Ruru tossed me a blanket, and I shook it out over the damp earth. Hiding less of my pain, I crumpled onto the blanket and stretched out.
Aiden knelt beside me, his broad shoulders and salty scent filling my world. I turned my head away and stared at the post near my head.
Warm, roughened fingers slipped under my shirt, grazing the skin on my stomach. I twitched but didn’t move away. His touch traveled over my rib cage in firm strokes. Like a healer’s would. Pursuing facts rather than feeling as a lover might. I relaxed.
“No breaks, no cracks,” he murmured. “May I see your skin to check the bruising?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
My shirt glided upward as if drawn by a breeze. He made a low noise in his throat that made me tense again.
“What is it?”
“You’re going to be quite sore for the next few days.” He paused, and I snuck a glance at his face. Rage, like what he’dshown as the Wolf was chaining me to the wall, harshened his features. “Renwell did this?”
“And the jailer.”
His eyes flashed to mine, and that ominous heat crawled back into my belly. “They will pay, Kiera. I swear on my soul.”
I shivered. Holy Four, how did he do that? “I’m no one to you,” I whispered.
“You are everyone,” he whispered back. “Everyone I’m fighting for.”
I blinked. What in the deep, dark, wandering hell did that mean? Fighting whom for what? Was he admitting to being a rebel?
His thumb stroked my skin, and I forgot everything else.
Before I could react, he glared down at my skin and jerked his hand away as if appalled it had done such a thing. He pulled down my shirt and walked away without another word.
I stared after him, thoroughly confused.
Maz and Ruru filled the room with their snores, a noise I had somehow missed in the last few moments.
Maz had slumped against the wall next to Ruru, but Aiden kicked his boot. “Take the hammock. I’ll keep watch.”
Maz grunted and slung his bulk into one of the hammocks. Aiden dug something out of the crate and stalked back to me.
He thrust a flat tin into my hands. “Salve for your bruises. It’ll ease the pain and help you sleep.”
I opened my mouth to ask what was in it, but he cut me off. “You can try to sleep in the hammock, but it will probably make the pain worse. I recommend staying where you are.” He untied the empty hammock and draped it over my lap. “That’s the best I can do.”
“Thank”—he turned away and slipped out the door—“you.”
Was my presence truly so repulsive that he couldn’t even stay in the room? He likely regretted bringing me here. I wondered of his plan—and if I’d already managed to fail my task.
Questions burned through my mind until they were wisps of smoke I couldn’t see in the darkness of exhaustion. If only I could chase after him and demand answers. But if torture and imprisonment hadn’t worked, neither would demands.
I pried open the tin. A yellowish jelly-like substance gleamed inside. It smelled bitter with a hint of spice I couldn’t name. I smeared a thin layer of it across my rib cage and noticed an immediate coolness to my skin. I nearly whimpered with relief.
Maybe I could wait for him to come back. Make sure he didn’t do anything without my knowing. Maybe...
A door slamming startled me awake. I tried to sit up and immediately fell back.
“Gods damn it,” I moaned, the pain in my ribs crackling to life. I rubbed the grit out of my eyes and licked the dried salt from my lips.
“A pleasant afternoon to you as well, little thief.”
Memories came flooding back to me at the sound of his voice—the same one that had haunted my dreams. I managed to push myself to a sitting position. Light peeked through the cracks in the door, filtering around Aiden’s figure.
