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I released a bitter laugh and then said, “Stop flirting with me, recruit. Not when you nearly killed yourself.”
The recruit with the gaping thigh wound said Kiara had saved him, that she’d jumped into the water where the sharp-toothed salendons roamed. The king’s monstrous pets.
I’d been on edge all morning knowing what they’d face. Yes, in the past, some of them had died in those murky depths, but never had I been as fearful as I’d been today.
Surprising, because after last night’smission, I didn’t think I’d be able to feel anything at all.
Kiara shifted in my arms, her mouth falling open in fear when she realized she was nearly submerged.
The water. She’d almost drowned no more than five minutes ago. “I’ve got you. I won’t let go.”
At my promise, her body relaxed, but the arms she’d wound around my neck tightened. The weight there felt nice, too nice. I didn’t deserve it.
I noticed she still wore those damned gloves, so I reached around to grasp her hand, about to pull off the material and allow her hands to warm. That’s when she froze again, all the tension back.
“N-no,” she whispered, digging her fingers deeper into my neck. “D-don’t touch t-them.”
She lifted her head, her eyelids struggling to stay open as I took in the severe edges of her face, the sunfires casting moving shadows below her eyes.
“Shhh, I won’t,” I promised, shifting my hand to rest beneath her back. I wasn’t sure why she never took off those gloves, but there’d been genuine fear in her eyes when I prepared to remove them. It made me all the more curious to know the secrets she hid.
“I-I thought y-you d-didn’t like to s-share your b-bath time,” she chattered after many long moments. She loosened her grip on my neck, but her fierce stare left me no room to breathe.
“I made an exception, Kiara. Don’t get used to it.” I made my voice harder than it should have been, but she still smiled, gazing at me like I was her savior, a man worthy of her adoration.
“What happened down there?” My arms constricted, my fingers digging into her exposed flesh. The salendon had left her shirt in tatters, the scraps of it floating to the surface. I wanted to yell at her all of a sudden, to curse her selflessness. My nostrils flared, and my damned eye twitched.
“A recruit f-fell i-in,” she managed to get out, her chattering easing. “S-something attacked. I k-killed it.”
My eyes briefly shut in frustration. Careless, careless girl.
Now Iwasangry. Genuinely angry.
Reaching for her chin, I held her firmly in place so she’d understand my every word.
“Never do that again, Kiara,” I said, my tone hard, biting. “Never risk yourself like that. Especially when you couldn’t fucking see. When you didn’t even know what the hells you were fighting.” My voice rose, turning furious. What little calm I’d employed vanished.
“He would have d-died, and I c-could save him.”
“You can’t save everyone,” I snapped. “In this world, you have to look out for yourself.”
She shook her head weakly. “That’s s-such a sad way of l-looking at things.”
Every muscle in my body went rigid. I felt only my hands on her bare skin now, felt her hopeful stare pierce into my own, and cursed the undeniable hold this girl had on me.
I wanted to argue and say that my words were simply the truth, but my lips remained in a thin line.
The darkness hadn’t tainted her yet, but it soon would.
“Besides,” she continued, and I sucked in air through my teeth when one gloved hand fell to my chest, right above my thundering heart. “Knights t-take an oath to protect the p-people of the realm. How could I have l-let him d-die?”
“Some people aren’t worth saving,” I murmured.
The yellow of her irises sparked, and she narrowed in on me in a way that was all too telling. My teeth ground together, and I fought not to turn away first.
That hand of hers remained over my heart as she said, “I think I’m a good judge of c-character.”
A brittle laugh left me, and she flinched. “Wait until you’ve entered the Mist, and then tell me if people are still worth saving. They’ll do anything to save themselves. They’ll stab you in the back even if they aren’t in the Mist.” She’d be naive to think otherwise.
