“This is it,”I said to Ro, a new hesitation emerging that nearly stopped me from moving. The rest of the hunting crew moved toward the check in station, and only when Val glared over her shoulder did I follow.
“If this doesn’t work—,”she started to say, but the sentiment shook me to the point that I couldn’t let her finish.
“It will.”
“But if it doesn’t.”
“Ro.”
“Please make sure they don’t find Braxius. If he’s followed us up here, he won’t know about the sentinels.”
I kept my tiger’s chin held high as I strode into camp. “I will.” Unless our traveling party blabbed, then I’d be joining her in a shallow grave.
“Thank you, Dae.”The resignation in her voice nearly broke me.
“Don’t thank me yet.”We calmly walked as a group to the admin tent. The biggest opportunity for things to fail was right here, hindering on how the next minutes played out. With everyinch of ground we gained, my worries mounted. In order for this to work…
The member currently posted at admin glanced up, and in those brief seconds my world started crumbling. We shouldn’t have made it this far.
The admin raised their hand, signaling nearby guards who marched over, half a dozen in tow. They surrounded Harlson and Johni. Harlson began shouting, claiming he’d done his job. Johni had nothing to say. They were hauled off, and before Harlson’s commotion faded from earshot, Val and Dalin reported.
“I’ll be gentle.”
“Wait, wh—”
I lowered, letting Ro’s body slip off as close to the ground as I could manage. Before I shifted, I said, “For someone who’s supposedly unconscious, you’re scowling an awful lot.”Her face relaxed into a more neutral pose. Val and Dalin left the tent, the former glaring at Ro with disgust as she swiftly departed.
I bent down, pain lacing my thigh, and hoisted her limp body into my arms.
“Who’s this?” Kasia, the admin, asked.
“She hunted the boar. Instead of killing her for it, I found her sympathetic to the cause. Wanted to propose keeping her for her skill set.” I shifted uncomfortably, grimacing while adjusting my hold on her to accommodate for the weight on my leg.
“Do you know her name?” Kasia jotted down a record of what I said, completely unenthralled.
“Ro,” I answered. Best to keep the lies down to the essential ones, lest a slip up show our hand. “I’m taking her to the healer, see if she even manages to come out of it,” I said with as much indifference as possible.
Without lifting her eyes from the page, she said, “Treat that wound. We’re down two hunters, so it’s likely you’ll be called out again soon.”
A quick glance at the paper that had Harlson and Johni’s names written with a black slash through them confirmed why. I gave a curt nod before limping out of the tent. Gods it’d be handy to have that mind to mind thing right now. Ro kept her eyes closed while I jostled her like a rag doll, my uneven stride steadily growing. A few peered at us with little interest before resuming their duties.
“Approaching the healer’s tent. I’ll clear my throat once we duck inside, and that’s your cue to wake up,” I whispered.
Backing into the tent, I cleared my throat once the door fell closed. Ro’s eyes shot open as she immediately scoped our surroundings while I gently set her feet on the ground. The camp’s healer wiped his hands with a cloth, his sleeves rolled and wrinkled, and approached. “What’s the issue?” he asked, his eyes sitting above dark circles. Not from dark magic, but pure exhaustion.
“His leg!” Ro perked up and adjusted out of my grip. I hadn’t realized I’d let it linger. She was much too peppy for a woman the rest of the camp was supposed to think was on the brink of death. If our mind to mind still worked, I’d scold her for how foolish the display looked.
As if she picked up on it, she said, “I had a fever but I’m better now. His leg, though, needs mending immediately.”
Garris glanced at my thigh, partially glimpsing the scabbing, pus filled wound through the rip in my pants. He nodded to the dingy cot. “Take those off and take a seat.”
He wanted me to remove my pants. In her presence. Heat raced across the back of my neck. Was this, embarrassment? When was the last time I’d felt such a thing?
“You heard the man. Strip,” Ro repeated, a nearly imperceptible curve in the corner of her lips. She detected my hesitancy and enjoyed my humiliation a little too much.
“I…” A lump clogged my throat.
“I won’t peek, I promise.” Ro winked and gave me her back, her red ponytail swaying, and faced the front of the tent. “Make sure you get him something with cloverbane,” she fed the experienced healer instructions, which was exactly what a member belonging to this camp would do.
