Jove and Eve's travel speed was hampered by both the weight of the tank sled Eve was now towing and the blowing snow. Jove acknowledged the severity of the situation like the creeping cold, little by little, as its effects became increasingly apparent.
Keeping sight of Eve behind him was a challenge in itself. Bumps and snow drifts and shifts in the landscape would slow her and the fuel tank down. More than once, Jove lost sight of her completely and would have to come to a complete stop to wait, panic rising until she appeared through the veil of white behind him.
"We can't keep going!" He had to lean toward her and shout to put voice to a fear he'd had for a while. "We'll never see the crevasse in this weather!"
Eve leaned over to match his posture, the snow making a few dark strands of hair loose from her hood dance like black streamers. "I don't even know if we're still going the right way. You're right."
Jove nodded slowly. Part of him had still been hoping for her to take the counterargument, to tell him everything was fine and she knew exactly where they were. Because even if it meant being outdone by his older sister once more, it was still preferable to spending a night on the Antarctic ice.
He'd gotten used to the cold in the sense that he knew how much of it he could endure at a stretch. An entire night - one in the middle of a blowing snowstorm, no less - would be far too much. He simply didn't have a way to keep warm for that amount of time.
Jove tried to think of a way to phrase that concern tactfully to Eve. She pulled her snowmobile up and at an angle, turning the fuel tank into a convenient wind block.
"Keep yours facing the way it is!" she shouted. "I want to have evidence of the way were going. When the weather clears up, we can double check everything against the compass and map and figure out exactly where we are."
"Good thinking," said Jove.
He took a seat next to her, huddling against the tanker. The next half hour or so was the hardest he'd ever worked while sitting down. Keeping his fingers and toes warm was an active process of wiggling and shifting and slipping them around.
The weather, if anything, only began to get worse. Enough snow had fallen and kicked up over the treads of their snowmobiles to make them seem like they were sinking into the ground. He grabbed Eve's shoulder and shook it, feeling her intense shivering even through her bulky coat.
"We have to set up shelter," he shouted. "I think we're stuck until morning."
"Fucking hell," she muttered. "You might just be right, Jovian."
He rifled through the gear sled until he found the insulated tent their mother had sent them with. There were sleeping bags for them both as well, or so he thought. Jove swore under his breath as he attempted to find the second one but could already tell from where the first had been attached that it had probably fallen off at some point.
"We're down to a single sleeping bag," he said.
"We'll make do," said Eve, through chattering teeth.
Setting up the tent was a major challenge in itself. It was a tiny thing, large enough for two people to lay down in but not stand or even sit up completely. The poles and insulated canvas required a level of dexterity to assemble that would have been challenging even without their gloves on.
It took far longer than it should have, but Jove eventually figured it out. Eve drove the stakes deep into the ice with the crowbar. Even with them in place, the way the wind battered against the tent made it seem liable to fly off at any moment if they didn't climb inside to weigh it down.
"I'll get in first," said Eve. "Give me a minute to get settled."
Jove watched her wiggle into the tent and waited a while. He found their food, all of which was frozen, and figured he'd bring a few things in, too. The frozen berries seemed like they would still be tasty, and their water would need to be unfrozen, which he should have stopped to consider earlier.
"Ready," said Eve.
"I brought our water with us," he said. "I know it's cold, but you should probably put this in the bottom of your… sleeping bag."
He trailed off as he entered the tent, which was surprisingly quiet compared to the whipping wind outside. Eve was leaned sideways on her elbow, far enough out to reveal that she'd stripped down to her bra and panties.
"Our sleeping bag, you mean?" she said.
"I didn't realize we'd be sharing it," said Jove.
Eve cleared her throat and pulled the edge of the sleeping bag to cover her cleavage more. "There's no getting around it. We need all the warmth we can both get and a second body is just about the best source of heat we have. Don't make it any weirder than it has to be."
"I'm not objecting to the idea, just… adjusting to it."
"Do you have any handwarmers left?" asked Eve. "I'll put them in by our feet, along with our water."
"Here." He actually had plenty left, having forgotten about them.
Eve slid forward to grab them, bra-clad breasts and bare navel briefly coming into view again. Slowly, Jove began taking his outer layers off, hanging them on the hooks along the tent's far wall as Eve had done.
