Chapter 97: In The Wrong Bed

Aina

Sunlight streamed weakly through the small bedroom window, casting a warm, pale yellow glow across the mattress.

Aina shifted lazily against the pillows, letting out a soft, contented sigh. Her face was buried against something warm, solid, and wonderfully firm. Her arm was draped heavily over a broad chest, and a pair of strong, protective arms were wrapped securely around her waist, holding her close.

Oh, Roiner, Aina thought, a dreamy, sleepy smile spreading across her lips. Last night was so chaotic, but waking up like this... being held by him... it makes all the suffering worth it. She snuggled closer, nuzzling her face deeper into the warm fabric, until her nose caught a scent.

Her body stilled, this scent didn’t belong to Roiner, in fact she knew exactly who this wretchedly good scent belonged to. Aina’s eyes snapped wide open. Her gaze traveled up, tracking the broad, muscled shoulder she had been resting on, past a sharp jawline, and straight up to the face of the sleeping person towering right over her.

It was Vance.

Vance’s face was literally resting against her forehead, his breathing slow and even as he slept peacefully, completely entangled with her limbs in broad daylight. Aina’s brain experienced a catastrophic, total system failure. "OH!" she shrieked, her voice pitching up into a deafening scream of pure terror.

In one violent, uncoordinated movement, Aina threw her hands against Vance’s chest and shoved him with all her might. Vance let out a startled gasp as he tumbled backward off the edge of the bed, crashing heavily onto the wooden floorboards with a loud, painful thud.

"Ow!" Vance groaned, clutching his lower back as he rolled around on the floor, blinking his groggy, sleep-heavy eyes open. Aina scrambled backward until her spine slammed against the headboard, pulling the heavy blanket up to her chin like a shield, her eyes wide. "What are you doing here?!" she screeched.

Vance pushed himself up onto his elbows, rubbing his aching head as he glared up at the bed, looking equally horrified. "What am I doing here?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I don’t know!" Aina yelled back, hyperventilating as her heart hammered against her ribs. "What is happening?" Vance slurred, shaking his head as if trying to clear the lingering fog of the fairy berries from his brain. "My head hurts like hell..."

"Go recover somewhere else! Get out of my room!" Aina screamed, completely losing her mind. She didn’t even know if this was her room; she just wanted him out. Without waiting for him to refuse, Aina grabbed the nearest pillow and hurled it directly at his face. When that didn’t work fast enough, she grabbed a second one, and then a third, reigning a relentless barrage of feather pillows down onto his head.

"Okay, okay! I’m going!" Vance shouted, throwing his hands up defensively as he scrambled backward on all fours, crawling out of the bedroom like a wounded animal. Aina sat frozen on the mattress, her chest heaving as the door swung shut behind him.

How on earth did this happen?! she panicked, pressing her hands against her burning cheeks. Last I remember, we were freezing in a cave! How did I end up back in Team Fang’s cabin or I think that’s where I think I am?! Did someone carry me here?! Were we sleep-cuddling?! Please tell me I didn’t actually cuddle with that prick! As the adrenaline began to fade, another horrific realization hit her nose.

A wave of the lingering, putrid stench of the forest dung drifted up from her clothes. Aina gagged violently, clapping a hand over her mouth. "Ugh! Gross, gross, gross!" she whimpered, tossing the blankets off herself. "I need to get this off me right now! I’ll figure out the rest of my miserable life later!"

She scrambled out of bed, her sprained ankle sending a sharp spike of pain up her leg, but she ignored it, she scanned the room until she spotted the door leading to the en-suite bathroom. Without wasting another second, she threw the door open, stripped off her filthy, ruined clothes, and dove straight into the shower.

Luckily, the cabin’s luxury plumbing was fully stocked with a bar of heavy-duty soap. Aina grabbed it, practically crying with relief as she lathered her hands and began scrubbing her skin like a madwoman.

Scrub. Scrub. Scrub.

"Get off me, get off me, get off me," she muttered frantically under her breath, watching the grey mixed with brown, disgusting suds swirl down the drain.

As the hot water blasted over her head, her mind raced in circles. Who carried me here? Was it Roiner? It had to be Roiner. But how did he get through the storm? And why was Vance in my bed? Oh, goddess, if Vance remembers any of this, I am going to pack my bags and move to the middle of a desert.

When she finally stepped out from under the spray, turning off the water, she realized her vision was a complete blur. The steam in the bathroom had fogged up her blue contacts worse than they fogged up her vision, and her eyes were burning and irritated from the soap and smoke of the cave.

