He moved the water over her skin, and ignored the stirring in his body.
She was beautiful, it was true, and he had been battling attraction for her along with his anger these past few days, but now was not the time.
Her eyelids fluttered open. “Oh,” she said, thrashing suddenly in his arms.
He held her tight up against his chest, her hands splayed there. “Settle down,” he said.
“What happened? Where am I?”
“You’re in the hot springs.”
“I’m not supposed to submerge in water over a hundred and four degrees. I read that online when I couldn’t sleep the other night.”
“You probably aren’t supposed to freeze either. But don’t worry, the water isn’t even one hundred degrees.”
“Where am I?”
“Three-quarters of the way down the mountain. I found you on an outcropping. Because you nearly killed yourself doing whatever the hell you were trying to do. Which makes your lectures about water temperature feel a bit empty.”
Her eyes went wide. “I did?”
“Yes. What were you playing at?”
“Escaping, obviously. But I figured it was a straight shot down the mountain...”
“And you managed to get yourself going sideways. It doesn’t matter, I don’t think you would’ve made it to the bottom. You’re small, and you don’t move quick enough. I think you do not have an adequate understanding of how cold it is. You’ve been out here now for a couple of hours.”
“I have been?”
“Yes. You might not want to believe me, but you should. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“Right. Because of your honor.”
“I have no need to. I have been up-front with you about who I was and what I was doing from the beginning. You know better.”
She trembled in his arms, and he thought perhaps now might not be the time to yell at her. But she was an idiot. And she deserved it.
“Did I really nearly get myself killed?”
“Yes. You have got to stop acting as if you can overcome anything. You cannot overcome winter.”
“I just... I’ve had to train to be in charge. To handle everything. I don’t have the luxury of being tentative. I don’t have the luxury of... You know that. You know how it is.”
“You cannot wage war against temperature. It does not matter how determined you are. It does not care how brilliant you are. The weather will equalize you. To everyone else.”
“I have a pilot coming.”
“Stupid girl,” he said. “No pilot can land in this. Even if a pilot said he was coming, he is not coming now.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You might’ve traveled the world, but you certainly don’t have an adequate respect for the kind of snow we get here. The kind of cold. Children here learn, and early, that they must have a care for the wilderness. For the turn in the weather.”
His grandfather had taught him how to respect the wilderness and all the creatures in it. To love the cold, even as he respected it. He had taught him that the earth was living, and like any living being it had to be respected.
He carried that with him. Always.
“How are we going to get out of this without freezing to death?”