Blood for her Crown

Chapter Twenty-Three

Aderah

She woke up in Jamie's arms. He was sound asleep but still had her tightly pressed against him. It was too comfortable to get up, so she moved closer to him. The shaking had stopped overnight, though the fever remained.

The faint lapping of rain sounded outside the cave. The storm was over. Still, a faint breeze stroked her neck. Looking around in better light, the cave appeared less pleasant than the day before—nothing but dark gray stone and dust. It was sufficient for a hideout, but she preferred that they leave as soon as possible.

She assumed Grace was already awake. Jamie would wake up if she moved to look, but she couldn't imagine her sleeping for that long. In fact, she'd be astonished if she'd slept at all. That's why she couldn't believe Grace hadn't marched over to them already to wake them up. Perhaps Grace wanted her to relax first? Aderah realized she must have been in really bad shape. As far as she remembered, she even went unconscious.

At that thought, she stared down at her sleeves, which weren't there the day before. Someone had changed her out of her previous clothes...

She should be relieved because she was convinced she would have died in those wet clothes, but the thought of them taking her clothes off made her blood rush to her cheeks. Especially if it had been Jamie.

She'd always disliked her body. Her legs were too thin; every rib was visible, and she lacked curves and muscles. All of this was caused by the absence of food in her former village. She couldn't recall a moment when she hadn't had to worry about starving, especially when her family had still been there. They never had enough food—barely enough to live. It was difficult at first, but things improved over time, slightly, and only because she grew used to it.

Still, she never had the energy to hunt or train. So she was now stuck with the body of a poor, starving girl. Aside from the muscle and energy, she lacked the necessary immune system, which was why she was sick. She was concerned that it would make her less useful until she got better. There wasn't much she could do if something happened to them. She was too weak to do anything, and she hated it.

Finally, Jamie, next to her, stirred. She turned to face him and watched his eyes flutter open. "Good morning," she whispered.

After a few seconds, he smiled back at her, a trace of worry and...shame in his eyes. So he was most likely the one who had helped her get out of these clothes.

"Thank you for helping me yesterday," she said.

"Anytime," he murmured back in a hoarse voice. "And I'm sorry about...," he said, motioning to the shirt, which she assumed was his. "I swear, I didn't... All I saw was your back."

When she noticed his flushed cheeks, she instantly felt better. He wasn't the type of guy who would take advantage of a situation like that, so she believed him. "That's fine. If it makes you feel any better, you probably saved my life."

He smiled once more. "It does. I guess we're finally even."

She let out a quiet laugh. It wasn't exactly something to laugh about, but she couldn't help it. "Yes, we are."

"So..." he began again. "Any idea why Grace hasn't woken us up yet to chase us across the entire kingdom before the sun came up?"

She shook her head because she hadn't found an answer to that question herself yet.

"If she's still sleeping, I'm going to make fun of her for the rest of my life," he said, grinning. "I've never been up before her except for once, but I couldn't laugh about that one."