Adam barely noticed that he had entered the Dandakaranya.As the forest loomed around him on the far bank of the river, blooming with strange flowers and softly whispering trees, all his attention was on Ellie’s leg.
They sat on a tarp spread near the quietly rushing water.Kalb lay nearby, still wet and panting blissfully.
The noble-looking subedar, Singh Rao, had given Adam back his machete, passing it to him with an air of unimpeachable professionalism.Adam had cleaned the blade off with a swish in the river.
He’d lost the Winchester.Borthwick had relieved him of the gun and passed it off to one of the sepoys, ostensibly to have it cleaned.
Adam doubted he’d be getting it back anytime soon.Borthwick didn’t seem to be treating him as an enemy, but he clearly wasn’t about to let an unknown quantity wander around his camp with a well-oiled repeater.
There had been another close call with Dawson once they’d crossed the bridge.The professor had stomped over, opening up his mouth to protest, only for Jacobs to clamp a hand down on his shoulder.
“Why don’t we take a little walk?”Jacobs had silkily suggested before steering Dawson aside.
Jacobs would find a way to keep Dawson quiet.He was intimidating as hell even when he wasn’t trying all that hard—and Dawson had never had much of a spine.Still, it was yet another move Jacobs had been forced to make to protect them.Adam was under no illusions that the man was happy to be doing it.He undoubtedly saw their arrival as a deliberate attempt to get in his way again, testing just how far he was willing to go to protect whatever preciousjusticewas somehow tangled up with their fates.
Jacobs would have a limit.Adam had no desire to find out what it looked like.
“We’re on damned thin ice,” he noted under his breath.
“It’s certainly further than we’d planned to push him,” Ellie quietly agreed as she watched Jacobs walk away with the professor.
“Which is why we’d better make sure you’ve got two working legs.”Adam picked up Ellie’s ankle and set it on his knee.
“You’re going to bloody your trousers,” Ellie protested.
Adam glanced at the catfish guts that still stained his pants, then cocked a skeptical eyebrow.
“Oh, fine,” Ellie huffed.
He studied her injuries.The wounds didn’t quite circle her leg.The sides of her calf were fine.The punctures on the back were the worst, but thankfully her trousers were made of sturdy twill, which had helped blunt the impact of the bodh’s teeth.
Three of the holes were a bit larger than the others.“Those are going to need stitches,” Adam determined.
Ellie looked queasy at the idea.“I’m sure they’re notthatbad…”
“This is gonna be easier if you roll over,” Adam replied unrelentingly.
“Blast it anyway,” Ellie muttered.
She lay on her stomach on the tarp, resting her chin on her hands.Kalb immediately squirmed over to her, lapping at her ear.
“Absolutely not!”Ellie flailed awkwardly at the dog.
“She knows you care, buddy,” Adam translated.
Kalb settled for lying down at Ellie’s side, huffing an adoring breath that stirred the loose hair at her forehead.
Ellie glared back at him warningly.
Kalb hopefully wagged his tail.
Borthwick’s first aid kit filled a well-supplied trunk.Adam pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and twisted it open.
Ellie winced.
“I haven’t done anything yet.”Adam’s mouth twitched with amusement.“I’m cleaning my hands.”
“Just get on with it,” Ellie ordered with grim impatience.“Turnabout is fair play, after all.”
