The walk back to the cave happened in silence.
Heavy silence. The kind that pressed down on shoulders and made breathing feel difficult, that filled the space between us with all the words neither of us was saying.
Eris wouldn't look at me.
Kept her gaze fixed somewhere over my shoulder or down at her hands or anywhere that wasn't my face. Avoiding eye contact like it would hurt her. Like seeing whatever expression I wore would make this worse.
I carried her through the waterfall, into the cool darkness of the cave, back to the alcove where we'd slept tangled together just hours ago. Set her down carefully on the furs.
She immediately moved away.
Crawled to the far side of the space. Put as much distance between us as the alcove allowed. Sat with her back against the frozen wall, arms crossed over her chest, defensive posture that screamed don't come closer.
I sat across from her silently.
