So much emotion in that one word, so much loss and heartache, that it made my chest pinch.
What was it about him and Grady finding things that needed to be saved, like me and the other wolf pups? Why did they care so much? I understood their fierce love of animals. Hellbreath was my girl and I would be destroyed if anything happened to her, but to adopt a wild like they had and feel so much sorrow for its siblings? Maybe I was too much of a hunter to understand, but everyone near the Crimson Forest was a hunter. You had to be if you wanted to survive winter.
"I need to go check on Sasha," he rumbled and then left the room, closing the door behind him.
I nodded, even though he was already gone. He or Grady had named Sasha, I guessed, so was she like a pet to them? What would happen when she was grown? They couldn't keep her, a wild like she was.
Archer didn't come back for the rest of the evening, and I carved it into my memory not to ask him questions about Sasha ever again. Even though I burned with curiosity, I didn't want to hurt him.
I dozed, but a sound outside my window filtered through my consciousness—a light scrape like a tree branch. No trees grew near this room, though, at least that I'd heard before now. The fire crackled, a low, comforting sound that beckoned me back to sleep, and for a long while, that was all I heard. Then it came again, farther along the wall. Trees, at least in my experience, didn't move around like that so the wind could rattle their branches against cabin walls when they hadn't before. I did drink all of my opium tea, though, so who the hell really knew.
It came again. Persistent. With purpose. Someone was out there. Not a wild unless they'd developed a working knowledge of rhythm when no one was looking.
Was it Grady? Had he come back? If that were him, then why the strange noises? Unless he was hurt…
Slowly and with great care, I shoved myself into a sitting position. My ribs protested and sang with pain and my bites bit back, but I hissed my way through it. If it wasn't Grady, then I obviously wasn't going to fling open the front door. If it wasn't Grady, whoever it was may have peered into the bedroom window and saw me lying here, asleep. An easy target. I didn't even have a weapon. Not with me anyway. Archer’s arrows he’d carved for me were all the way across the room.
I needed to tell Archer.
Listening hard, I opened my mouth and called, "Archer?" Not loud, but loud enough, except from the way my voice bounced between four walls, I remembered that he'd shut the door on his way out.
Shit. Was it worth getting out of bed for? Even now as I sat here, feeling slightly loopy from the opium tea and the pain in my body that balanced it out, I wondered if I'd dreamed it.
I didn't hear anything now, just the fire. But if Grady was out there and hurt, he could freeze to death. I didn't have to like him to not want that to happen.
Sending up a silent prayer that I wouldn't crumble once my feet touched the floor again, I slid my legs out from underneath the blanket. My bare feet slapped the ground lightly, and I stood, keeping one hand locked to the mattress for support. There. Maybe. My legs wobbled some, but so far, so good. I slipped my hand free and stood on my own two feet, the first time in eight days.
Hell yes. I gave the V for Victory sign with my fingers as I held my arms out in front of me and crossed to the door. Jade had taught Lee and me to do that when we did something right. I'd take any victory I could.
Even though my arm still hurt, I took off the sling so I could at least arm myself with an arrow. Archer had told me he’d set my newly whittled arrows and bow in the corner of my room. After fumbling around to find one, I opened the door and stepped out, making sure I missed the creaking floorboards right outside. Across the hall, I remembered seeing— No. No, I didn't rememberseeingit. I'dimaginedseeing a door across the hall. Sure enough, it was there, closed from the feel of it.
I swallowed hard, shoving away how I'd known it was there.
"Archer?" I said softly.
Silence.
I'd never explored the cabin before, had no idea how large it was or where Archer might sleep. Should I knock?
A sound came from up the hallway and outside, familiar, one that triggered my heart to beat faster—a horse's whicker.
Hope squeezed my chest, but I tried to tell myself to cut that shit out. A horse's whicker did not mean Hellbreath. It could be any horse, or more than one driving a whole carriage, with a driver who had no problem shooting someone.
Still, I turned toward it, keeping my arms in front of me, my arrow gripped tight in one hand and the outer edge of my other palm facing out to slash through the unknown like a spider web.
It felt like the hallway went on forever, but finally my hands brushed leather, soft cloth, and smooth plastic—a whole wall of it. Book spines, I realized, dozens and dozens of them. I couldn't help but grin at the feel of them, and my stomach did crazy flips at the idea of Jade or Archer reading them all to me, at the promise of adventure and drama and facts and feeling in each one.
Nearby, just outside, an impatient whinny sounded followed by the unmistakable nicker that was all Hellbreath. My breath funneled out of me as my eyes filled with tears.
"My girl," I whispered. I could hardly believe she'd come back to me.
I felt my way to the left along the precious book wall to where my hands slipped to what felt like a heavy wooden door. After struggling with the lock, I opened it to a blast of wintry air.
"Hellbreath?" I said, and she puffed warm steam across my cheek.
A sob choked its way out as I threw my arms around her neck and pressed my tears to her mane—and then froze.
We weren’t alone. I could feel it in the severe prickling up my scalp, the dig of someone’s eyes watching. Waiting. Did Hellbreath have a rider? I didn’t think so, not from the way she kept nudging me with her nose to tell me to get on her so we could get out of here.
