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“Try me.” Nica smirked at him, and Theon stuck his tongue out.
Further distracting him, Weylyn gestured to me, saying, “Braz has a weird name as well.”
Theon turned narrowed eyes my way. I shot the gargoyle a glare, and he smirked at me. Theon said, “Your real name isn’t Braz?”
“Braz is a shortened version of my birth name, if that’s what you mean,” I replied.
“Well, what is it?”
“Brazokdi.”
Theon blinked at me. “Braz-what-y?”
I snorted and repeated, “Brazokdi. I’m sure you can see why I don’t go by that.”
“Brazokdi,” he said slowly, then huffed in frustration and pointed at Weylyn and Florin. “What about you two? Anything I should know?”
Weylyn shook his head. “Nope.”
Florin shook his head, then winced at the movement. After sitting for a few minutes and letting the adrenaline wear off, small movements were obviously hurting him again.
I put my plate down and dug around in my bag for the salve Nica had made. To Florin, I said, “Once you finish, I’ll tend to your wounds.”
“You don’t have to, Braz. I can manage.”
I shook my head. “No, I’ll do it.”
Florin sighed and finished off the last bite on his plate before pulling his shirt up and giving me his back. I caught Theon’s eye, and he grinned at me, then surprised me by coming over to plant a hard kiss to my lips. He moved his mouth to my ear and whispered, “Thank you,” and kissed my cheek.
I nodded at him and gave him another deep kiss before focusing on cleaning up Florin’s wounds. Some of them had reopened and bled through the bandages from all the movement he’d done today.
Weylyn nodded at me on his way out of the tent, and I knew he was going to walk the perimeter and get to know the lay of the land, so to speak. When he came back, I’d do the same, then Nica would check after me. For now, I’d watch over the others and listen for anyone approaching.
Theon let out a little yelp when Nica picked him up and began kissing him. The magic in Theon’s body seemed to make him heal faster, so he was hardly even tender anymore. The difference in how slowly Florin healed was almost unbelievable, but then again, Florin had been whipped to within an inch of his life, lashes on top of lashes on top of lashes, so of course it would take a long time to heal. Hopefully, a few days’ rest would do him good now that we were somewhere relatively safe.
Nica already had Theon panting, so I left them to their celebrating and made sure the tiny, sweet human was cared for.
3
Braz
Three days later, when I walked back into the tent with a tray of food, I was surprised to find Florin sitting up in the bed. He’d really done a number on himself the first few days we were here, and many of his wounds had been oozing through the night. So Nica had sewn them together again this morning, which meant he was extra sore. Florin was supposed to be taking it easy; I was supposed to be caring for him. Seeing the grimace on his face as he tried to brush his hair made me rush over to him.
“Florin,” I said softly, setting the tray on the small table.
His lavender eyes stared up at me, and he huffed. “My hair keeps getting in my face, and I… I wanted to dosomething.”
“I can help you… I told you to let me know if you needed anything.” I gently took the brush from his hands, and he sighed, his fingers automatically playing with the hem of his breeches. As soon as his arms lowered, some of the tension left his eyes. The poor human was still in a lot of pain; I’d have to put more salve on his back soon. I knew he wasn’t used to relying on anyone else, but Iwantedto help him. Ineededto. “Do you want me to braid it back?”
His eyes met mine again, and he took a deep breath, trying to hide his wince of pain from the slight movement. He was healing nicely, but the scabs tended to break open with a lot of movement, and he still had many stitches in his back that I knew were very uncomfortable. “You truly wouldn’t mind?”
“Not at all.” I offered a smile and sat on the bed beside him as he twisted to give me his back. His hair was softer than mine, and after running my fingers through it to soothe him so often this past week, I’d come to crave playing with it.
As I began brushing out the knots as gently as I could, I said, “When I was young, I used to brush my mother’s hair and braid it back for her, and she’d do the same for me every morning before we set out for the day.” A smile tugged at my lips. “I haven’t thought about that in a long time. It was a nice way to start the day.”
He was quiet for a moment before he asked, “Do you know where your mother is now?”
“She passed away when I was fourteen. Soon after, my grandfather sold me to Natas.”
