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“Are you expecting someone?” Gavin’s voice made her jump. She’d been staring at the door so intently, waiting for Julius or another member of his assembly to storm in here and arrest her, that time had ceased.
“Are you?” She steeled her spine, ignoring the dull throbbing in her wound, or the uneasiness in her gut. “Why were you gone all day? Speak now if you’re going to betray me. If someone is coming, I’d rather not be blindsided again.”
He ruffled his hair with his hand. Droplets of water ran down his forehead at the same time that rain tapped against the window. His wet locks stuck to his skin, still dripping over the sharp edge of his cheekbones and down his muscular neck. “I was out healing Laura’s niece.”
“Laura?”
“The innkeeper. You met her yesterday.”
The curvy woman with the tight corset and fake smiles? Violet supposed Laura’s large breasts and pretty blue eyes could blind any male. It wasn’t as if he and she were a couple.
Laughter surged from her throat, high pitched and ugly. “Typical. She wanted you to do something for her. Healers like you are even rarer than sorcerers.”
“A Sídhe bit Myna the night of the storm. The girl was dying.” His words sobered her up. “She is only a child.”
A child? The beasts usually went for adults. Their drive was to obtain more infected humans to feed their army. Attacks on younger people were rare. “The fae are in this city hunting youths?”
“Another child passed a couple of days ago. Myna is around ten. Not sure about the boy. The citizens believe shifters are behind it.”
“It’s strange that the fae are striking the young. They should know children won’t survive the curse.”
“It could be a rogue, cursed one… or maybe there’s something else going on here. Something we—I—don’t have the time to get involved with.”
On that they agreed, at least. “Is the girl going to make it?” Violet asked.
“I’ll need to see her again tomorrow, to be certain she’s well before I leave this place.” He rolled his sleeves up, the way he had done the night before. The gesture still sent flutters through her stomach. “How are you feeling?”
Like an insecure idiot plagued by mistrust. Maybe she could let go of it until midnight. Forget about the emissaries or that Gavin was supposed to be her enemy, here to take her back to the Iron City to stand trial for her actions and be killed for deserting the kingdom. Tonight, he could be an ally of sorts, a man who was helping an innocent child—and her, too. “I’m fine.”
“Let me see your leg. I need to make sure you didn’t tear the stitches.” He beckoned her to scoot to the edge, and kneeled in front of her without waiting for an answer. She’d always liked a man who took charge and didn’t fear her scorn, so she sat still, awaiting his touch far too eagerly.
Ugh, since when had she become this pathetic?
Gavin unwrapped the bindings from her thigh, his brows knitted tight as he looked at her wound, tracing the edges of the sutures. “It’s better. Are you suffering any lingering effects from hypothermia?”
“I’m feeling like myself, minus the bad leg.” And with the addition of the damn flutters in her stomach. They just wouldn’t leave her alone.
Gavin hummed, and his hand warmed with a healing touch, numbing the lingering pain of her open wound. If she was putting her suspicion away for one night, it opened up all kinds of questions. Would he end up leaving the kingdom like her? Had she truly stolen his chance to see his family? She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ears, but it sprang back out, moving over her eyes.
“Did I hurt you?” He lifted his gaze. “You’re not breathing.”
“No. I-I’m sorry, Gavin.”
“You’re sorry?” He didn’t hide the skepticism in his tone, and it burned in the pit of her stomach, running through her like wildfire.
“Please, don’t make me repeat it.”
“What are you sorry for? Throwing a dagger at me or attacking me yesterday when I found you in the alleyway?” He returned his focus back to his task, his jaw clenching. A moment later, the warmth of his breath caressed the bare skin of her leg, raising goosebumps wherever it touched. “Maybe you’re apologizing for being so agreeable to me all the time.”
“I’d like to see how pleasant you would be if the people you thought were your friends abandoned you. Sold you to the Crown and humiliated you on their way out.” She picked at her nails, trying to keep herself from fretting too much over his words.
He didn’t know what it was like to have no one. To constantly look over your shoulder, waiting for an emissary to jump out of nowhere to take you or your future family to the gods.
“Not trusting anyone and pushing everyone away is a good way to make yourself an easy target for someone like the Crows.” His stern expression softened, and she almost disliked that more. She could deal with snide comments about her personality. But she was unprepared for his niceness. “You hide behind this mask that’s meant to protect you from getting hurt, but it also leaves you alone. You need those who will fight alongside you… For you.”
Silence descended on them, so heavy with the truth that she felt it in her bones. Her eyes prickled with a warning of tears, and she glanced away from him. “Is it true that you won’t be able to see your family again? That you’ll have to leave the kingdom?”
Gavin pulled a roll of gauze from his bag. Thunder rumbled in the distance. “Yes.”
