Kringl (Rescued by the Alien)

Chapter 20

Chapter

Twenty

J oy shrugged on her coat and prepared to slip out the back door, sneaking another look at the alien who’d shared her bed. Kringl hadn't mentioned anything about the night before or even acted differently, although they hadn’t gotten a moment alone since either woke up. She’d barely padded to the kitchen when Tami had been tapping at the back door. The girl had tiptoed in, and Snowball had scampered out.

She’d lied to Tami, even though she hated lying. But how could she explain casual sex to the girl? “Have fun while you can” wasn’t exactly the kind of advice you wanted to pass on to young girls.

Had that been what it was, a bit of fun? Her cheeks warmed as she thought about the previous night. It had definitely been fun, although it had felt like more than that to her.

But now, in the light of day and the glare of reality, she wasn’t so sure. Maybe it had been a way to blow off steam and break the tension between them. Maybe that was all it could be.

A pang twisted her chest as she considered the possibility that it had been nothing more than a fling for him . After all, he was a prince—surely he'd had his fair share of females in his bed. And it had been made clear that he was expected to marry someone suitable, which was not her.

She needed to forget all that if she was going to focus on their mission. There was no room for distraction, and at the moment, Kringl was one very big, very blue distraction.

“Ready?” he asked her as he pulled on his own cloak with the newly returned Snowball on his shoulder.

“Ready,” Tami answered for both of them as she rubbed her mittened hands together.

The trio stepped from the back door and crept along the edge of the village, snow crunching softly beneath their feet. Sunlight filtered through the clouds and glinted off the pristine white landscape, evergreen trees casting shadows across their path. In the distance, the ever-present music played on, accompanied by the bustling sounds of elves preparing for yet another celebration banquet.

Joy's stomach clenched at the familiar cacophony, strengthening her resolve to put an end to the madness once and for all. They darted between rows of peaked-roofed wooden houses, finally reaching the imposing structure of the workshop.

Kringl took the lead, Snowball moving back and forth across his shoulders, with Tami between them and Joy bringing up the rear. As they scouted the back of the building, they discovered a high window left partially open. Too high for any elf to reach and almost too high for any human.

Tami bounced on her toes. "I can squeeze through there. Once I’m in, I can unlock another entrance for you two."

As rational as that was, Joy didn’t like it. She’d imagined them all sticking together while they observed the workshop and gathered information.

Kringl gave a firm shake of his head. “Too dangerous.”

But the girl's confidence was unwavering. "I can do this. I know I can. No one will even notice me.”

“You cannot go in alone,” Kringl said. “That is not how military missions work.”

“I won’t be alone.” Tami tapped her own shoulder and Snowball leaped onto it. “Snowball will look out for me.”

A girl and a squirrel? This was hardly a dream team. Joy hesitated, but she recognized the same stubbornness in the girl that she possessed. Tami would not take no for an answer. “You only go in and look around. Don’t worry about opening a door. Just peek around and come back out.”

Kringl opened his mouth, but Joy gave him a look that had him pressing his lips until they were a white line. She hadn’t known his blue skin could actually turn white.

“Two minutes and I’m coming in after you,” Kringl said, as he cupped his hands to cradle Tami’s foot and give her a boost. With surprising agility, the girl scrambled up and through the narrow opening, Snowball scampering after her.

The moment the two were inside, she and Kringl huddled silently outside the building. She wasn’t sure which was worse—the awkward silence between her and Kringl or not having any clue what was happening inside. Joy jiggled her leg, hyper-aware of Kringl's proximity and the heat of his body even through his cloak and her coat.

Kringl cleared his throat. "Joy, about last night—"

She braced herself to be let down easy and to pretend that she didn’t care, but she didn’t have the chance to assure him that being friends was fine. A series of shouts and crashes from inside the workshop stopped him in mid-sentence.

Joy's chest tightened as a high-pitched scream pierced the air. There was not a doubt in her mind that it belonged to Tami.