“You’re cold,” he said, seeing me with my arms wrapped around my shins. It was the cold, sure, but it was the spent adrenaline, too. There had been nothing but fear in it. No high, no euphoria. God, I was stupid. Or maybe I was starting to get smart.

I looked over the small room, gaze lingering on the fieldstone wall. “Where are we?”

“A short stretch from the river.”

My belt pack was in the corner, and I eyed it. I was cold, hungry, and in a hole in the ground, but at least I had my elven porn, damn it. “Jenks?”

Pierce settled himself, gaze on the ceiling. “On his way to Ivy,” he said. “He was determined not to mosey off until satisfied you were sound, but after you pinked up, he left.”

Wiping my hand under my nose, I found a more comfortable position. There wasn’t much room here. It was bigger than say … two coffins, and about four feet tall.

Pierce’s bare feet shifted as he found a new way to sit. “We’re likely to be some time. I’m of a mind sharing that blanket might make it nicer.”

My attention jerked to his, suspicion rising high. “You can have it.” I pulled it from around my shoulders and tossed it to him. It landed between us to somehow look dangerous.

Pierce leaned forward, his expression cross as he dragged it to himself and watched me shiver. “I won’t say you’re a cold woman, Rachel, because you’re not. But you’re … a sight too wary of those whose aim is but to give you comfort. Grit your teeth if you must, but I’m coming over and we’re sharing this blanket.”

“Hey!” I said loudly, then froze, looking at the ceiling, fear spiking through me. “You stay right there,” I whispered, hand outstretched in warning. “I said you could have the blanket.”

He hesitated, crouched awkwardly because of the low ceiling. His black hair was in disarray, and his white underthings covered everything and hid nothing.

“What are you going to do?” he asked. “Hurt me because I want to share a blanket? I won’t impugn your honor. You’re an ornery woman if you won’t allow a man even that.”

He moved forward again, and I pressed into the wall, feeling its cold through my thin chemise as he came on. “I said stop!” The pitch of my voice halted him, and he hesitated, a foot back. Heart pounding, I whispered, “I might. I’ve hurt people before. It’s what I do. Demon kin. I’m demon kin, and tonight proves it.”

“Aye, you might.” Pierce’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll chance it.”

I didn’t have time to react as he shifted to sit right next to me, pushing my arm away when I went to shove him back, slipping the blanket around us and drawing it close.