Night had fully fallen by the time they  reached the inn. Kaiden had spoken to the innkeeper and had made sure Kallias was comfortable in the stables, before he joined Castor and Aila in the lobby. Castor had one key in his hand, and Aila watched as Kaiden frowned, searching for his key.

"They only have one room left," Castor said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

Aila observed as Kaiden's gaze met hers, an intensity behind them despite the tiredness.

"That's fine, we'll take turns keeping watch," Kaiden nodded once and led the way up the stairs. They entered the room and dumped their bags on the floor. Though the windows were closed, the room was like ice and Aila found herself becoming desperate to get under the bed covers.

"I call using the shower first," she  grabbed spare clothes from her bag and entered the bathroom before either man could protest. She relieved herself and leaned against the counter, inhaling deeply. After stripping all her clothes, she ran them lightly over the water, washing them with hand soap before hanging them on the towel rack to dry overnight.

As she stepped into the water of the shower, Aila yelped as the frozen water poured over her. She rushed through, using a disgusting soap that she had never been accustomed to, to clean her body. She scrambled out quickly, panting from the shock the coldness had given her, that had somehow managed to numb her bones.

Faint voices met her ears as she dried herself, and though she was too tired to focus as she might normally have done, she caught snippets of sentences here and there.

"I'm not going to hurt her." Kaiden's voice.

"And when we get to The Temple?"  Castor questioned, his voice as familiar to her as the back of her hand. "What then?"

"Yes, even then," Kaiden sounded curt and uncomfortable with the idea of talking about the topic with Castor.

"If you mess this up for us-"

Aila heard the beginning of a threat on Castor's tongue and chose that moment to yank the door open. She burst in, ending their conversation before the testosterone could become any more concentrated within the area.

"Perfect," Kaiden stood up awkwardly, and entered the bathroom with his clothes, but Aila placed a hand on his chest, stopping him.

"The shower water's cold," she warned, her teeth still chattering from the lack of heat within the inn. "Freezing cold."

Kaiden nodded, ditched the clothes in his bag and disappeared into the bathroom to see to his needs.

Aila perched on the edge of the bed.

"Hey, you've been really quiet today," she said. "Is everything okay?"

Castor sighed. He took a few minutes to answer.

"I don't have a good feeling about this partnership," he admitted. "You can't trust this guy, Aila."

Aila thought about it for a second.

"Why didn't you say something in the morning?" She frowned.

"Would that have stopped you?" Castor raised an eyebrow, a wry smile on his face. Aila punched him lightly and chuckled.

"Hey, I value your opinion!" She spoke, meeting his warm brown eyes.

Castor smiled tightly, glancing back at the door behind which Kaiden was. Aila, sensing his doubts, relayed her thought process to him that occurred before she took Kaiden's hand and finalised the deal.

Castor seemed slightly more at ease, but there was still a flicker of wariness on his features. Aila shoved him and stood as Kaiden entered the room, holding the door open for Castor's turn.

She watched as Kaiden ruffled around in his bag, before she pulled the covers back from the bed, and slid underneath them. They somehow didn't shield her from the coldness in the room, and the bed was rock hard, so unlike the comfortable bed in her chambers.

Castor exited the bathroom, suspiciously seeming more energised than both Aila and Kaiden combined.

"You guys try and get some rest. I'll take the first watch." He stretched and strolled to the door.

"Do you promise not to kill my princess?" He questioned Kaiden.

"I promise."

"Good enough for me," Castor shrugged and left the room, closing the door behind him. 

Aila closed her eyes, trying to ignore the numbness settling into her body and focus on the fact that at least they had a shelter inside rather than outside.

Surely it had to be warmer inside the inn than outside, right?

Aila wasn't too sure.

She felt the covers being pulled from her side, and her eyes flew open. Kaiden was standing on the other side, the bedsheets clutched in his hands.

"Um, what are you doing?" Aila spoke, her words coming out sharp.

Kaiden made a show of looking around, before he met her gaze.

"There's only one bed," he stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yes, and?" Aila pressed, pulling the covers up to her chest and glaring at him. "Is this The Indecency Inn?"

Kaiden chuckled, finding humour in her modesty and her reluctance to share.

"I'm a prince, Starlight," he said condescendingly. "There's no way I'm taking the floor."

"Oh, so you're not a gentleman then?"

"Not tonight," Kaiden pulled the sheets back, and crawled into bed beside her. Aila shuffled away from him, as far to the edge as she could go.

"Relax," Kaiden murmured. "We're just sleeping."

"And you're fine with this?" Aila challenged, indignance evident in her tone.

"Well I'm not thrilled about having to share the bed with Castor," Kaiden chuckled. Aila debated kicking him off, but she blamed the ice cold room for preventing her from moving.

Her teeth continued to chatter, and her body continued to shake.

"You're cold," Kaiden noted. "You're making the bed shake."

Aila's teeth chattered in response.

"Come here," Kaiden spoke, his tone carrying the only warmth in the room. At the scowl she threw him, Kaiden merely grinned and held his arms up. "Just sleeping."

He held his palm out to her, and Aila was surprised to find heat radiating from him. She touched his forehead tentatively, pulling her hand away and frowning.

"I think you're running a fever," worry entered her veins, and multiplied as she recognised it's presence and began to question why it was there.

"Really? I feel better than ever," Kaiden grinned.

"Your skin is really hot and this room is like a freezer," Aila explained. She pushed off the bed to go and get him a glass of water and rummage around in her bag for any supplies that would be of use, but Kaiden grabbed her arm and pulled her back down beside him, as he had done once before, many moons ago.

"That's not necessary," Kaiden mumbled sleepily.

"But-" Aila began to protest.

"Hey, do you want to know a secret?" Kaiden asked her, with his eyes closed and a content smile on his lips.

"What? No, the fever's affecting you. You don't want to tell me your secrets. Just sleep, remember?"

Kaiden opened his eyes lazily, a soft smile on his lips.

Aila began panicking, wondering what supplies she could spare for him and how much time he'd need to recover before they resumed their journey. But her thoughts began to vanish as quickly as they came, leaving her dumbfounded and speechless.

Kaiden's smile widened as he watched her, as he watched her watching him, with her jaw on the floor.

Kaiden was glowing, glowing as brightly and brilliantly as any star in the night sky. Warmth radiated from every inch of his skin, and his blue eyes blazed  with an intensity behind them that intimidated Aila more than just a little bit.

"You know when you called me Wildfire?" He whispered, his voice a warm caress against her now clammy skin. Aila didn't even register the fact that she had nodded in reply to his question, her mind now wondering whether she was hallucinating from fatigue, from the cold, or from both.

"You weren't wrong," Kaiden continued, controlling his glow as he dimmed slightly and held his palm out in front of Aila, showing her the brilliant ball of fire burning there.

Hello my beautiful Wildlights! Haha, see what I did there?
Anyway, thoughts on the chapter? I wasn't going to include Kaiden's secret here, but this book is a fantasy and I realised that it's probably best to show that early on lol. I actually think it perhaps makes more sense and works better here anyway!

*Sighs* I love the one bed trope.

Thank you for reading, please vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter! The next one should hopefully be up shortly.

~ MaddyWilson 💙