Chapter 64: Giving her the Warmth she Deserves *
A day had passed since they’d settled into the cave, and the rhythm of their makeshift life had taken on a strange kind of normalcy. Gromda had thrown herself into the role of provider with terrifying enthusiasm, spending hours outside gathering wood, hunting, and exploring the surrounding snow-covered landscape. She claimed it was because she wanted to "prove her worth," but Silas suspected she just liked the excuse to wrestle with frozen trees. It seems she was becoming more attuned with her orcish strength and personality, something he didn’t shun. In fact, he loved it.
That left him alone with Chloe.
The fire crackled softly, casting dancing shadows across the cave walls. Chloe sat on the thick blanket Silas had purchased from the system. It was a heavy, fur-lined thing that looked far too expensive for a cave in the middle of nowhere. She had her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them, her white hair spilling over her shoulders like a waterfall of snow. She looked beautiful, but also cold.
It was not the physical kind of cold. The cave was warm enough, the fire saw to that. But there was something beneath her skin, a chill that radiated from within. Silas could feel it even from across the blanket. The system’s warning echoed in his mind. ’
Three days at most before she goes completely cold.’
"Hey," he said, settling down beside her.
"Hey." Her voice was soft, distant.
"You doing okay?"
She answered quietly, "No."
He waited for her to continue, but she didn’t elaborate, and he didn’t push. He’d learned that Chloe opened up on her own time, not when someone demanded it. The fire popped. A log shifted, sending sparks spiraling toward the cave ceiling.
"I feel it," she finally said. "Inside me. It’s like... there’s a winter living in my bones." She glanced at him, her icy-blue eyes meeting his. "It’s getting stronger. I don’t know how much longer I can hold it back."
Silas’s chest tightened. "Three days. I didn’t tell you this, but I have a system. Like in the comics and webnovels."
She didn’t look surprised. "That long, huh?"
"Chloe..." Silas was surprised that she didn’t ask about the system.
"I’m scared, Silas." Her voice cracked on his name. The ice queen facade she’d been clinging to since her transformation began to fracture. "I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to become some... frozen thing that doesn’t remember who I am. And I don’t have the energy to question your abilities or how you got a system at the moment."
He reached out and took her hand. She flinched at first, her skin was cold, so cold it almost burned, but then she relaxed, her fingers curling around his.
"You’re not going to disappear," he said.
"You don’t know that."
"I know that I won’t let it happen."
She looked at him for a long moment, searching his face for something. A lie, maybe. A hint of uncertainty. She found neither.
"Why do you care so much?" she whispered. "I’m just... I’m just Chloe. I’m not special. I’m not like Anna, or any of the others. I’m just a girl who got dragged into something way bigger than she understands."
Silas shifted closer. The warmth from the fire painted half his face in gold, the other half in shadow.
"You’re the girl who smiled at me when I was branded a nuisance. You’re the girl who sat with me in the cafeteria even though everyone else was staring, " He squeezed her hand. "You’re not ’just’ anything, Chloe. You never were."
Her lower lip trembled. For a moment, she looked like the shy girl from Earth again, the one who blushed when their hands brushed and couldn’t hold eye contact for more than a few seconds.
"Silas..."
"I know this isn’t ideal," He gestured at the cave around them, the rough stone walls, the fire, the blanket spread over uneven ground. "I know you probably imagined something different for your first time. A bed, maybe. Candles. Something that didn’t smell like smoke and wet fur."
Her eyes widened. "How did you..."
"Chloe," He lifted her hand and pressed his lips to her cold knuckles. "I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you trip over your own feet in the hallway."
A faint blush crept across her pale cheeks. "That’s not... I didn’t trip..."
"You absolutely did. It was adorable."
She smacked his shoulder weakly, but she was smiling. A real smile. The first one he’d seen since she woke up.
"You’re an idiot," she said.
"Your idiot."
The words hung in the air between them. The fire crackled. Outside, the wind howled, but inside the cave, everything felt still.
"I don’t want to freeze," Chloe said again, but this time it wasn’t fear in her voice. It was something else. Something raw. "I don’t want to feel cold anymore, Silas. I’ve been cold for so long. Even before the rift, I was cold. I just... I want to feel warm. I want to feel... something."
He cupped her face in his hands. Her skin was like touching frost, but he didn’t pull away.
"Are you sure?"
She answered by kissing him. It was soft at first, tentative, and almost shy. Her lips were cold against his, but they warmed quickly as he kissed her back, slow and deep. Her hands came up to grip his shoulders, her fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt. When they finally broke apart, both breathing harder than before, her eyes were bright and wet.
"I’m sure," she breathed. "I’ve wanted this for a long time. I was just too scared to admit it."
He pressed his forehead against hers. "I’m sorry it has to be here. In a cave. On a blanket I bought with monster points."
She laughed, a real laugh, surprised out of her. "It’s perfect. It’s us."
He kissed her again, deeper this time, and she melted into him.
***
The blanket was soft beneath them as he eased her down onto it. The fire cast warm light across her body, illuminating the curve of her neck, the swell of her breasts beneath her shirt, the way her chest rose and fell with quick, shallow breaths. He took his time.
Every button he undid was a question, and every nod she gave was an answer. He peeled her shirt away from her shoulders, pressing kisses to the newly exposed skin. She shivered beneath his lips, but her hands were in his hair, pulling him closer, and guiding him.
When she was bare before him, he stopped and just looked at her. Her pale skin glowed in the firelight, her white hair spread across the dark blanket like fresh snow. Her nipples were hard, her breath coming in soft gasps. She looked like something out of a dream.
"You’re beautiful," he said.
"Silas..." She reached for him, tugging at his shirt. "I want to feel you. All of you."
He shed his clothes quickly, and when he lowered himself over her, the contrast was stark, his warmth against her cool skin, his darker complexion against her pale. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss.
"I don’t know what to do," she admitted against his lips.
"Just tell me if it hurts. Tell me if you want to stop."
"I won’t want to stop."
He reached down between them, his fingers finding her wet and ready. She gasped when he touched her, her hips bucking instinctively. He teased her slowly, circling her clit with his thumb while his fingers slid through her slick folds, feeling her warmth despite the cold that radiated from within.
"Please," she whimpered. "Silas, please."
He positioned himself at her entrance, the head of his cock pressing against her. She looked up at him, her icy-blue eyes full of trust and want and something deeper... something that made his chest ache.
"I love you, Chloe," he said.
Her eyes welled up. "I love you too. I’ve loved you for so long."
He pushed inside her slowly. She gasped, her nails digging into his shoulders, her body tensing around him. He stopped, letting her adjust, pressing soft kisses to her forehead, her eyelids, her lips.
"It’s okay," he murmured. "I’ve got you."
"It hurts," she whispered, but she pulled him closer. "Don’t stop."
He moved deeper, inch by inch, until he was fully sheathed inside her. She was tight, so tight, and warm despite everything. Her walls clenched around him as she adjusted, her breath coming in ragged gasps, while blood flowed from her cave.
"Fuck," she breathed. "You’re so... big."
"Too much?"
"No," She shook her head, a tear slipping down her cheek. "No. I want all of you."
