‘What about her?’
‘Look at her. Closely.’
‘All right.’
‘What do you notice?’ I question.
‘I notice a scared human who has been deprived of proper food since we saw her last and is covered in wounds,’ he answers readily, his voice clipped.
I roll my eyes. ‘Look closer. Do you not also notice that she appears…much as she looked that nightin the cave?
Jak’s head turns sharply to look at me, and then he stares at Bryn again, this time much more carefully.
‘Fuck,’ he mutters when he sees what I do.
She’s breathing quickly through her mouth as if she’s trying to hide the mounting need she’s feeling from us.
But of course she is. She doesn’t know us. She may have no recollection of what she needs. The cave was the first time, she said, and she doesn’t remember it.
I’d be as scared as she is.
I’d also try to escape from here while I could.
I see her looking past me, eyeing the door.
‘She’ll need it soon,’ I mutter, wondering how this situation could get any more dire.
He nods and closes his eyes for a moment, letting out a small sigh.
‘Which of us will… It’s worse this time than it was that night. She doesn’t know us, Morgan. How can we even think to…’
‘Bryn,’ I say to the scared human in front of us, ignoring Jak’s words.
I already know what he thinks and feels about this abhorrent turn of events. Same as me. I don’t need to hear it aloud.
She looks at my face quickly and then stares at the floor between her feet.
I let out a breath, not sure how to ask her, how to speak to her about such a delicate matter when she thinks me a stranger.
But Jak finally tries to be helpful.
‘I’m a healer,’ he says to Bryn. ‘You’re feeling stifled. Feverish, aren’t you?’
Her eyes flick up and then down.
She says nothing. Her expression is…obstinate.
‘How can we help her if she won’t even look at us?’ I mutter to him.
‘Answer!’ Jak hisses and then winces.
‘Yes, my lord.’
I give him an angry look.
‘She thinks us masters,’ he says quietly.
‘So, we must act like them?’ I spit. ‘Fuck off, Jak.’