He took his boots and socks off and found himself eager to strip down the rest of the way and get into the sleeping bag. The cold was still biting within the tent, despite it blocking the wind.
He crawled toward the sleeping bag on all fours in his boxers, surprised by how much insulation the floor of the tent had in it. Eve gave him an odd look, a mixture of an older sister's patience and annoyance.
"Here," she said, rolling onto her side. "Might be a bit of a squeeze."
"We'll make it work," he said.
With a mixture of sliding and wriggling, he made his way into the sleeping bag. It was a tight fit, with no real way for both of them to share it without brushing up against one another. The softness and warmth of Eve's body, paired with the knowledge that she was only in her underwear, sent a strange thrill through him.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi."
They smiled at each other, and Jove endured the expected awkwardness inherent to a brother and sister sharing such an intimate bunking arrangement.
"It's warm," he said.
"Yup." Eve shifted, but her shoulder was still on top of his arm with both of them laying on their back. "Rated to negative forty."
"Fahrenheit or Celsius?"
"Negative forty is the same for both Fahrenheit and Celsius, little brother," said Eve.
"Negative forty is the same, little brother," Jove said in a mocking voice. "That's what you sound like."
"Shut up."
She elbowed him in the ribs. Jove grabbed her arm, and they both froze as the nature of their situation seemed to add a lurid context to the moment. He slowly let go, but his fingers seemed to trail off her arm as they slipped away of their own volition.
"We can do this," he whispered.
"Just for one night," said Eve. "No big deal."
"You comfy?"
"Not even close, said Eve, with a chuckle.
They both wriggled around for a minute or two, trying to find a way to both be laying on their back or turned away from each other that was mutually comfortable.
"Fuck it," muttered Eve. "Just lay flat."
He did, and she shifted onto her side, cuddling against him in a manner that reminded him of how his ex-girlfriends had snuggled against him after sex.
"Is this okay?" whispered Eve.
He could feel her breasts against his shoulder, her hot breath against his neck. It was better than okay, and that was the problem.
"It's fine," he said.
He tried to pretend like it wasn't his sister near-naked in bed with him, but if anything, that only made it more torturous. He felt his cock slowly stirring to life, spurred on by each breath she took, the way it shifted her chest against him.
"You have… broad shoulders." Eve made a sleepy noise and nuzzled her head against him.
Jove tried to think unsexy thoughts with mixed success. "How's your knee?"
"Still painful, but not as bad as it was yesterday," she said. "Thanks for keeping that secret from Mom."
"She doesn't have to know everything."
Jove shifted uncomfortably as Eve's body pressed against his, the warmth of her skin radiating through the thin fabric of her underwear. He tried to focus on their conversation, but his mind kept wandering to the intimate proximity they shared.
"How do you think Mom and Aunt Aster are faring?" he asked.
Eve's breath was warm against his neck as she replied, "You know how capable Mom can be in a crisis. I'm sure she has everything under control."
Her words held a suggestive lilt that made Jove's pulse quicken. He swallowed hard, acutely aware of her body pressed against his side. "Yeah, she's pretty capable when it counts."
"Though I wouldn't be surprised if there's some friction between her and Aunt Aster," said Eve. "They've already been at each other's throats lately, and I bet it only gets worse with the two of them alone."
"Good thing you took the gun with you," said Jove.
Eve laughed, and her hand came to rest on his stomach. She froze and pulled it back a fraction of an inch before deciding it was okay to let it settle there, fingers and palm cold against his bare flesh. "Remember that time she showed up to Christmas dinner in that sheer negligee? God, the look on Mom's face..."
Heat flooded Jove's cheeks as Eve's touch set his nerves ablaze. He fought to keep his breathing steady. "How could I forget? I thought Mom was going to murder her right there at the dinner table."
"Oh, she was furious." Eve's fingers danced lower, skating along the waistband of his boxers. "And you know how Mom gets when she's stressed. I can only imagine the kind of tension that must be building up between them."
"All it can do is build," he said. "With no release valve."
Eve seemed to sense his discomfort and lifted her head up to observe him. "How are you holding up, little brother?"
One of her fingers brushed his boxers again, drawing back like it had encountered the edge of the world. Jove was fully erect and had to suppress an evil urge to shift sideways, to let Eve feel it, too.
"I'm good if you're good," he said.
"Then we're both good."