meat, tomatoes, eggs I assume are hard boiled, and a small jar of churned butter along with a small bowl of tiny pears and plums. I have no idea how the kitchen packed so much into the basket, but I couldn’t be happier to have all this food while trapped here during the storm.
The door opens abruptly, and an explosion of winds rushes into the cottage. The cold finds me, digging claws into my flesh, and I'm shaking instantly.
Luther forces the door shut and shakes his head, sending snow in every direction.
"It's wild out there. We might be stuck here until it quiets down, little wolf." The way he says that isn't with any hint of worry, but more of excitement at us two being alone together. For that, I’m excited too.
"I'll get the fire started, you serve the food," he says and blows me a kiss. My knees soften at the gesture, my stomach flip-flopping. "I'm so fucking hungry right now," he murmurs.
"Then get your ass into gear," I throw back playfully and look over at the lack of fire.
He doesn't take long to ignite a blaze and have it burning. An orange glow lights up the room quickly. The windows rattle from the wild weather, small pellets of ice hitting the glass, but in here, it feels cozy and oh-so-right when I look over to Luther getting to his feet.
He's gorgeous. Built like a bear, and those amber eyes complement his midnight black hair.
My gaze trails over his muscles, at how tall he stands… and why in the world does a fae like him see anything in me? Truthfully, I suspect if we crossed paths in the street, he wouldn’t
