Chapter 160: Coat

Nyx's ’s POV

We dried on the bank in the silver-green light although “dried” was generous considering my clothes were still damp enough to cling to my skin and the afternoon breeze had decided it was personally offended by the fact that I had enjoyed myself.

Rydstrom had produced a blanket from somewhere because he carried emergency blankets around his kingdom and simply waited for people to discover this about him. He spread it over the grass without comment and then settled against the base of one of the pale trees with his phone in hand, giving us the sort of privacy that only Rydstrom could provide.

He was very obviously reading something, very obviously not listening to us and so listening to us that I decided not to test him. The afternoon had cooled while we were in the water.

The warmth from the sun was fading from the clearing, leaving the forest wrapped in that strange silver-green light that made everything look softer than it had when we arrived. I sat beside Caelan on the edge of the bank, pulled my knees toward my chest and rubbed my hands over my arms.

A shiver ran through me. Caelan noticed immediately. “You’re cold.”

“I’m fine.” I tried to be considerate.

His eyes moved over me, stopping briefly at my arms. “You’re covered in goosebumps.”

I looked down at myself. “Aesthetic choice.”

His mouth twitched. “You know, I’m beginning to suspect you use humor as a substitute for admitting when something is uncomfortable.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You shivered twice in the last minute.”

“You’re counting my shivers now?”

“I notice things.” He looked completely serious.

“That is either very sweet or mildly creepy.”

“I’ll accept sweet.”

“You don’t get to choose.”

“I just did.”

I laughed under my breath and looked away but another shiver moved through me before I could stop it. Caelan noticed that too. Without saying anything else, he stood and walked toward the tree where he had left his coat.

“Caelan.”

He ignored me, retrieved the coat from the branch, shook it once and walked back toward me. He held it out. I looked at the coat and then at him.

“You’re colder than I am.”

“I don’t feel the cold the same way you do.”

“That isn’t the point.”

“That is exactly the point.” He stepped closer, the coat still extended between us. “You’re sitting here pretending you’re comfortable because you don’t want to admit that you’re freezing and I have a coat.”

“I’m not freezing.”

“Nyx.”

“What?”

“You’re shivering.”

“I can survive a little cold.”

“I know you can.” His expression softened slightly. “That doesn’t mean you have to.”

That shut me up and looked at the coat again. “You’ll be cold without it.”

“I won’t.”

“You’re always colder than me.”

“And somehow I’m still the one watching you turn blue.”

“I am not turning blue.”

“You’re arguing about the color of your skin instead of putting the coat on.” I stared at him for a moment.

“Happy?”

“Very.”

I slipped my arms into it and the sleeves swallowed half my hands. The shoulders hung far too low, making it obvious that the coat had never been designed for me and the warmth settled around me almost immediately.

It smelled like him, faintly of the cold stone and night air of Noctharys, something darker underneath that I had started associating with Caelan without ever consciously deciding to. I pulled the coat tighter around myself. Caelan sat down beside me again.

“You’re not getting this back.”

“I wasn’t planning to ask.”

My eyebrows lifted. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Even though it’s your favorite coat?”

“You’re wearing it.”

“So?”

“So you can keep wearing it.”

I studied his face. There was no hesitation there. “You’re getting soft and it’s scaring me.”

“I’ve been told.”

“By me?”

“Mostly.”

I smiled and tucked my hands farther into the sleeves. We sat there for a while without speaking. Rydstrom remained beneath his tree, scrolling through whatever had captured his attention while the lake stretched quietly in front of us. The water had lost some of its impossible blue beneath the changing light and was beginning to reflect the silver of the sky instead.

“Thank you for today,” I said eventually.

Caelan glanced at me. “Rydstrom chose the location.”

“You asked him to bring us somewhere beautiful.”

He is always trying to make it seem like he is not doing the most.  His expression changed slightly. It was barely there but I caught it.

“How did you know that?”

“Because you knew the long way through the forest was better and you didn’t tell me until I experienced it.” I looked at him, smiling faintly. “You could have taken us straight here. You didn’t. You wanted me to see the forest first.”

I nudged his knee lightly with mine. “You did, didn’t you?”

His gaze dropped briefly to where our knees touched before returning to my face. “Vera said you like discovering things yourself.”

I blinked. “You talked to Vera about this trip?”

“Several times.”

I turned toward him properly because there seem to be something there I am missing. “Several?”

“She had opinions and she was very helpful.”

“Vera is never just helpful. She gets involved. She’s going to be unbearable when I see her.”

“She texted me three times while we were in the lake.”

My mouth fell open. “She texted you??” The little traitor did not text me once!!

“She has my number.”

“When did she get your number?”

“About two weeks after we arrived in Noctharys.”

I narrowed my eyes. “How?”

“She asked Drakthar.”

I closed my eyes. “Of course she did.”

Caelan’s shoulder moved with a quiet laugh. “And of course Drakthar gave it to her. That man has absolutely no concept of privacy.”

“He said he thought it would be useful.”

“Useful for what? Coordinating my emotional downfall?”

Caelan’s mouth curved. “Something like that.”

I pulled the coat tighter around myself. “What did Vera say?”

He reached into his pocket and brought out his phone. I moved closer without thinking, our shoulders touching as I looked at the screen.

\-Is she laughing yet?

\-The coat. Give her the coat when she gets cold. Trust me.

\-Don’t ask for it back.

I don’t know how I feel about how much effort he’s put into this whole thing and I know it’s not even because of his permission that I revoked. It’s solely because he wants forgiveness and wants us to be friends.