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The wooden steps creaked under their weight. Violet held onto the sound to keep herself from fading back into her exhaustion. Truth was, the idea that she could help herself right now was the lie, much though she hated to admit it
“It’s not a lie,” he breathed. His arms shook with the strain of carrying her for so long. “We are married, regardless of whether you and I had anything to say about it. In fact, I distinctly remember that neither of us spoke during the ceremony.”
Memories of that day flooded Violet when she closed her eyes. The way Gavin and her had stood in silence while spells and binding magic were cast on them by the magistrate and witnessed by Gavin’s commander and two members of the Society of Crows, Morgan and Vera. The warmth in his russet eyes had grounded her then, promising that everything would be all right, and for a moment she’d been naïve enough to believe it.
“Do you understand the nature of a healer? Of how it works?” Gavin continued. “When the magic comes to us, we are called to heal people. It’s a need I can’t explain, and it has nothing to do with who you are to me. I saw the amount of blood you lost back in that alley. Trust me, you’d be unconscious by now if it weren’t for the spell I’ve been casting on you this entire time.”
“Fine, so you’re called to heal me with your oh-so-special magic. But it’s a lie that we are wed, because we didn’t lie with each other.” What a ridiculous joke. She instantly wished she could take the words back.
Gavin’s breath skimmed over her lashes, and his gaze seemed to burn right into her soul, picking apart the flimsy wall she had built against him. “I was there, Violet. I know full well how much I got to touch you.”
She swallowed as his voice dropped low, melting her insides. It almost made her forget she was hurting. He cleared his throat as he strode on, taking them down a short corridor, past several doors. “We shouldn’t talk about this out here, or we’ll have a murder of Crows coming for us by morning.”
If the Society of Crows worried him, that meant he’d come here by himself. Not that this made her less suspicious of his intentions. She had to keep reminding herself that although he was acting like an ally, he could still be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
4
VIOLET
The room was surprisingly large, with a medium size bed pushed against the far wall and a narrow table, carved from the same orange wood on the other side of the room. Violet tightened her fist around the lapels of Gavin’s coat, and her mouth went dry and gritty.
She might be half drunk, lightheaded, and cold, but she had enough sense to know she couldn’t lie down in the same bed as her groom.
“Calm down, there’s no need to get so stiff. The bed is yours. I’ve no ambitions to turn this into our official wedding night. “
Her frozen cheeks would have warmed if it weren’t for the blood loss. “I said nothing…”
He laid her on the bed; the dark linens wrapped around her body as she sank into the feather bed. After sleeping on hay and fur beds for the last month, the softness beneath her was a pleasant surprise.
“Your body language says it all.” Gavin pushed her coat down her shoulders, his brows pinching with concentration. She only caught up to the fact that he was undressing her when she was pulling her arms out of the frozen sleeves.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Gavin didn’t stop as he dragged the offending piece of clothing out from underneath her. “We have to remove all your wet clothes to prevent cold sickness. It might be too late for that.” His eyes traced her body, and settled on the curve of her hips, where the wrappings he’d tied around her leg back in the alleyway were now drenched in red. “I’ll have to cut your pants to get access to your wound.”
“No.” She paused, collecting her scattered thoughts. She couldn’t stop trembling. “I’d rather take them off myself if I have to.” Ruining her only pair of pants was not on the cards tonight, even if they were bloody, wet, and dirty.
Gavin pressed his lips into a thin line and stepped away from her. He muttered something inaudible under his breath and dropped his satchel on the table at the end of the room. It creaked and wobbled with the substantial weight of its load before tipping over. The contents spilled out in a mess of gauze, herbs, and jars full of potions. Orange flames blazed alive inside the lantern that rested on the tabletop.
Gavin shrugged off his wet coat. “Very well, if you insist on doing it yourself, do so quickly. Hypothermia isn’t my only concern. You’re losing an awful lot of blood, Violet. More than I would expect with the way you fell into your blade.” He rolled up the sleeves of his gray shirt, revealing tanned skin over toned arms.
She shifted on the mattress, trying not to wince or hold her breath in any way that might make him turn back around and undress her like she was a damsel in distress—which she was not. It had taken her years to gain respect from men like him in the assemblies, and she wasn’t about to lose that now.
The bed sank beneath the weight of her body as she awkwardly untied the strings that held her woolen pants together. She hissed, her movements floundering when pain ripped through her, no longer dulled by his healing touch. Her numb fingers fumbled as she tried but failed to push the garment past the curves of her hips. Taking a deep breath, she reached for the tourniquet. She’d have to undo it to take off her pants. But how long until she passed out from blood loss?
Gavin wouldn’t let it get that far, not when he’d done so much to keep her conscious.
She glanced up at the sound of approaching steps. Gavin was mid stride, only a few feet away from her. “Do you need help?”
“Sure, I’m feeling frail. Why don’t you come here and lend me a hand?”
“You really don’t want my help, do you?”
“I’m a soldier, like you. I’ve been hurt plenty of times, so let’s skip the coddling. I can take my damn pants off on my own.”
“You’ll die without coddling right now. Let me at least do this.” And before she knew what he was doing, he’d grabbed the pants right above the tourniquet, and ripped them open. “There. Don’t take off the wrapping until I’m back.” Gavin headed for the door, pausing before he crossed the threshold. “Everyone needs to be taken care of at one point or another, Violet. Even the fiercest of warriors.”
And he was gone.