"Ugh, I can’t see a lick," she groaned, reaching up to peel the small plastic lenses out of her eyes. The moment she removed them, her natural vision vanished into a milky haze of shapeless blobs. But beneath the blur, a sharp, familiar sting hit her eyes, revealing her true, glowing purple irises in the mirror for a split second before she blinked.

She wrapped a thick, fluffy white towel securely around her body, stepping out of the shower stall into the misty bathroom. Now she needed her glasses. Where had she left them? She dropped to her knees on the tiled floor, frantically patting her hands across the pile of damp, discarded clothes she had left by the door, scanning blindly through the fabric.

"Looking for these?"

Aina froze.

Her heart did a wild, joyful flip in her chest. She didn’t even need to look up to recognize that deep, velvety voice. The faint, subtle hum of the soul-bond suddenly sparked to life against her arm. She squinted upward through the steam, her blurred vision slowly resolving a tall, striking silhouette leaning casually against the bathroom doorframe.

"My glasses," Aina breathed out, a massive wave of relief washing over her. She reached out blindly, her fingers brushing against his palm. "Thank you."

She snatched the glasses from his hand, sliding them quickly onto her face. The moment the lenses settled over her nose, the world snapped into sharp, crystal-clear focus. And standing right in front of her, looking impossibly breathtaking in the morning light, was Roiner.

Aina looked down at herself, wrapped in nothing but a thin towel, standing in the middle of an open bathroom with her bonded mate not just fated, this was a recipe for disaster. Her face flushed a blazing, scorching crimson. She instantly crossed her arms tightly over her chest, stepping backward.

"What are you doing in the bathroom?!" she squeaked out, her voice pitching up in mortification. Roiner didn’t even blink. He pushed off the doorframe, taking a step closer, his crimson eyes gleaming with amusement. "There is nothing to be afraid of or embarrassed about, Aina. I have seen it all."

Aina groaned, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Yes, you keep reminding me! I know! I’m just not used to being seen naked."

Roiner let out a soft, low chuckle. He closed the remaining distance between them, gently reaching out with one pale hand to flick a stray strand of her dyed blonde hair away from her damp forehead. "I came to check on you. I was worried. You were quite passed out last night."

"Really?" Aina mumbled, biting her lower lip. "Do you know how I even got here? Last I checked, I was still stuck in a freezing cave with the royal princes."

"Yes," Roiner replied smoothly. "I brought you here." Aina blinked, staring at him in utter awe though she had a suspicion it was him she was still surprised to hear it was actually him. "Really? How?"

Roiner didn’t answer with words he simply demonstrated. In one effortless, fluid motion, he swooped down, sliding one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, lifting her clean off the bathroom floor as if she weighed nothing at all. Aina let out a startled gasp, her hands instinctively flying up to grab his shoulders to steady herself.

A delicious, dizzying wave of heat rushed straight to her core. She couldn’t help the way her heart fluttered, completely melting at the gentleness in his touch. Oh, wow, she thought, her breath hitching as he carried her out of the bathroom and gently placed her down onto the edge of the mattress. His hand feels like the good kind of cold against my skin...

Roiner lingered for a second, his dark gaze holding hers. "How did you even know where I was?" Aina whispered, her voice softening.

Roiner turned around, walking back into the bathroom for a brief moment before returning with a small, white medical first-aid box. "I didn’t," he answered honestly, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside her. "I just searched the whole forest. And when I got closer to you... the bond became stronger. It pulled me right to you."

He set the box down, reached out, and gently took her injured foot in his hands. Aina’s breath hitched again as his cool fingers wrapped around her ankle.

"You sprained your ankle," Roiner murmured, his crimson eyes tracing the swelling over her skin. "I can see that."

"Yeah," Aina winced, looking down at him with a sheepish expression. "I fell off my horse." Roiner raised a dark brow. "How did that happen?"

"I don’t want to talk about it," Aina muttered, her cheeks heating up at the memory of Malric’s arrow coming out of nowhere. She fidgeted with the hem of her towel, clearing her throat nervously. "And... also, this is probably a really bad time to say this, but... I lost the enchanted bow and arrows you gave me."

Roiner didn’t even look upset. A soft, indulgent smile touched his lips as he pulled a roll of white medical bandage from the box. "It’s all right, sweetheart. I can get you another one."

As he carefully began wrapping her sprained ankle, his movements were impossibly tender, treating her as if she were made of glass. Aina reached out, her fingers gently resting over the back of his hand, watching him work with a deep, aching fondness. When he finished tying off the bandage, Roiner didn’t just stand up. He leaned forward, pressing a soft, lingering kiss directly against the arch of her bandaged foot.