When they finally slept together, they did not make love. They slept like tired animals, holding each other in sleep, huddled together for warmth against the cold that waited outside the little room in the Prancing Pony. Elwil cried out once in a bad dream and Delioron heard her, cupping his body around hers like they were both parts of a whole. She had not dreamed of the man who had come to kill her but of the day Mîwon had died. Much of Elwil had died that day with her son, and she wondered if the pain would ever go away.
When the morning finally broke, it was filled with wintry foreboding. Cruel wind blew down from the Bree-hill watching the inn. The wind was like a wraith’s breath, icy and chilling.
Delioron was the first to wake up. He didn’t move because he didn’t want to wake her. He didn’t want the illusion of warmth to end. When she finally woke up and felt him against her, she wouldn’t say anything either. They just laid there cupped, both afraid to break the silence. They could not speak. They would not.
”Del”, Elwil said at last. The light of the late autumn in Bree was cloudy and made all colors into shades of black and white. ”Are we going to die?”
”No, Elwil”, Delioron said. In truth he didn’t know, but lying had been his trade for so long that he knew how to make it sound convincing. ”I promise. It will be all right.”
You can’t promise that, he thought. You can’t promise anything. The winter never ends and the morning never comes. The best we can ever hope for is this; these little stolen moments of warmth in the midst of the neverending winter. It only ends with death.
”Del”, she said, hesitating. ”You scared me yesterday. You made me scared.”
”I know”, he said. ”That was the point. It was all an act. I’m sorry.”
Then there was silence that seemed to last a long time.
”Del”, she finally said again. ”When I… the first night. I didn’t really care about you. It was… it was just a job. It was all an act.”
Please don’t tell me these things. I don’t want the truth. Please lie to me, like I lie to you. There is comfort in lies.
”Del…”
”Hmm…?”
”This time it’s real.”
And she reached for him. And for a moment the darkness went away. For a moment there was warmth for the both of them.
