Anelize wrapped her arms around her in a tight embrace asshe kissed the top of Enid’s head out of sheer relief. “You foolish girl. What were you thinking?” She cupped her face in her hands as she assessed her for any damage. “Are you hurt?”
Enid shook her head, eyes shining as she took her in. As if she couldn’t believe that she was here. As if it didn’t come as second nature for Anelize to follow wherever she went. “I’m fine. It’s not my blood. It’s his…”
They both glanced toward the man who was struggling to sit up, clearly in a great deal of pain. Anelize looked to where his hand was covering his abdomen, blood oozing from between his fingers. Taking advantage of his distraction, Anelize gripped Enid’s hand and pulled her closer. “Let’s go.”
She began guiding her away from the alley when Enid suddenly stopped her. “Wait, Anya! He needs a healer.” Anelize arched an incredulous brow at her sister, seeing the worry and sincerity so clear on her face toward a man who had her pressed against a wall just moments ago. Enid continued, “He wasn’t going to harm me! I heard the Watchmen coming through the square and I was sure they’d have found me. They very nearly did when he helped me hide.”
Anelize said, her words full of trepidation, “More reason why we shouldn’t get involved. We’re already risking ourselves enough as it is. You know exactly the kind of people who linger past sundown. If they find us?—”
Enid grabbed Anelize’s hand and tugged her hard before she could head for the end of the alleyway. A stubborn look appearing on her face as she said, “You always said that father never once turned down a person in need regardless of who they were. No matter how undeserving they may have been. And you don’t either, I know you don’t. I’ve seen it enough times to know it no matter how often you feigndisinterest. If we turn our backs on him now, we’re no better than Magda.”
Anelize gritted her teeth, glaring down at her sister who did her best to do the same even if it only served to strike a trickle of affection within her. She did not understand this sense of urgency to defend a man she hardly knew, though it was hardly a surprise given how easily Enid would choose someone else’s survival over her own if need be.
Glancing over her shoulder to the man, she noticed he was still conscious, though he wasn’t moving much anymore, making no attempt to stand. Given the blood pooling on the ground around him, she wasn’t sure if he’d be able to at this rate. The hopeful gleam in Enid’s eyes, their father’s eyes, made Anelize’s usually unshakable resolve finally crumble, leaving her with only one thing to do.
“Why must you be such a martyr?” Anelize said with a sigh.
Enid smiled at her, clearly knowing she had won this little battle of wills. “I’m not sure you’re one to talk about martyrdom.”
They clearly had much to discuss. But now was not the time. She was only happy to have found Enid when she had, that had to be enough.
Anelize turned and approached the man, kneeling before him. “Where are you hurt?”
The man was breathing heavily, clearly in too much pain to form so much as a sentence. Hiding beneath the shadows of the hood pulled over his head, where she could only see the sharp line of his jaw, his prominent if bloodied nose, and lips twisted into a grimace.
Finally, his voice a deep amused huff, he said, “Everywherenow, thanks to you. I think you might have managed to bruise my pride as well.”
Anelize gave him a twisted smile. “If you’re worried about your pride, I’m sure you’ll be perfectly fine in no time.” She glanced down to his hand still clutching his side. “I can help you, but if you try to hurt me or my sister, I will leave you here without a second’s hesitation.”
The man nodded. Clearly, there was merit to what Enid had said. He didn’t seem to want to harm either of them. For now…
There were only a few people who ever wandered the streets of Elvir at this hour. Cutthroats desperate for any measlyruen,or beggars with little left to lose, or the Vedrans who lurked in the darkness. The question was, which one would he reveal himself to be in the end?
“Let me see,” she urged, reaching for the man’s cloak to move it aside. Through his dark tunic, she could see the blood oozing from a large wound on his side, making the fabric stick to his abdomen. It wasn’t shallow and the injury would clearly need more than stitches to close it fully. Which meant they needed to do so before he lost any more blood, soon.
“How bad is it?” Enid asked from over her shoulder.
“Bad enough that I can’t do anything here without the necessary tools.” She glanced at the man, noting the way the blood in his face had all but drained. “Can you walk?”
A sharp smile came to her in answer first, as if the man found dying or the prospect of it wholly amusing. That made one of them. “Yes…or at the very least, I can try.”
“That’s good enough. Enid, come over here and help me.”
It truly looked like no one was going to allow her a single moment of peace tonight.
Splendid.
It was a lot harder than she expected to haul a man who was half-dead.
For a woman who’d seen death more than the average person, she’d never once had tocarrya corpse—or a person well on their way to becoming one. She gritted her teeth when he shifted all his weight against her with every step they made through the alleyways and narrow streets, slowing down only when they heard a patrol nearby.
Anelize kept her focus secured along the walls of intersecting streets for any indication that another group of Watchmen might suddenly appear. However, with each passing minute, night had finally fallen, and that meant if they were caught they had less ways to convince the king’s men that they had simply lost their way home.
“How did you get injured?” Enid whispered, awkwardly shuffling along beside the man who was at least three heads taller than her, her grip firm on his arm that was slung over her shoulder. Between the two of them Anelize was the tallest one, which probably explained why he was doing his absolute best to put all his weight on her. Either that or he was deliberately making her journey harder as retribution for the blow she’d landed on him earlier.
“Which time? The one where I got slashed or the one where a certain woman broke my nose?” he said with some difficulty, his voice low.
“I don’t know enough to give an opinion on the former, but the latter was deserved in the moment.” Anelize eyed thestream of blood running down his side, dripping onto the snow. She was surprised he was still conscious despite how much he’d lost in the last few minutes. When he tilted his face still obscured by the shadows of his hood toward her, she kept her gaze straight ahead. “And I did not break your nose.”
