Kira simply glanced at the king of the Winter Isle and shook her head. “If you wish for me to know your future, I must remain a virgin.”
Blake’s mouth practically dropped open in astonishment, just as Drake’s own mind began to race with questions. What could she possibly mean?
Menion’s laughter pulled Drake from his racing thoughts, and when he looked at the prince, he found the man was shaking his jet-black head. “You two are fools.”
Blake instantly jumped to his feet, defensive to the last, and Drake couldn’t help but shake his head. He played with a loose thread on his leather breeches—the only thing he had not stripped off the night before—in an attempt to look nonchalant as he said to the prince, “If you’re so knowledgeable. Why don’t you explain what the good oracle means?”
Menion pursed his lips for a moment, looking as though he were debating how much to say. Then he cleared his throat and glanced at Kira, who nodded before he began to speak, “The lore states that an oracle only has her powers while she remains a virgin. If she were to be sexually active, or fae gods forbid she was…”
The prince’s voice trailed off, and Drake saw his face grow pale in the dying light of the fire.
“Or if someone were to force themselves upon me, I would become useless to them,” Kira added for the prince, offering him a sympathetic expression.
“Well then,” Blake sighed deeply, “It looks like we’ll just have to share body heat without the fun.”
Kira chuckled at that, and began to cross the room toward her bed once more. She picked up the blanket and pulled it around her before dropping down onto the bed. Rudy, her little pet fox, jumped up instantly beside her and began to nuzzle into her.
“Have fun cuddling,” Kira chuckled almost to herself before turning over with her back to the three of them. “The only thing to do during these storms is sleep. Catch up on some rest and you’ll be back on your way down the mountain before you know it.”
“We all will be on our way back down the mountain before we know it,” Blake corrected, reminding Kira of the rather forceful suggestion he’d made of her returning to court with him.
“We’ll see,” Kira said simply, sounding not at all convinced that she would go anywhere with him unless she decided it. “There are extra blankets in the trunk at the bottom of the bed.”
Chapter 5 - Kira
The cabin was freezing and silent, other than the gentle breathing of the three men who were huddled in their own corners of the room. Obviously, they’d chosen not to take Blake up on his offer to share body heat. Kira gently rolled over so as not to disturb the men. She was sure they couldn’t be sleeping. It was far too cold for any of them to be comfortable enough to actually sleep.
“I think this is the worst it’s ever been, Rudy,” Kira sighed, “Perhaps it's a sign.”
Rudy let out a small whimper and tipped his head to the side, a look of understanding on his face, as if he knew exactly what she was saying.
Kira lay there, shivering, her hands clutched tightly to the blanket she’d wrapped firmly around her. Silently cursing herself, she wondered how she could’ve possibly forgotten to grab some more firewood before the snow really came down. She’d been in this situation a hundred times before over the years, and she’d never run out of firewood, even during a long stint of being stuck inside. At least we have food, she thought, relieved that she always kept a good two-week supply of dried food in case of emergencies.
Movement out of the corner of her eye made Kira look around. Drake, who’d made his resting place closest to the bed, lifted his head and began to stretch his arms. The way he held the corners of his blanket in his hands made him look like a bat. The only thing that reminded Kira he was actually fae were the small glimpses of silver-tipped wings she could see just beneath. She began to blush and looked away quickly when she realized she’d been staring at his bare chest.
A soft chuckle erupted from him, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw him pushing himself to his feet. “You don’t need to be embarrassed. If you were half-naked, I’d probably look too.”
Kira’s stomach twisted at the comment, though it was not a painful twist. In fact, there was something quite pleasurable about it. It was a sensation she’d felt many times over in her thirty-five years, and yet she’d never acted on it.
“It’s hard not to look when your nipples are like icicles,” Kira admitted, still blushing, and unable to stop the way her lips twitched upwards in a smile.
“That’s what happens when you’re freezing,” Drake pointed out with a shrug. He edged closer to the bed and suggested, “You know, Blake was right about us sharing body warmth.”
Before Kira could protest, Drake had reached down and taken hold of her hand, pulling her up into his arms. At first, she began to protest, but the moment she felt the warmth of his body pressed against hers, she instinctively began to lean into him, relishing in the way he reached up and stroked the back of her head.
“It’s been so long since anybody had touched me,” she breathed, unable to remember the last time anybody had held her.
“I think perhaps we can remedy that,” came the voice of Menion from behind her. Kira’s heart suddenly began to hammer with alarm. She’d been so intent on Drake, she hadn’t realized that both his brother and the younger prince had begun to stir. They crowded in behind her, and Kira’s throat constricted as she felt first Menion’s hands on her shoulders, and then Blake’s palm at the base of her spine.
She knew she should reject them, that she should remind them of what they were risking, and yet the warmth of their touch was irresistible. Closing her eyes, she allowed their hands to travel all over her body, feeling their muscular frames pressing in all around her. Leaning her head back on Menion’s shoulder, she felt lips caressing her throat.
“We…we shouldn’t be doing this…” she whimpered into the air, able to feel her breath bellowing out in a visible cloud above their heads.
“Our future isn’t going to be worth knowing if we all freeze to death in here,” Menion pointed out, and for the first time in her life, Kira allowed herself to stop thinking of her visions. In that moment, she didn’t care what might happen. She didn’t care that she might lose her ability to see the future. After all, what had her powers ever done for her but put her in chains?
“Let us warm you up,” Blake suggested, his voice so husky in her ear that Kira couldn’t help but tremble against the hands that were beginning to strip her of her clothes. “Let us take care of you.”
“Yes…” she breathed out with a brief nod of her head.