“Did they touch you?”
Seeing her sink deeper into herself, making herself even smaller, Er’it roared and fell from Kal’s back. He took hold of her shoulders to shake Aida once, twice, scrambling her brains about her skull if the way she swayed and stumbled said anything.
“Answer me!”
“I-I don’t…”
“Did they touch you?” Er’it roared in her face, his hand tangled in her hair to force her to look at him. The red-rimmed blackness of her gaze went liquid with her tears, starshine glittering like cut precious stones.
A fresh wave of misery flowed down her cheeks, leaving pallid tracks on her grit-smeared face. “They… They tried, but I—”
Er’it found the snarl he had spared her earlier. Baring his teeth, he turned and began to stalk the way they’d come, sword held low at his side. He’d kill them all, gut them all, spill their innards out over the earth, and suck as much power as he could from them for the sole purpose of tying their souls to something foul and putrid.
He made it all of ten steps, ten times as many as he should have tried for. Stumble sending him crashing to the ground, he couldn’t stop the shout of pain this time.
“Er’it!”
Her shriek pierced through the pounding in his skull. Blinking hard, the vision of her swam before his eyes. Her delicate hands fussed at his shoulder before a low whine slipped over the pout of her lips when she spotted the bolt in his thigh. Line forming between his brows, he caught and held her fingers, squeezing them hard enough to make her wince, though it was more to assure himself he wasn’t seeing things.
“You said my name.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean—”
“I find I like it.” Er’it thought he might have smiled but wasn’t sure as darkness swallowed up his vision and plunged him into the cool shadows of unconsciousness.
Chapter 6
Aida
“No, no, please,” Aida whispered, giving Er’it’s cheek a tentative pat as she hovered over his still body. He breathed, the sound deep and even, but she did not have the slightest inkling of what to do for him.
Glancing up at the furious glow of the sun, she huddled closer over his head to shield him from the worst of the rays. There was no way she could drag him to the side of the road for the shade it offered. Even if she could, Aida worried the arrows would tear through his skin more than they already had.
“What do I do?” she asked in a plaintive whine, daring to smooth back the thick strands of his hair where they had pulled free of their braids.
Aida choked on a scream as she flung herself away when a shadow fell over her. Kal peered at her with quiet patience, waiting until the uneven rattle of her breath calmed before he sidled closer. Careful steps put him over Er’it, shading most of his body. Crawling back to Er’it’s side, Aida sniffled and took his hand, more to calm herself than to offer him comfort. Unconscious as he was, he wouldn’t know and, thus, couldn’t scold her for the brazen touch. Huddled in Kal’s shadow, her gaze shifted from the road behind them to Er’it, afraid to look away from either for too long.
By the Abyss, she was glad to see him. A strangled laugh shot from between her lips, snarled around a wracking sob. Relief at finding her future murderer must be a sign of insanity. It explained what happened in Rhyn’s camp, though. The light—no, the magic—and the way his men came after her. The twisting ache deep in her belly, the heat scorching her soul. Rhyn wasn’t so immune, but he fought his men off her long enough for Aida to react, long enough for her to do… what she’d done. Still unable to grasp what exactly it was, knowing only that it had sent the entire band of scarred, twisted males to the ground screaming in pain, she tried not to think too much on it. She had run from the sordid mess of it, Rhyn giving chase. She’d smelled his excitement as he got near, knew he liked that she was running, yet Aida was unable to stop.
Thinking Rhyn had found a horse kept her running when she heard Kal coming up behind her. As Er’it grabbed her, she thought herself done in. Yet the surge of cedar and musk that still teased her senses had calmed her more than the slap on her backside Er’it had given her for her struggling.
With shaking fingers hovering over the thick bolt piercing Er’it’s shoulder, Aida tried to think of what she should do. Pulling the arrow back out seemed dangerous, but pushing it the rest of the way through would drag the fletching through the torn flesh. Leaving it in seemed worse than anything. Directing her attention to the thick crimson oozing out around the shaft, Aida sucked her lips in between her teeth. She would need something to cover the wound once she got the arrow out. Trying not to cry as she looked around at what little possessions they had and coming up empty-handed for anything clean, Aida groaned and grabbed the torn edge of her sleeve. Tearing it free at the seam, she pulled the ragged cloth down her arm and bunched it around the arrow to help staunch the sluggish flow.
Aida shrieked when Er’it snarled and grabbed her arm. Relief flooded through her as the furious golden amber of his eyes caught and held her. Awake, he could tell her what to do. She could help him. Lips trembling, she realized Marilsa had the truth of it. Aida did not hesitate to help the wolf that bit her.
“What in the name of the Eight Sands are you doing?” Er’it rasped, wrenching her arm to pull Aida closer despite the way he bared his teeth.
“I thought it would help…” Aida sniffed hard, stomping down the urge to cry once again. Uncertain if it was relief or despair causing her eyes to sting so, she still turned her gaze to meet his with tentative hope. “Tell me what to do, and I—”
“You can leave it the fuck alone is what you can do.” Er’it grunted as he toppled her back into the dusty road. Moving his good arm back to prop himself on an elbow as he looked from shoulder to thigh, his lips twisted in a taut grimace. Flexing the fingers on his injured arm, his brow creased, the furrows etching in deeper the more he moved his hand about.
Exhaling hard, Er’it looked up at the blazing azure sky and then around them, shaking his head as he shoved himself upright to sit. A sheen of sweat peppered his cheeks and forehead as he turned the gleam of his predatory gaze on Aida, staring at her for what felt like hours.
For her part, she sat still. Meek and quiet, hands wringing on her lap, she kept her eyes downcast and waited. The solace of being near him once more abandoned her, leaving her despondent. He obviously felt none of the draw to her as she did to him, proof of it in the way his mouth wrenched into a sneer. The memory of the mumbled praise he’d given her for using his name faded like smoke.
Still, Aida’s hands shot out when Er’it rolled to his uninjured side with a rumbling growl, only to pull them back when he flung a glare in her direction that scalded her down to her soul. She was left to watch in helpless dismay while Er’it got to one knee with his injured leg outstretched. His panting loud in her ears, he reached for his sword, using it as a crutch to surge to his feet.
“Come here.”
