We had no other clothes on us. Night was drawing in and brought a chill with it. It would make us very sick by morning.
If we managed to survive the cold snap.
I looked her over uncertainly.
Hazel pressed her hands on her hips.
“I’m a nurse,” she said. “Nakedness doesn’t bother me.”
It bothered me!
Besides, I doubted we would be much warmer without wearing clothes.
I approached the huge leaves that hung from the Nurture Tree and tugged them off. I climbed the tree to the closest branch and peered around it until I found what I was looking for.
I ran my finger along the bark and came out with a thick glob of tree sap.
“What are you doing?” Hazel said.
“Making some blankets,” I said.
I laid the broad leaves down and applied a dob of tree sap to each side. I overlapped the leaves, forming a large blanket.
Hazel understood what I was doing and cleared away some of the damp leaves on the ground.
It was the first time I’d done this since I was a boy. The activity conjured up all sorts of memories from when I used to travel the empire with my father, learning and training, and developing relationships with the next generation of lords and ladies that I would foster into the future.
Some I liked, others I didn’t. But the outings into the countryside and surrounding nature were always my favorite.
“Shouldn’t we make a fire?” Hazel said.
“The Changelings might see it,” I said. “We can’t take the risk.”
“What about food? Are any of these plants edible?”
“Some. But not in this area. Don’t worry. I swiped some of the provisions from the resources in the boat earlier. I saw the ships coming toward us and thought we might end up in this situation.”
I pulled the bread from my pocket and handed it to her.
Hazel’s eyes widened. She took it gratefully from my hand and immediately wolfed down a slice. Watching her with her complete lack of manners made me smile.
I wolfed down my slice too. It wasn’t the most delicious food in the world but it was nutritious and filled a hole.
“I have more,” I said, handing it over. “For breakfast in the morning.”
Hazel licked the crumbs off her fingers and place the remaining bread on a rock.
I laid one of the blankets on the ground Hazel had cleared. It was still hard and a little lumpy. Not ideal, but it would stop us from freezing to death in the night. Then I placed the second blanket over the first. She would sleep on one and use the other to cover her. She would be cold initially but her body warmth would heat the small space between the leaves until it was warm and toasty.
I got to work making another set of blankets for me.
“What are you doing?” Hazel said as I began tugging down more leaves.
“I have to make another one. For me.”
“Wouldn’t we be warmer if we shared our body heat?”
I slipped and fell from the tree. I twisted my ankle and hissed through my teeth.
Hazel bent down to check the injury but I waved her away.
“Fast healing, remember?” I said. “It’ll be back to normal within a few hours.”
“We should share the blankets,” Hazel said. “I mean, it’s not like we’re going to get up to anything, is it? This is about survival.”
“Yes. I suppose so.”
“Good.”
She immediately began to strip off.
My eyes bulged and I turned away from her.
Within seconds, she had peeled her wet clothes off. She crossed the open space and hung them on an extended branch.
She was a nurse. She was probably used to seeing patients naked.
I wasn’t.
Hazel shivered and said, “Brrrr! It’s freezing!”
She ran to the blankets and crawled between them. She raised the top blanket open, exposing herself to me.
Her large breasts… Her slim waist… And her…
I was already hard as a rock.
The idea of being so close to her… lying naked with her…
“Well?” she said. “Are you coming, or aren’t you?”
I removed my clothes and hung them beside hers.
Beside her underwear.
Her bra and panties.
I shut my eyes to block out the worst of my embarrassment and slid my underwear off.
I kept my back to her, not wanting her to see me standing to attention the way I was.
“You don’t need to be embarrassed,” Hazel said. “If anything… comes up… It’s a natural reaction. Just so long as you don’t act on it.”
I gulped.
I turned to look at her.
Her eyes drifted down to my bulging cock. She blinked for an instant before bringing her eyes back up to mine.
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” she said.
She pressed her lips together in an attempt to prevent herself from laughing at what she’d said.
Wasn’t so hard…
I couldn’t help it. I barked with laughter and wiped the tears out of my eyes.
I covered my mouth and peered at the darkness, hoping no Changelings were close enough to hear me.
Hazel had broken the tension. I wasn’t so nervous now as I crossed the space and lay down beside her.
The way her arm was extended, with the blanket held open wide, made me wish we weren’t out in the middle of the forest. I wished we were back in my bed chamber.
I got comfortable and she swung the blanket over us. It blocked out the light but my eyes were used to it.
Moonlight sawed through the tiny holes in the leaf blanket, exposing the veins across the leaves’ surface. And it was already getting warm.
Or maybe it was just the sight of her beside me.
She was small and soft and supple.
I wondered if she tasted as good as she looked.
I kept my eyes on her. And she kept hers on mine.
I couldn’t help but glance at her gorgeous breasts.
We were running for our lives, and yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about running my lips and tongue over every inch of her body.
Her hair lay across her face. Before I knew what I was doing, my hand tucked it behind her ear.
She smiled.
“Just remember,” she said. “This is for
