Page 75 of Warrior’s Mate

"I had noticed."

Maelis's thumb moved over his knuckles. "I want to talk about it too."

The words warmed him in a place that had been cold since the first strike.

"Then we will."

The partition opened without warning.

A medic stepped inside, saw their joined hands, and showed no embarrassment whatsoever. "Excellent. Two patients in one place. Efficient."

Maelis sighed. "I dislike this building."

"You reorganized half of it," the medic said. "Take off the brace."

Kaiven's hand turned out to be bruised rather than broken. Maelis's knee was badly strained, with a shallow cut that required sealing. The medic ordered her to stay off it for six hours.

Maelis negotiated the sentence down to two by agreeing to use a support brace and remain at a seated registry station.

"You cannot negotiate with medical orders," Kaiven told her afterward.

"I just did."

"That is deeply concerning."

"You love me."

"I am beginning to understand the risks."

They returned to the hall together.

The work had changed while they were behind the partition. More military units had arrived. A portable command node was being assembled beside the north entrance. The registry displays now separated confirmed safe, confirmed dead, transferred, missing, and probable capture.

Maelis stopped in front of the last category. Probable capture. There were already hundreds of names.

"This is one district," she said.

Kaiven looked at the list. "Yes."

"How many districts?"

He did not answer because neither of them knew.

A senior communications officer approached at a fast walk. "Captain Daratu? Provisional regional command wants all available Brigade captains at the north command node in ten minutes."

Kaiven straightened automatically. Maelis felt his hand tighten around hers, then deliberately loosen.

"Go," she said.

His first instinct was to ask whether she would remain here. He recognized the question before it reached his mouth and changed it.

"Where will you be?"

"At the registry table until the brace stops making the medic glare at me. After that, wherever the records are worst."

"Of course."

"Find me when you can."