Winter's Kiss Read Free Page B

ears in a way that made her want to relax and fall asleep.
    She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He stood over her, face half in shadow. The side that she could see made her breathless. The soft lamplight highlighted the subtle line of his cheekbones and the defined curve of his jaw. It played on the tempting fullness of his lips and danced in his eyes.
    Something in those eyes made his tone feel cold and distant. His gaze flickered to her legs. She knew it was bad, could feel the wounds on them through the numbing heat of pain. His black gloves shone with her blood. She was losing too much to remain conscious for long. It was only a matter of time now before she passed out. Would he stay with her? Would she wake up if she embraced the darkness?
    “Am I going to die?” she whispered, slow and between breaths.
    He frowned at her. “No.”
    He sounded so sure that she almost believed him.
    She wanted to thank him but couldn’t find her voice as a new wave of pain rolled through her. If he hadn’t shown up, the wolves would have killed her and eaten her, as they had eaten his horse. How was she supposed to pay him back for that? She would never be able to afford such a fine animal. She laughed internally at herself for thinking about such ridiculous things while she balanced on the knife’s edge between life and death. Soon, it wouldn’t matter that she couldn’t afford to buy him a new horse. Soon, she would be dead and his loss would have been in vain.
    “Your name?” he said, more demanding this time.
    “Nika,” she pushed out the word.
    “Nika, my name is Winter,” he said and she looked up at him, struggling to focus on his face so she could remember it and his name. It was an unusual name. What kind of person was called Winter? “I need you to listen to me. This will hurt, but we must set your leg.”
    She swallowed. More pain? Couldn’t he just let her die? She was on the brink of passing out as it was and then she would be in blissful dark silence for the rest of eternity. No, he had said that she wouldn’t die and it had sounded like a promise. If he believed that she would live, there was a chance that she would. If she survived, she didn’t want her leg to be set wrong. The doctors would want to break it again to reset it.
    Nika nodded.
    He removed his thick cloak and placed it at the foot of the bed. Beneath it was the chest armour she had caught glimpses of a few times. Black and shaped like muscles, it made him appear strangely naked. He tugged two black leather straps free of his cloak and handed one to her. She stared blankly at it.
    “Bite down on it.” There was incredible command behind those words. He placed it into her mouth when she didn’t move and she pushed it with her tongue until it was comfortable against her teeth.
    Closing her eyes so she couldn’t see the pain coming, Nika bit down hard on the leather strap.
*
    Winter waited a moment, studying her. She was in phenomenal pain but it would ease once he had braced her leg. He held her lower leg on either side of the break and listened to her heartbeat. The moment it became
    steady, he snapped the bone of her left leg carefully into position. She whimpered and then fell silent.
    He grabbed the other strap and tore a section off the skirt of her dress. Looking around, he tried to find a suitable splint. He spotted the pieces of wood that had fallen away when the wolves had broken the windows. Adding two of them to his group of makeshift medical supplies, he frowned down at her leg. He needed to clean it. The skin was broken in several places but he couldn’t tell whether they were teeth or claw marks.
    Glancing at Nika, Winter realised that she had passed out. He blinked slowly. The sweet fragrance of her blood made it hard to concentrate. It called to him, stirring a deep desire to taste her and take her, to make her his. He closed his eyes, lowered his head while turning it a fraction away from her, and exhaled. He didn’t