It was hot.

Too hot for her body. Skin cracked and peeled back to reveal the veins and tendons that lay beneath. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. The sounds of dying men filled her ears as she curled herself in a ball, crying into her hands. Her back still stung as warm wetness trickled down her spine and pooled on the floor beneath her.

The voice inside her head was raging, consuming every cell in her body.

It called to her. Beckoning her further into the darkness. Welcoming her to shed light on her enemies, drowning them in its fire.

She tossed her head, crying out for it to stop. She just wanted them to stop. She didn’t mean to.

Princess.

Shaking her head no, she cried out. The pressure that was building inside of her was too much. Too close to combusting.

Evelyn.

She tried to fight off the force that grabbed her arms. They shouldn't touch her, not like that. She was a princess, she’d be ruined. She couldn’t let them ruin her. Her father would be so ashamed.

Evelyn.

The voice sounded louder, more urgent. Only causing her panic to rise. Fire ran across her skin starting at the tips of her fingers and up her arms. Liquid fire ran down her face, pooling from her eyes, hissing against the ground when it hit.

She promised she wouldn’t lose control. She promised she’d be good and never let anyone see, but she was terrified and in pain, her body screaming from her torture. The pressure inside her chest continued to build, threatening to spill over, threatening to be released, consuming everything in its path, when suddenly she felt cold.

In the distance, something cold lay against her skin, but she couldn’t see what it was. Looking down at her arms, the fire receded, disappearing back underneath her skin.

She looked around curiously, her body temperature dropping quickly, making her teeth chatter hard. She was about to call out for help. Maybe someone was nearby, when she heard it.

Evelyn.

Evelyn bolted upright out of bed.

Her linen shirt clung to her body like a second skin, soaked through with sweat. Her long, brown hair was a matted mess against her head from tossing and turning. Her blanket had been pulled back, leaving her creamy legs exposed to the open night air, but that wasn’t what caught her attention. It was the long, legs in black leather that hung off her cot just beside her that had her hold her breath.

Someone was in her bed with her. Someone lacking a body temperature, their skin as cool as the freezing night air, pressed into her side. Looking down, Evelyn found the Prince in her bed.

Pulling her shirt tighter around herself and pulling it down to try and cover some of her legs, she nearly shrieked.

The Prince sat up suddenly, the speed of which he moved blinded her, wrapping his hand around her mouth, effectively silencing her. “Hush, you don’t want to alarm the whole camp. They might think I’m doing something indecent in here with you.”

The smirk that played on the Prince’s thin, red lips, was enough to make her blood boil. The nerve of this man. She shoved him back, which removed his hand from her mouth as he struggled to keep himself on the cot and not falling back on his arse on the cold ground.

“What do you think you are doing in my tent?” she hissed at him, trying her best to keep her voice low. The last thing she needed was a scandal before she even made it to the capital. “I don’t know how they do things in the North, but I’ll have you know, you cannot just bed any woman you please. I may be promised to you but we are not wed yet and you will never get my body without my consent, that I can promise you.”

“Calm down, woman,” the Prince said with a roll of his eyes.

Evelyn nearly flung herself at him. Wanting desperately to gouge out his eyes with her nails but she held herself back, fighting her own will to castrate the man.

“You were crying out in your sleep. I came in here to make sure you were alright before you woke the entire camp and found you burning up. I was afraid you had a fever with how hot your skin was, so I laid down beside you to cool your body down. It was the fastest way since you wouldn't wake on your own.”

Evelyn, for once in her life, lacked words. She didn’t know why he tried to help her but she was grateful he did. If he hadn’t, she could have easily lit her entire tent on fire and that wouldn’t have been good for any of them.

“Thank you,” she said, filled with disbelief.

Alexi rolled his eyes. “Next time, keep the shouting to a minimum. Vampires may not sleep much, but we do enjoy the quiet.”

“Yes, being isolated in the frozen North with nothing but your kind to keep you company must be very quiet indeed,” Evelyn countered.

Alexi’s eyes widened at her. She couldn’t determine what exactly it was he was thinking. That is until his eyes trailed down to her still exposed legs, showing him more skin than she was comfortable with. She wasn't a prude but it was highly inappropriate behavior for having only just met. She pulled her covers back over her body, covering her skin from his eyes.

Alexi chuckled, fangs exposed, pressed into the subtle softness of his lips. “As if I would ever be tempted.”

Unable to explain why, she was annoyed that his words felt like a thorn had grazed her. It left her bitter and annoyed.

“Good, then leave my tent. We have a long journey still tomorrow and I’ll need as much rest as I can get. Thank the Gods I’m not a vampire and still require something called rest,” she said, almost mocking him.

Alexi narrowed his eyes at her before turning his back and pushed the flaps of her tent open. The brief opening allowed cold, freezing air to push into her warm tent. She quickly got up, re-securing the entrance closed before getting back under her blankets.

Laying her head back on her pillow, she couldn’t help but think of the Prince. Being married to him might be comparable to living in the frozen depths of hell. He was cold, meticulous, and unloveable.

Not that she ever had such grand notions as love, but she had hoped for some type of friendship with her future husband. Even though he had come in her tent to help her, he did it for selfish reasons and that didn’t sit well with her.