The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 80: Stubborn and Jealous

Chapter 80: Stubborn and Jealous

When Annalise woke up the next morning, the first thing she noticed was just how chilly the air had turned after the heavy rain. Thankfully, she was securely bundled up in Kenric’s arms as he kept her safe from the cold.

It seemed pretty early as there was no sign of any sunlight yet, but the amount of brightness outside the cave clearly stated that it was already dawn.

She turned her head to look behind her and found the space empty, Valerius had disappeared somewhere and there was no sign of him inside the cave. However, her enhanced hearing picked up the familiar voices of her other two husbands coming from outside the cave.

She turned to look at the sleeping form of the man whose chest she was using as her pillow. The softness on his face was nothing like the side she got to see the previous night.

The thoughts of the previous night caused her cheeks to warm up as she bit down on her lower lip. A shiver ran down her spine which had nothing to do with the cold.

Somehow, she succeeded in getting out of Kenric’s arms without waking him up. Wrapping a quilt around her body to keep herself warm and also covered, she headed towards the carriage to dress up. It probably took her around fifteen minutes or so before she was finally dressed and ready for the day.

Since the weather was cold, she put on trousers beneath her simple light yellow dress. She wore minimum jewelry including only a pearl hairpin and matching earrings and styled her hair in a braid as it was the only thing she could think of other than letting her hair stay loose.

After stuffing her feet in the leather boots, she finally climbed out of the carriage and headed outside the cave. When she came out, she only found Damian sitting at the mouth of the cave around a bonfire with no trace of Valerius.

As far as her eyes could see, white fog covered their surroundings as if it was the middle of winter instead of the end of the rainy season. Something was telling her that the fog was just as suspicious as it was unusual.

The air was so cold that she started shivering soon enough. Turning her attention back to Damian, she noticed that the man hadn’t spared a single glance in her direction. She contemplated whether to get closer to the fire or just stay clear from the man, but the cold ended up winning as she stopped thinking about the consequences and just moved to sit on the stone seat beside him close to the fire.

She kept her eyes fixed on the burning fire as she warmed her cold hands, but she was still pretty aware of the intense gaze of Lord Damian that was fixed on her. If not for her foolish courage that came out of nowhere, she would already have disappeared from his sight long ago.

She absorbed some heat in her palms and then pressed them against her cheeks which had also turned cold. If she had known that the weather would turn this unpredictable and cold, she would definitely have packed a couple of warm clothes for the journey. Unfortunately, it was too late to regret now, and being in the middle of a forest, there was also no shop for her to buy warm clothes.

As she sat there rubbing her hands over her arms, she noticed Lord Damian standing up before walking away, and while she was curious to know where he was going, she didn’t dare to turn her head and look at him.

A couple of moments passed and then she felt something warm and soft coming to rest over her shoulders before warmth engulfed her entire body as the fur cloak hid her from direct contact with the chilly air.

She turned her head around and found Lord Damian standing behind her with his gaze focused on anywhere but her. She opened her mouth to speak, probably to thank him but the man didn’t allow her to do so as he immediately walked away.

Annalise couldn’t stop herself from scoffing at his actions. He was making her confused, one moment he acted as if he hated her the most but then the next moment he would do something so heart-warming. How was she supposed to keep herself from caring about him if he continued to show her such a warm side from time to time?

A sigh left her lips as she returned her attention to the fire. The cloak was covered in the dark earthly scent that belonged to Lord Damian and she knew that it belonged to him. She sat there in silence for a couple of minutes before Kenric appeared beside her and settled down on Damian’s empty seat.

"What are you doing here all alone?" He asked her as he took hold of both her hands and brought them closer to his mouth before blowing on them and rubbing them with his fingers.

She found herself shaking her head slowly and couldn’t understand just what kind of answer it was but it made both her and Kenric smile as the man continued to warm up her hands.

"Valerius will be returning soon. We should get ready for our departure. The earlier we will leave, the better it will be for us." Damian’s voice broke their sweet moment and made Annalise pull her ah da back. She didn’t want him to accuse her again for distracting Kenric from important work.

Kenric let out a sigh as he shook his head and stood up. But before he could have gone too far, she heard him muttering two specific words under his breath that were undoubtedly directed at Damian - "Stubborn and Jealous".

Her eyes found their way to the said Lord as she tried to associate these two terms with him. Stubborn? Yeah, she could see that in him pretty clearly. But Jealous? Why would he be?