You stared at the jacket.

Heavy leather. Dark. The kind of thing that cost more than your rent, assuming you still had rent. Assuming any of this was real.

"Take it," he repeated, quieter. "Please."

The please undid you. Not the charm. Not the grin. The small, awkward, un-performed word that slipped out like he hadn't meant to say it.

You reached out, snatched the doublet from his grip, and pulled it around your shoulders. It was enormous on you. The sleeves hung past your fingertips, the hem reached your thighs. It smelled like rosemary and old brandy and something else, something cool and clean underneath, like night air in an empty cathedral.

Warmth. Immediate, blissful, bone-deep warmth. You sank back against the log, pulling the leather tight around you, and felt the first full breath you'd taken in hours expand your chest.

"I want to go home," you said. Small. Tentative. Hoping.

He looked at you. Not the way he'd looked at you before. Something behind his eyes shifted.

"Yes," he said quietly. "I suppose we should get you there."

You pulled the jacket tighter. The warmth was working its way into your muscles, loosening the frozen knots in your shoulders and back. You wanted to close your eyes. You didn't dare.

"Are we safe?" you whispered.

He paused. For a fraction of a second, the mask — whatever was left of it — slipped completely.

"Safe? In these woods?" A dry, humorless sound. "Never, darling." He looked at the dark canopy, then back at you. "And you're entirely right not to trust me."

"I wasn't—"

"You were. You are. And you should be." He held your gaze. No charm this time. No angle. "I am a vampire spawn. I am currently starving, and you smell like a walking banquet. If I stay too close, the animal in my head starts making very loud, very unpleasant suggestions."

Your heart stuttered. His jaw tightened. His eyes went to your throat, then away.

"But I am also a man of my word," he continued, stepping back — downwind, you noticed, deliberately downwind. "I won't touch you without your permission. So wrap that jacket tighter, keep those lovely eyes open, and let's get you out of this miserable forest before I lose my mind."

You stood. Your legs shook, but they held. He turned, checked the position of the stars through a gap in the canopy, and began walking east.

You followed.