Almost immediately after their exchange, Nika found herself bundled in a man’s coat, out in the cold morning air, amidst a group of hard Northmen. Still a bit woozy from her encounter of the night before, she’d finally risen and stood there in her rescuer’s tent before the commanding stranger. He’d stepped back, looked her up and down, and frowned. Self conscious of her ragged attire, Nika had brushed at her skirt then folded her arms over her woolen peasant’s gown, the only one she owned. Even dressed for the hunt, in rugged outdoor attire, she could still see that his clothes were fine. His mink trimmed cape and vest matched the color of his hair. His sword rested inside an ornately tooled scabbard, and his leather boots were well crafted.
From her memory of the day before, she recalled that all of his men wore regal trappings, regal to her anyway. It was one of the reasons she had tried so hard to run away from them. A peasant girl on her own, with no one to speak in her favor, was unlikely to fare well under the prosecution of men like that. She’d been in a panic to get away from the mob, but even more so, the band of noblemen.
His looking at her in such a grim manner caused a wave of fear to ripple up Nika’s spine. Tripping and falling into the dreamland of the snow fairies had been confusing enough. But to have the man who’d found her hold her, make her body flush with warmth, and addle her senses, then look at her with such disapproval did not bode well. Her instincts made her want to dart past him and run again. She’d known the whole camp waited outside the tent, though. She wouldn’t have stood a chance against all of them. Still, her eyes had flashed desperately between the flap of the tent and the one who watched her.
Finally, after the longest time, he’d smiled, then chuckled and stroked his bearded chin.
“You think to sneak by me, little snow hare?” His light eyes had fairly danced at the idea. “You led the chase well yesterday, but I found you. It won’t be so easy to slip by me this time.” He gave his head a shake, dropping his chin to look at her from under those imposing dark brows of his. “You ride with us now. That is my decision. Do not think to second guess me. You will only try my patience if you do.”
Those last words may have been mild, but Nika heard the bite behind them, the warning. Handsome or not, she’d landed herself in the lair of a dangerous man.
After that exchange, he’d changed the subject back to her clothing. He’d tugged at her sleeve to test the weight of it, then deemed it purely unsatisfactory for travel. Nika had said nothing, not wishing to reveal that she’d run from her home with no time to plan for the weather. When he’d finished picking apart her attire, he’d drug a long coat out of a trunk and dropped it onto her shoulders. She’d sagged under the weight of the thing. A man’s garment, presumably his, made of leather and lined with rabbit’s fur, fit for a king. It was the finest thing to have ever touched her person. It covered her neck and chest, swimming all the way down to her ankles. Her hands completely disappeared beneath the long sleeves.
He’d smiled at her, not unkindly, then brushed his hand over her hair, stroking from the top of her head down to where a curl rested at the tip of her breast. Nika trembled, remembering the warm rush of sensations that had prickled under her skin where he’d touched.
His hand had dropped, but his eyes had lingered on her. She’d shifted, nervous to be under his stare and even more startled at her body’s responses. Under the heavy coat, her nipple had tightened and scratched against the rough wool of her dress. Finally, he’d blinked and looked up.
“You have only moments before we leave.” He’d told her in a brusque tone, then strode from the tent.
Now here she stood, out in the open air, blinking at the bright morning sun set against a winter gray sky. A flurry of activity moved through the camp as men and horses readied for travel. If the thought crossed her mind to flee into the woods again with everyone so busy, she was relieved of the notion as quickly as it came.
One after another, the men stopped what they were doing to stare at her. Mostly of them looked at her as though they’d never seen someone like her before and maybe they hadn’t. Perhaps they’d never had one from so low a station as she hailed from in their midst. They gawked at her wide eyed, all of them except for one man. A particularly dark character stood at the back from where the others doused the campfire. Through the smoke, Nika felt his scowl. She dropped her gaze under the weight of it, scuffing at a rock with her toe, not noticing that her rescuer had walked up behind her until he spoke.
“Men,” his voice boomed loud enough to reach the entire camp. Nika jumped at the sound of it, “this is Maiden Nika the Fair. She is going to accompany us on the journey home.”
And that was all he said, but the dark Northmen, to a one, dipped their heads in acknowledgement of her. Even the one at the back who scowled at her showed this reverence. The nobleman’s gloved hand clasped her elbow, then, and he led her to where horses waited.
They stopped at the side of the biggest mount, a huge black stallion that huffed mightily through its nose upon their arrival. Nika shirked back because the beast frightened her. As soon as she moved, she butted up against a hard chest, stopping her retreat.
“Easy, little one,” the nobleman said close to her ear. He placed his hands on both her shoulders to steady her, and that light tingling feeling in her stomach started once again. “Bellani won’t hurt you. He’s barely more than an overgrown kitten.”
The horse stamped at the ground with its hoof, snorting with unmistakable affront. Don’t worry, Nika said to the beast in her mind. I don’t believe him for a minute. She didn’t have a second more to reassure the stallion, though, as she was grabbed by the waist and thrown up onto his back without warning. The nobleman mounted behind her, completely unfazed by her surprise. He snaked an arm around her middle to hold her in place and grabbed the reins with the other. They started out immediately, leaving the others to follow.
Nika had never been on a horse before. She’d certainly never seen one as big as the black beast she sat on now. Looking down as the ground moved underneath them, she tensed. It would be a long, hard fall if she were to topple from her perch. As though he’d read her mind, the man behind her tightened his grip on her waist and scooted her back between his thighs. The horse plodded along the edge of the frozen stream that Nika fell through just yesterday and something dawned on her.
“How do you know my name, my lord? I don’t remember giving it.”
A brisk wind blew down off the mountain, cold mists of snow hitting her exposed cheeks. She shrunk back from it, pressing ever tighter into the curve of the nobleman’s chest.
“Your friends from the Frozen Forest told me.” He angled his big body to take the brunt of the wind with his back. “They said you called yourself Nika. Is that not your name?”
Friends? She wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Everything about the night before seemed like a fantasy. She nodded though, knowing he would see, if not feel, the movement as close as he held her. Curiosity of his name gnawed at her, but she didn’t ask.
“I am Vasilli, fair one,” he said close to her ear, his deep voice rumbling through her whole body when he spoke.
*Author’s Note: And so they leave camp together—the adventure begins! What was the last impromptu trip you went on and where did you go?