“You can’t murder me if you’re dead,” Aida said in a faint snarl, rounding to face him as they reached the small clearing.
“Love of the… This will not kill me. There is nothing to do for it now, Omega,” Er’it hissed, hand clapping down onto her shoulder to shove Aida to the dirt.
“There must be.”
“There’s nothing for it. Unless you’re hiding a dagger I can’t see, which I find impossible. Those trousers leave little to the imagination, and your tunic is showing more than it hides.”
“I lost the daggers,” Aida said with a whine, wishing more than anything she knew enough of the woods to have doubled back to find the lost articles. The daggers had been taken by Rhyn, and she’d lost Marilsa’s food and waterskin in her mad dash away from the thing that had hunted her down through the woods.
“They gave you blades? Interesting.”
“No, I stole yours and Marilsa had one for her food.”
“What?”
“Rhyn saw me steal yours and took it away so I couldn’t kill myself. When Marilsa died, I thought I should keep at least one, just in case. Nothing went as I planned it, though.” Brow furrowing, she glanced up as the silence stretched and was startled at the venomous set of Er’it’s hard features seconds before he wrapped his hands around her throat.
“You did what?” he demanded in a roar, shaking her hard enough to make her teeth snap together as he tightened his grip. Choking her by degrees, he shouted at her in a language she had no hope of understanding.
“I’m sorry I lost it,” Aida croaked out, holding his wrist as tight as she could. His unfettered anger could end it here and now if she did nothing. Knowing that and allowing it were two separate things, though, and as her lungs began to burn in earnest, Aida started to struggle. Clawing at his arm, ragged welts appeared through the tears in his shirt. Kicking at him, she choked on the first sip of air when he let go and bellowed as he fell backward.
Still sputtering on each breath, she scrambled to his side. Ignoring Kal as he rumbled and groaned over them, she put her hands around the arrow in Er’it’s thigh and pressed hard to stop the blood that now surged.
“Are you trying to injure me further?” Er’it demanded through a hoarse growl, tugging her hands away. “I don’t give a damn about the dagger, you idiotic woman.”
“Oh… I… I don’t understand you when…” Aida trailed off and sat down hard on her heels. Lips puckering downwards as she swiped her bloody palms over the legs of her trousers, some twisted part of her wanted to laugh at the very idea of understanding him at all. She didn’t comprehend the way he made her feel, the way her body reacted to his, let alone his exotic tongue.
“Stay here.” Getting to his feet with a grunt, Er’it wandered a little way into the trees. Remaining well within sight, he kept looking back to Aida, assuring she did as she was told and remained right where he had left her. Sorting through the forest duff for dry bits of twig and leaf, he returned a short while later with the makings for a fire, small though it would be. Another slow walk in a semicircle around Aida yielded flint and stone. Arranging it all, he did not set it alight, instead going back to find more fallen branches and small limbs.
Er’it fell hard when he went to sit against a tree near her, the taut lines of his features in sharp relief as deeper furrows etched the tender skin around narrowed eyes and strained lips. Again, he flexed his hand, a rough shake bringing a hiss between clenched teeth. Something too close to concern clouded the gleam of his amber gaze when he glanced at Aida once more. Pulling the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth to worry at the stinging flesh, she found she couldn’t meet his eyes for long. If by some ridiculous turn of events he became afraid of something, Aida knew there was no hope for her.
As they sat in silence, each tangled up in their own thoughts, dusk began to approach. Er’it struck the flint, sparks spraying over the crumbled dust of leaves without a flame catching. Once, twice, the third time yielded the same lackluster result.
“Come here,” Er’it said through a growl, slapping the flint and stone in Aida’s palm after snatching her hand. “Hold it firm. Aim it at the kindling.”
Swallowing hard as she saw his grip falter in his injured arm, Aida moved closer to the pile of fluff and leaves at her knees. Squinting with concentration, she performed the same motion she’d seen dozens of times now.
She didn’t even get a spark. Huffing, she edged closer, angling the stone again to strike at the flint. A faint glimmer, gone before she even recognized it, was her single reward. With a shake of her head, she shooed Er’it’s hands as they reached for the implements, sidling away before trying again. Determined now that she could do such a simple task, she struck flint and stone over and again, baring her teeth as each new spark ended in empty nothingness, the pile of kindling no better than a personal Abyss as it sucked the light in and killed it.
“No,” Aida snarled, smacking the two stones together. Such a paltry thing to be angry over, but still the virginal emotion swelled under her breast, tightening her chest as her heart pounded and she struck again. This time, the spark caught, held for a breathless moment before winking out.
“Give it here, woman.”
“I almost have it!”
Again, Aida tried. It caught and held, and she gave a victorious whoop. Fist punching up to the sky, she turned to Er’it with an amazed smile but faltered at his deep scowl, her triumph dwindling until she hunched and laid the stones aside. Hands held in her lap, strangled fingers twisting in endless circuits against the warmth of her thighs, Aida darted glances in his direction as Er’it continued to stare while he fed the small flames with the thin branches he’d collected.
Neither inclined to break the silence that descended upon them, Aida listened to the approaching night’s various sounds. Still so strange and new, each echoing hoot and grating chirp had her looking back at the darkening trees around them. He showed no such concern, adding more lengths of wood to the small fire. Even Kal appeared untroubled, lips working in drowsy contemplation of the long grass and thin leaves around them.
Lips bunched to the side, Aida looked at the deepening shadows. If they could be so nonchalant, so could she. Nod decisive, she moved to sit on her backside, legs stretched out alongside the fire. It put her back to Er’it, but she tried not to let it bother her, even if she did feel his gaze burning along her spine, causing the small hairs at her nape to rise on end. Fingers sifting through the debris at her side, she sighed. At least with Rhyn there was conversation, no matter how crude he and Miyenth became. Though they teased her and made her feel small and stupid at times, they at least treated her as a person. Her mouth worked into a strained line, lips caught tight over the bitter laughter threatening to explode into the cool air.
“What are you smiling about?”
Aida couldn’t hold back the snort, chin angling over her shoulder to quirk a disbelieving brow at him. Seeing the utter seriousness of his gaze, she wondered if he thought her true smile so sour. Turning, she gave a hard jerk of her shoulder as she stared toward the road.
“Pining for your new lover? Hoping he comes to save you after his attempt to kill me failed so miserably? You know I will kill him, don’t you?”
Aida refused to rise to the bait. The vicious undercurrent of Er’it’s anger forever close to the surface when she was near, Aida was loath to begin another scene. Tired, sore, and hungry, she realized she wanted this quiet moment—time to think on what Marilsa had told her in the glen, the ominous shadow that had chased her, Er’it and how she felt about him despite his promises to murder her. Heaving another sigh, Aida curled her legs tight against her chest, wrapping her arms around her shins with chin resting atop her knees.
