Page 93 of Wind Rider

“I know. I just, well, I don’t want to lose Antreas,” Danita said quietly.

“You won’t. He and that feline love you.”

Danita’s gaze shot to Mari’s. “Did he tell you that?”

Mari laughed. “He didn’t have to. It’s obvious.”

“I keep worrying that something happened to him and that I’ve never told him how I really feel about him—how much I want to be with him and with Bast, forever. I’ve been so worried about him touching me that I’ve kept walls up and tried to make it seem like I—like I wasn’t falling in love with him.” Danita paused and wiped away a tear. “I would hate myself forever if I never saw him again and he didn’t know.”

“Know what? And why are you crying?” Antreas seemed to materialize out of the darkness, with the yellow-eyed feline at his side.

“Antreas!” Danita ran to him and threw herself into his arms.

The Lynx man was laughing as he lifted Danita off her feet, twirled her around, and kissed her—quickly. Mari noted that it wasn’t a demanding, passionate kiss, but a sweet hello, and she was pleased to see Danita didn’t cringe back or step out of his arms.

“Bast and I were so worried about you! What took you so long? I was starting to think—” Her words broke off as she caught sight of the bloody bandage covering his thumb. Danita tried to reach for his injured hand, but he pulled it from her grasp.

“Hey, it’s nothing. Just a torn thumbnail. It’ll grow back,” he said. Antreas nodded hello to Mari.

She returned his nod, but also went to him and, with her usual no-nonsense attitude, lifted his hand and began unwrapping the bandage.

“It really is nothing. Sore, but not lethal,” he said.

“Sore and not lethal can easily turn into infected and deadly, especially if you ignore it.” Mari winced as she unwound the last of the bloody bandage and saw that his thumbnail had been completely ripped off—and that included the talon that rested dormant under his nail. “That looks nasty. How did you do it?”

“Oh, it’s not a big deal. And it’ll grow back—quickly. It’s part of being a Companion to Bast. My, uh,extraattributes, like the claws I can unsheathe and my enhanced sight, regenerate fast if something happens to them.”

Danita was peeking around Mari’s shoulder at Antreas’s hand. “That looks terrible!”

He grinned at her. “A scratch like that can’t get me down,” he said, but sucked in his breath as Mari poked and prodded the wound.

“There’s nothing caught in there, and I don’t think you’ve broken anything. Actually, the wound is very clean—almost like someone pulled your claw off.” Mari watched him carefully as she noted to herself that he hadn’t answered her question about how the injury had happened.

Antreas shrugged. “Guess I’m just lucky that it broke off easily. It’ll be fine. I promise.”

“It definitely needs to be cleaned and freshly bandaged,” Mari said. She paused and then added, “Antreas, did Father John do this to you?”

“No!”

“Then what took you so long to get here?” Danita asked.

“It just took me a while to get out of the village. I’d planned on doing some trading, and by the time the boats were all launched the market had been closed down.” Antreas’s gaze found Mari. “Father John didn’t do this to me, but he was not happy. Apparently, he doesn’t like you very much.”

“Father John does not impress me with his leadership skills,” Mari said.

Antreas barked laughter. “That’s a nice way to put it.”

“Did he tell you what happened today?” Danita asked.

“His version, which was easy to see through. I gather Dove had a vision that the priest didn’t like,” Antreas said.

Mari and Danita quickly described what had happened, and Antreas shook his head in disgust. “So he asked for the vision, and then discounted it and insulted you. That’s narrow-minded, even for Father John.”

“Is there anything we can do? Any way we can warn the Saleesh people farther upstream?” Mari asked.

“There’s only one way, but it means that the Saleesh might never allow me or anyone I guide to travel this river again,” Antreas said.

“Are you planning on leaving when we get to the Wind Rider Plains?” Danita’s pretty face had suddenly gone pale.