Page 8 of Jhon

Well, so do I, she told herself.

But she wasn’t really sure she didn’t want it. It was more that she knew she shouldn’t have it.

“You’re accompanying us?” she asked him, realizing too late that her voice was a little too much like a frightened child’s.

“Yes, of course,” he said.

She felt herself practically collapse with relief. Even if he was only going to drive them a short distance, she could pay attention to how he handled the conveyance and communicated with the stag.

He gave a low whistle and tapped the reins lightly and the beautiful creature chuffed and then began to pull.

The sleigh moved with surprising smoothness against the hard, uneven terrain of the frozen soil. She wondered if there was some technological component to the sleigh she couldn’t see, or if it was just a very strong deer.

“Use the furs,” the soldier growled.

She almost jumped out of her seat, then realized he was offering a chance for her to warm up.

Well, he didn’t have to offer twice. She grabbed a massive fur and pulled it up around herself and the little one, who was already nodding off on her shoulder.

“Better?” he asked.

“Much,” she said, shivering with pleasure at the warmth of it.

He nodded, keeping his eyes ahead of them, though why he would need to do that when there was nothing but flat tundra on every side, she had no idea.

“What kind of animal did this come from?” she joked weakly. “It’s massive.”

“Probably a mammoth,” he shrugged, eyes still on the tundra.

A mammoth?

Ella shut her mouth, sorry she had asked. The idea of running into a mammoth out on all this flat ground with nowhere to hide was terrifying.

Or more than one mammoth.

Did mammoths run in packs? Maybe if she had finished secondary science, she would know.

They kept moving, the only landmarks the floating islands above, which were so large that they never seemed to make any progress.

With the baby in her arms and the warm fur around her, Ella found it harder and harder to stay awake. It had been a very exciting day, and she was exhausted.

“How far do we need to go?” she asked him as one side of the sky began to dim.

“There’s an inn a couple of hours from here,” he told her. “It’s a way station on the road to your homestead. We’ll stay there for the night.”

Road? She didn’t see a road at all.

“It’s going to take more than one day to get there?” she asked him, feeling a little defeated.

“Today and part of tomorrow,” he replied.

“And you’re coming with us the whole way?” she asked.

He turned away from the tundra for the first time since they had started moving and she was startled all over again by the masculine beauty of his face.

“Yes, of course I’m coming with you,” he said.

He studied her, as if he were looking for something.