Page 31 of A Kiss of Frost

“I didn’t mean to cut you,” he muttered.

“You felt threatened. And you defended yourself. There is no shame in that.” He hesitated. “Sometimes one must act but sometimes it is best to evaluate the situation first.”

Johnny scuffed at the snow with his boot, as some of his color returned.

“Yeah, but then what if it’s too late?”

“That is a valid argument. But that is one of the reasons we train, both our bodies and our minds. To analyze and then to react.”

Nicholsarian had given him the same speech, he remembered. He had resented it then and he wondered if the boy resented it now. But Johnny only looked thoughtful and nodded.

“Are you going to keep training me?”

“For as long as you wish,” he said somewhat recklessly, but it was worth it when the boy grinned. “How about now?”

“Very well. We will begin by racing to the entrance of the compound and back.”

It was a simple enough feat, but it would help relieve the boy’s tension so that he would be more receptive to the slower moves to come.

Johnny grinned again and bounced on the balls of his feet.

“I bet I can beat you, old man,” he called as he raced off.

Old man?Shock held him motionless for a moment, just as the boy had undoubtedly intended, but then an answering grin curved his mouth and he took off.

By the time they returned to the shelter, they were both tired – more tired than they should have been given the limited amount of exercise – but they had reached a solid understanding. He was quite confident that the boy would protect their family.

“I’m sure Johnny will look after them,” Katerina agreed now, still looking out of the storm. “But what if they’re worried about us? What if someone tries to come and find us?”

Although he did not think Johnny would permit it, it was a valid concern. The boy’s sense of responsibility might extend to searching for them. Keffi chirped softly into his ear, and he nodded.

“We will send Keffi back with a note assuring them of our safety.”

“But he’s so little. Will he be all right?”

Even aside from the Tandroki technology empowering the drone, the animal on which Keffi had been modeled was at home in these conditions.

“He will be perfectly fine.”

She hesitated, then nodded. After she wrote a note on the back of her list, he tied it around Keffi’s neck with a strip of fabric torn from the bottom of her shirt.

“Be careful,” she whispered to the drone, kissing its furry little nose before sending it off into the storm.

It didn’t hesitate, but was immediately lost to sight in the swirling cloud of white.

“And now I wish I was the one to have taken the message,” he said.

“You? Why?”

“So I would have received your kiss.”

Her cheeks turned pink as she shook her head.

“You had lots of kisses last night.”

“I do not believe one ever receives enough kisses.”

“Maybe not,” she whispered, but then she shivered and remorse filled him.