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She hesitated before daring to roll her shoulder. Everything moved, although grudgingly. She probed her shoulder with a delicate touch. “I don’t think I’ve broken anything.” Heat rose in her cheeks as she slipped her icy fingers beneath the collar of her dress and prodded the skin of her angular shoulder. “No blood. It will most likely just bruise,” she speculated, as she removed her hand with a relieved sigh.
He offered a curt nod before letting his attention drift to the child. Rig leaped to his feet and wrapped his arms around Anrid’s hips, burying his face in the folds of her apron. She rested a hand on his head, unsure what comfort to offer other than her presence.
“I’m Jael,” he said after observing them. “And you are?”
“Anrid Fray,” she answered without hesitation, and then wondered if perhaps she might have exercised some caution. But why? If he intended to hurt them, he would not have saved their lives from the earthquake. “This is Rig.”
The stranger startled her then by reaching out. She held still while his fingers slipped alongside her face and tweaked her snarled hair away from her ears.
“You’re human.” Jael appeared shocked, then guarded, his eyes shifting between her and Rig as if trying to puzzle them out.
She moistened her lips with her tongue when he withdrew once again. “Y-yes.”
His gaze pierced hers as his frown deepened. “What are you doing in the tunnels?”
“I-I hardly know.”
The left corner of his mouth pulled down even deeper. “You hardly...know?” The words dripped with disbelief.
She felt like she was on trial then. She splayed one hand protectively over Rig’s head and wrapped her other arm around him. “I don’t know,” she reiterated as she tried to keep the tremor from her voice. “I haven’t an inkling where I am or how I got here.”
At this, his gaze flew to Rig, and he snatched the child by the shoulder and turned Rig so that he was forced to look up. Anrid’s heart twisted at the fright on the child’s face.
“Don’t—” she began, but Jael cut her off.
“Did you bring her here?” he demanded, his tone stern.
Anrid tried to tug Rig out of his firm grasp, but he stilled her with a frown.
“Well?”
Rig’s expression turned sullen as he released his grip on Anrid’s skirt and crossed his arms over his chest. “What if I did?”
Jael’s expression darkened, and he rather seemed like he wanted to utter words unfit for the ears of women and children. “You know that’s forbidden, don’t you? Where did you even find her? Where are your parents?”
Rig ignored the flurry of questions and leaned toward Anrid. “You wanted to come, didn’t you, Uh-NEE? Tell him.”
Anrid choked on a cough. What she wanted had never been taken into consideration through this entire ordeal. Yet...if she told the truth...what would Jael do to Rig? Would Jael punish him for bringing her here against her will?
She didn’t want that, but she didn’t want to lie either. Instead, she compressed her lips and remained silent.
“Well?” Jael’s voice ground out.
She forced herself to meet his direct gaze, while she let Rig lean into her once again. “I wanted...to help him.” She chose her words with deliberation.
He didn’t believe her, she could tell. His left brow arched as he pursed his lips and scowled at her.
“Did he summon you here against your will?”
Rig’s arms tightened around her hips, so she said nothing. Jael’s expression grew frustrated, almost murderous. “I don’t have time for this,” he growled. “It isn’t safe here. And until one of you starts talking to me, I can’t do anything with you but make you come with me. I have work to do. Then I will decide what to do with you.”
He snapped his fingers and pointed down the tunnel like he expected them to leap to attention and march off. His superiority over them bristled her frazzled nerves.
She wasn’t a child after all, but a grown woman. While she wasn’t yet twenty years old, she had been working and caring for other children since she was but twelve years old. First her sister and then the children of others.
Besides, she couldn’t go with him. Her husband expected her to arrive in Nestra any day now. She needed to get back to the surface…except…how would she find the way? So what choice did she have but to do as she was told?
She lifted her chin, careful not to move her injured shoulder. It took her several steadying breaths before she decided what she would say. “Very well. We will follow you for the time being.” She licked her lower lip before continuing, “But I ask that you refrain from shaking or shouting at Rig, please. He’s just a child.”
