Page 30 of Echo North

Darkness flooded the room. I pulled the blankets up to my chin, listening to the steady sound of his breathing.

“Good night, Wolf.”

“Good night, Echo.”

I woke a few hours later to a quiet chattering sound. I realized it must be the wolf, his teeth clacking together as he shuddered with cold on the floor.

I half sat up in bed. It was warm under the coverlet, but the air outside the bedclothes was icy sharp. For the first time, I noticed the room had no fireplace.

“Wolf?” I blindly tilted my face to where he lay shivering.

“All is well, Lady Echo. Go back to sleep.”

“But you are cold.”

Silence. Then, “It will pass, by the morning.”

“Morning will be a long time in coming.”

“Sleep, Lady Echo.”

I thought of how he’d lain next to me after he’d rescued me from the wood. It wasn’t as big a thing, but I couldn’t leave him down there; he hadn’t left me. “Come up here with me. The bed is big enough. You’ll freeze down there.”

“I am fine.”

And yet his teeth wentchatter, chatter, chatter.

“Wolf, please. It is so much warmer up here.”

A long, long pause. Then: “Very well, my lady.”

There came a shuffling, scrabbling noise as he got up, the creak and sag of the bed hinges.

I was careful to scoot over to the side to give him enough room; I feared to touch him in the dark.

I heard him burrow under the blankets, felt the weight of him on his side of the bed.

“Echo?” He sounded lost and sad.

“Yes, Wolf?”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

And then we fell asleep.

Somewhere in the night, I thought I felt the wolf’s warm breath on my cheek. I turned toward him, reached out, but my fingers touched only blankets.

His voice was the barest thread in the dark: “I am sorry, Echo. I am sorry for everything.”

My head was too thick with sleep to answer.

I knew nothing more until morning.

CHAPTER TWELVE

WHENIWOKEIWAS ONCEmore alone, no sign of the wolf but the mussed bedclothes. I wondered where he’d gone. All the gowns in the wardrobe were too elegant for everyday wear, so I asked the house for a new blouse and skirt. They appeared out of thin air, laying themselves over the bed, the skirt a dark green wool with gold leaves embroidered around the hem, the blouse of cream linen, so finely spun it felt like silk.