Vallie stilled. The only thing moving was her hand from trembling. Kole leaned forward, the tip finally piercing his chest and blood pooled down over his stomach. Her breath hitched once she saw the red pooling. She backed up like she’d been burned, the dagger clattering to the ground just outside Kole’s reach.
“One day, when I find the strength to do it, I will kill you, Kole Sanders. I will kill you just like you let my brother die.”
Kole’s eyes never left hers. There was something he wantedto say, but he kept his mouth shut, and I couldn’t read him anymore. The weird feelings I got from him earlier were gone.
I waited until Vallie cleared the tent before I walked toward the fallen dagger. I wasn’t about to leave it with him.
He watched me, his eyes narrowing, but didn’t say anything as I scooped up the blade and left.
Peter followed me outside the tent, and I finally turned to look at him for the first time since we got back—really look at him. He was in rough shape. His abdomen was still bare, with blood and gore covering every inch of him. A long gash ran from his left nipple to his flank, and I realized he was still actively bleeding. I scanned him with a newfound scrutiny. He was lucky to be alive. If the cut was made any deeper, his bowels would have been on the outside.
“You need a healer,” I said to him. “You both do.”
Peter didn’t answer, only looked to Vallie, waiting to see what she wanted to do. No doubt, if she said no, the stubbornness in him probably wouldn’t see one either. But he was slowly bleeding out. We’d been back in Brighta for over four hours now, and he hadn’t been looked at.
I held back a sigh of relief when Vallie nodded her head. It was so subtle that I barely noticed it. I wondered if she knew the condition Peter was in and realized he needed help too.
We walked back to the healer’s tent in silence. Once we arrived, a male healer leapt toward us. “Ey, you boy,” he shrieked as he spotted Peter. “You’re getting blood all over the furs. Get in the tent before I decide to let you bleed out.” His golden eyes flicked over to Vallie. “And you—” he said as he reached for her.
She jumped back. The healer’s hand was still outstretched, ready to grab her. Vallie stared at the ground, avoiding all eye contact. Her chest was rapidly moving, her breath was coming out in ragged pants. “Please… don’t… touch me,” she whispered softly, her eyes still downcast. The healer glanced from herto me to Peter to Tezya, before he nodded, his brows furrowed as he moved to let her enter.
Hours passed.I stayed inside the tent while Peter and Vallie were both looked at. Tezya left a little while ago to go check on everyone else, but not before he made sure I was okay about twenty times.
This time, I welcomed the agony and pain radiating toward me. I embraced it, needing a distraction from my own thoughts, hating that I was fine. I was fine, and my friend was broken.
I couldn’t think about it.
Everyone in the tent was careful to not touch Vallie. She was in a chair now. The tent seemed to be divided off into sections based on critical injuries. They gave her proper clothes and warm food, which she barely touched. Her amber eyes kept locking with Peter’s green ones. The two of them were unable tonotlook at each other from across the room.
“He’s gonna be fine,” a female healer said as she offered Vallie a cup of steaming water.
“Th-thank you,” she replied, her voice shaky as she tore her gaze away from Peter. I wanted to say something to her. There was a hole growing in me with each passing moment of our silence, but I didn’t know what to say.
Are you alright?—I knew the answer was no.
Do you want to rest?—she probably didn’t, probably saw her twin’s dead body every time she closed her eyes like I did.
Hungry?—she wasn’t eating even though it was probably the first time she’d been offered food in the past month or longer. I didn’t know when the King had captured her originally, but we had spent weeks together in that room.
I’m sorry—the words wouldn’t bring back Miles. It wouldn’t reverse all the suffering she endured from simply knowing me.
“You should try to get some rest,” Peter said as he made his way toward us. I noticed the way his eyes scanned her uneaten plate. “You can have my tent,” he added. “Sie and I will sleep somewhere else, so it’ll be yours if that’s what you want. You don’t have to share it with anyone.”
She nodded and silently rose from the chair she’d been sitting on. They fixed her ankle and healed any open wounds she had until there weren’t any scars left on her body, but I knew hers were deeper than the surface of her skin, and those couldn’t be healed.
“I’ll show you where it is,” he added gently.
I stood, deciding to awkwardly follow the two of them toward Peter’s tent. I didn’t know what else to do. Did she want me to follow? Did she want to be alone? Was being alone worse? I didn’t know how to help her, and I hated myself for that.
Vallie turned to face me once we were inside Peter’s tent. “Please, can you leave me alone…”
I winced. Her words were worse than anything that was ever done to me. Far worse than rotting in the dungeons, than the Luxian soldier’s daily torture, than Kole drowning me.
“I’m sorry, Scotlind. I just…” she hesitated. “I just need space for a little bit.”
“Val,” I started, but she cut me off.
“Every time I look at you, I see my brother’s face right before the King reduced it to ash.” Her breath shuddered. “When I look at you, I’m reminded of being dragged into his room every night, forcing me to… to do things to him, forcing me toenjoyit.” Sobs tore at her now. “I just can’t stand to see you right now.”
