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"Slow down!" Juniper yelled as she walked behind Kol, holding the fur pelt close to her chest. "For Saints' sake! Walking fast isn't going to make us any less lost."
It had been five days since they stayed at the whaler's hut. They had spent nights in caves, hidden away from the constant falling snow. During the day, they walked, trying to find any type of civilization.
"I... am not lost," He spoke, glancing around before sitting on a raised rock.
She breathed out as she sat next to him.
"I have endured much worse than this," He added.
"You really need to relax–"
He stood up, "I do not want to relax."
She rolled her eyes as she began following him once more, "And why is that? What are you so afraid will happen? Afraid you might start to like me?"
He said nothing.
Despite her fatigue, she trotted ahead of him, "That's it, isn't it? You don't want to like me. You're scared that if you laugh at my jokes or answer my questions, you might start thinking I'm worth saving. Would that be so terrible?"
He breathed out as she walked ahead of him, "I do like you."
She turned, "What was that?"
"I do like you," He said angrily.
Juniper beamed, feeling a well of pleasure erupt through her, "Now, really, is that so bad?"
"Yes!" He roared.
"Why?"
"Because you're horrible. You're loud and lewd and... treacherous. Niklaus warned me that you would be charming."
"Oh, I see. I'm the wicked Grisha seductress. I have beguiled you with my Grisha wiles!"
She poked him in the chest.
"Stop that."
"No. I'm beguiling you."
He smiled, "Quit it."
She danced around him in the snow, poking his chest, his stomach, his side, "Goodness! You're very solid. This is strenuous work."
He started to laugh.
"It's working! The beguiling has begun. The Original has fallen. You are powerless to resist me. You–"
Juniper's voice broke off in a scream as the ice gave way beneath her feet. She threw her hands out blindly, reaching out for something, anything that might stop her fall, fingers scraping over ice and rock.
The vampire grabbed her arm, and she cried out as it was nearly wrenched from its socket.
She hung there, suspended over nothing, the grip of his fingers the only thing between her and the dark mouth of the ice. For a moment, looking into his eyes, she was certain he was going to let go.
