“Yeah. I think I’m getting frostbite on my pinkie toe.”

Easton’s head snapped up.

“I didn’t want to say anything,” she admitted, “but I can’t feel it anymore.”

“Show me.” Half expecting her to argue, Easton frowned at her. He didn’t understand the smile that came to her face. “What?”

“The beard. It moved the opposite way.”

“I have no idea what that means,” he grumbled. When Easton checked her toes, her skin was still its normal color. But her littlest toe was numb. Easton unzipped his jacket, then took her foot and put her leg beneath his arm, toes wedged inside his armpit.

She looked at him like he was crazy. “What are you doing?”

“Body heat helps the most to warm you up. So I’m putting your foot in my armpit.”

River’s eyebrow rose. “And I don’t have any say in this matter?”

Frown deepening, Easton cut his head to the side once. “No.”

After a moment, she flashed an adorable grin at him. “You totally have a foot fetish.”

“I’m trying to save your toe,” Easton said, because he wasn’t ready to cave yet. “My armpit is the warmest part of my body, so you can either deal with it or complain about it, but either way, you’re walking down this mountain with all your body parts still attached.”

He hadn’t meant to come off as rough as he did. Ashamed at the tone he’d taken, Easton added softly, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

Settling back on her palms, she wiggled her toes. “Is this what being warm feels like? I’d forgotten.”

“The Veil is brutal.” Easton didn’t like thinking about it. “And you were in there a long time.”

Too long of a time.

He could have gone easy on her, told her it was okay. Made the peace she clearly wanted. Instead, Easton decided to get real with her. “River? Have you ever seen someone die on a mountain?”

River opened her mouth to say something, possibly to make a joke. Then she pursed her lips and shook her head. “No, I haven’t.”

Easton had, and it wasn’t something he’d ever forget.

“Sometimes you have to leave them,” he told her quietly. “When someone is hurt badly enough, there’s nothing you can do. The crevasses in the Veil are deep, but the fall might not finish you off.”

Looking down at his soup, Easton readjusted her foot in his armpit. “You would have been in a lot of pain, and you would have lain there, knowing I was above you, but there would have been nothing I could do. I would have stayed with you as long as I could, but the Veil’s windchill can be the coldest part of the mountain. Eventually, I would have to leave, and you’d die alone. Freezing in an ice tomb, all alone.”