“Bryony, he’s going to...”
But before Mikhail could finish, the man raised his knife.
She froze, her lungs forgetting how to draw breath.
Then he lifted a lock of her hair and cut it off near her chin.
“...cut off a lock of hair,” Mikhail finished. “As a keepsake. He’s never seen red hair before.”
“Oh, well, that’s... that’s...” She wasn’t quite sure what to say. All she knew was that her mouth felt as though it was filled with cotton, and her heart was ready to thunder out of her chest.
But the man seemed happy with his memento. He tied it with a piece of string, running his fingers down the lock of hair again before sliding it into a pouch on his belt.
Mikhail said something more to the Indian, and the Indian walked back to the other two. Then the three of them exchanged a few more words before walking slowly backward, their guns still trained on her and Mikhail as they disappeared into the trees.
The moment they were gone, Bryony doubled over, dropping the wood in her arms. She couldn’t seem to stop herself from shaking or her breaths from coming faster and faster until her shoulders heaved uncontrollably. She plopped to the ground fighting to regain her breath.
“Hey, there, it’s all right.” Mikhail was at her side in an instant, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her to his chest. “Everything’s going to be fine. They let us go.”
She burrowed against him, pressing her eyes shut and letting his strength and warmth surround her.
But he didn’t hold her for nearly long enough. It seemed like only a handful of seconds before he released her and straightened. “I don’t want to stay here any longer than we need to. Can you stand?”
She didn’t want to. She felt instantly cold without his arms around her.
“Bryony, angel, I need you to stand.” His voice was calm, but he was pulling her to her feet with brisk, efficient movements that she couldn’t quite make sense of.
“Do you think they’ll come back?” she asked as she started gathering the wood and moss she’d dropped.
He bent to help her, moving at double her pace and filling his arms within seconds.
“It’s not a risk I feel like taking.” He held out a hand to help her step over the fallen tree.
“How did you know Indians found me?” She scrambled over the trunk, one arm still holding the wood.
“I didn’t, but I noticed their sign on the beach after you left. It looked recent, so I came to look for you.”
Of course he had. This was the man who looked at every death he encountered as a personal failure, even if he wasn’t responsible for it. “I’m sorry.”
“Why? You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one who should be apologizing. I should have realized we’d run into some Tlingit once we reached the river.”
He was blaming this on himself? It hadn’t been his fault. He was the person caught in the middle, trying to keep everyone safe.
He turned and started toward camp, stepping silently around saplings and over fallen logs. His face settled into the expression he’d worn when she first met him. She couldn’t necessarily say it was harsh, but it was blank and stern and void of any emotion. There certainly wasn’t anything on his face that gave the slightest hint that they’d nearly been taken captive by Indians.
Her face, on the other hand, was probably wrought with emotion. The danger might have passed, but her cheeks still felt hot, and her heart was beating at twice its normal rate.
How did Mikhail do it? How did he appear so endlessly calm? If things hadn’t gone his way, they’d either be dead or getting hauled deeper into the woods, looking at spending the rest of their lives among Indians.
Or had the Indians planned to let Mikhail go? Was it just her they’d wanted?
A wave of coldness swept through her, and she stumbled.
Mikhail was there before she could fall, catching her and hauling her upright, even though he still held an armful of wood. “Are you all right? I’m walking too fast for you, aren’t I? I’ll slow down.”
None of the guides on any of her past expeditions had thought she was slow. If anything, they’d been impressed with how easily she kept up with the men. But Mikhail made any athletic ability she had seem laughable.
She pushed away from him. “You don’t need to apologize. I should have done a better job watching where I was going.”
