Liam leapt off the dragon before the others had gotten their bearings and rushed over to me, something held in his outstretched hand.
“Needle and thread?” he offered.
“Yes!” I grabbed them with my free hand. “I don’t suppose you have any disinfectant, too?”
He passed me a bottle full of something strong enough tomake my eyes water. I smiled in thanks, and he gave me a quick nod and spun back around, holding out his arms to assist his wife and in-laws down.
“Now,” I said, “if someone would just—”
“How can I help my sister?” Sam asked from behindme.
I permitted myself a fraction of a second to revel in the sound of his voice, to feel the knot in my chest unravel. He was awake. He was alive. Again and again he had risked himself at my side, and again and again he had returned tome.
But I tucked those feelings away for later. “Clean your hands with what’s in the bottle, and then put your fingers right where mine are. Apply pressure.” Considering who I was talking to, I added, “Normal human pressure. Don’t dislocate her arm.”
More blood that Jack could ill afford to lose leaked out when I removed my hand, but Sam’s fingers replaced mine almost instantly. I threaded the needle, tied a quick knot, and used what was left in the bottle to disinfect everything I could.
“Don’t die on me now, Jackie,” Sam said.
“Doing my best,” she grunted, wincing as I pierced her flesh and drew the thread through.
“We’ll talk of your position at court later,” Gervase said. “Once we know that you—”
“Queen and general,” she said. “The other hunters get knighted. As their true selves.”
“How are you even awake?” I muttered.
She grinned through the gore that spattered her face. “I’m relentless. That’s my talent.”
“That’s not a talent,” Sam said. “You’re just too pigheaded to give up. On anything. Ever.”
Jack turned to Gervase. “And no more women’s wing.”
“Stop moving!” Stitching her up was a tricky enough procedure as it was.
The king seemed to be rather at a loss. “My love, I don’t say you’re wrong. But…must we discuss it right at this moment?”
“Now’s the perfect time. Darling.” She gazed up at him with wide eyes. She would have been the complete picture of a smitten damsel if not for a certain strained tension at the corners of her mouth. And all the blood, of course. “I might be dying. Fifty-fifty chance. Ask the witch. You can’t refuse a dying wish.”
He rocked back as if slapped. “That’s…”
“Fair?” she finished for him. “Promise me.”
Gervase looked grim. “Can I? You remind me I am already on the verge of forsaking my last such promise.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” I said as I tried to pierce a lip of ragged flesh without tearing it further. “Obviously I’m not going to marry you. You love someone else. I love someone else.” Sam’s breath caught as my hand brushed against his. “Sam, move your fingers to the left, would you? No more than a hair.”
“That’s very well to say,” Gervase replied. “But will not the queen of Skalla devastate my lands, and turn the forest into a desert, and leave me blind, penniless, and wandering the wasteland for the rest of my days?”
“Yes, if you refuse me. But you’re not. I’m refusing you. King Gervase of Tailliz, I find I cannot honor our marriage pledge. I’m terribly sorry. It’s not you, it’s me. Any punishment will be mine alone to bear.”
“And what will that punishment be?” Sam asked. “What will your stepmother do to you?”
“I’ll handle her,” I said.
“But—”
“I will.” Somehow. “Your Majesty, I reject you entirely. Find someone else.”
