You can’t keep her caged.
While that was true, I sure wanted to try.And if I did, I’d break her far more than my father, Gaius, or the nobles ever could.
She loved and trusted me; she’d never recover from such betrayal, but I couldn’t think about the possibility of losing her.It was too painful to imagine.
When Callan finished the story, no one spoke as he rose and walked away.Ellery’s lids kept drooping, then snapping open as she watched the amsirah working on the others.Then they closed and didn’t open again.
Her breath still rattled, and occasionally she shivered as she slept.After too short a time, her chin lifted, and she blinked at the amsirah rushing around the clearing while they tended to the wounded, fed the animals, and cooked dinner.
“How… are they?”she asked.
Before I could answer, Ruby stopped and knelt at Ellery’s side with a cup of water.She placed her hand on Ellery’s knee and brought the cup to her lips.
“Everyone’s okay,” Ruby said.“Fletcher was badly hurt and will take a few days to recover, but he’ll be fine, and so will Billy and all the others.Don’t worry about them.How areyoudoing?”
Ellery smiled as she closed her eyes.“I’m good.”
Her breath still rattled in and out as she fell asleep again, but it wasn’t as labored as before, and even her shivering was lessening.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREE
Ryker
“How are your wounds?”Ruby asked me.
“I broke the shaft off, but the arrowhead is still in my leg.”
She winced and glanced down at the torn, red cloth over where the arrow had punctured my thigh.It had stopped bleeding, but my flesh was still raw and puckered.
Tucker stopped beside Ruby and rested his hand on the tree I was leaning against.He studied me and Ellery while Ruby spoke.
“It will have to be cut out,” she said.
“I know,” I told her.
“I can do it.I have some experience with injuries.”
“I’ll help,” Tucker offered.
“No,” I said as I grasped his wrist.“You’re still not a wanted criminal, and someone has to get to Dahlia to warn her.My father knows of her, and after today, he’ll figure out she was helping to keep my relationship with Ellery hidden.”
Dahlia was the prostitute I’d paid to say I was sleeping with her so I could hide my relationship with Ellery from my father.I’d fought with her during the Ghoul War and trusted her to keep my secret.
And now I had to keep her safe.She and Tucker had also fought together and knew each other, so she would trust what he told her.
“I’ll go to her,” Tucker said.
“Be careful.They could already be there.”
“I will.”
When Tucker opened a portal and vanished into it, I turned to Ruby.“Let’s get this thing out.”
She went to gather some more supplies.When she returned, I shifted Ellery so Ruby could access my leg better.
Ellery didn’t wake, but her head fell into the hollow of my neck, and her breath warmed my throat.Her tangled hair tickled my nose, but I didn’t brush it away.
I lay my head against the tree and gritted my teeth as I resolved not to move; I couldn’t wake her.Ruby cut away my pant leg, chopping it off a couple of inches above the wound.
