Page 46 of Forged in Fading

“If you’d prefer this side, I’d be more than happy to move. I know some people have certain ways they like to sleep, and I…”

Alvara moved to her back and glowered at the ceiling. Maybe the floor had been better. At least it hadn’t tried holding a conversation with her. “If I ask really nicely, will you please, for the love of Vitharen, stop talking?”

“Nicely?” He drew out the word. “I’m not sure you’re capable of that.”

Gods, all she wanted to do was sleep, but it had been years since she had shared a bed with someone, and Boden’s sweltering frame plucked at her memories. “You’re like a blazing hearth,” she said, though she was unable to stop herself from sidling a little closer to his warmth.

“And here I thought you preferred silence.”

“All I’m saying is if you need to take…” Was she really about to invite him to undress? “Uh…layers off, you can.” Layers? Gods, it was like she had never interacted with another person before. “I’m speaking like I’ve never shared a bed with a male.”

Boden rolled to his other side and propped his head up on his hand with a smirk. “Do tell.”

Burn her to ashes, had she just said that out loud? She had clearly spent too much time alone in an empty house over the past few years. Her cheeks burned hotter than a valo sun, and she stuffed her pillow over her face. “Just kill me.”

Boden chuckled. “I don’t think so, because then all my entertainment would be gone. If you’d like to talk about all the times you’ve shared a bed with another male, be my guest.”

“Please just go to sleep so we can pretend this never happened.”

“I’m not sure if I can, I’m wearing so many layers it might be difficult.”

Alvara lifted the pillow and scowled at the joy brightening his features. “Don’t make me regret not choosing Orme. Just keep to your side of the bed, and we won’t have a problem.”

“Would you like me to fetch him? If he’s your preferred partner in bed⁠—”

“Go to sleep before I smother you with a pillow.”

As the peace and quiet settled into the space between them, the heat of Boden’s body lulled her into sleep. She had almost forgotten they were sharing a bed.

Almost.

Alvara followed the path by heart. It had been too many months since her family had all gotten together, and she couldn’t wait to see them. Especially Eloisa.

Before her lay a weaving trail of…was that blood coming from the door? No. It couldn’t be.

The gods-awful stench of fading suffocated her as she stumbled through the crimson-stained snow and fell to her knees on the house’s slippery floor. Her parents. Their bodies. She couldn’t stop screaming.

Blood. It was everywhere, gushing so fast it swallowed every floorboard.

“Alvara?” Eloisa’s gentle voice turned Alvara’s head, and she breathed a sigh of relief at her sister’s perfectly healthy frame. At least she had been spared.

Alvara opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. A dagger, King Einar’s dagger, appeared in her hand and jerked toward her sister’s chest.

No, no, no.

She pulled back with all her strength. She wouldn’t let this cursed weapon take a precious life. The blade ignored her protests and ripped a hole in Eloisa’s skin, spilling her blood down the front of Alvara and soaking her to the bone. She tried to move as her sister’s body slumped to the ground, but she was trapped in place. The stickiness. The smell.

What had she done?

Ice shot out from her body in every direction and covered the ground in gruesome crystals. Her family’s life force that would never again run through their veins.

“Alvara!” A strange voice called for her, but she could only stare at the faded bodies of her family. At her own bloodstained hands that still fed the frozen cage of her own making. A guttural scream ripped out of her throat, and a blinding warmth wrapped around her.

“ALVARA!”

She jolted in bed, still screaming. But it all stopped when she noticed where she was. And whose arms held her.

Boden’s body heat had kept her own temperature from plummeting too low, the steady beat of his heart slowing hers to a normal pace. This was not how she had ever imagined or wanted the night to go.