Taavin appeared as he side-stepped between the rocks. Vi reached out, offering a hand and helping him through the rest of the way. He emerged with a sigh of relief, immediately leaning against the rocky wall opposite, hand splayed on his chest where Fallor had used his body as a springboard.
“Sit, and let me see,” Vi repeated her earlier demand.
“I’ll be fine,” he said, as if pain wasn’t written on his face in large, block letters.
“Quit being stubborn.”
He finally obliged her, sinking down the wall until he was seated. His legs extended until his toes hit the opposite wall, knees bent. Vi crouched at his side, twisting until she found a way to somehow sit comfortably and not be in his lap at the same time.
Her hands paused at the hem of his shirt, the fabric still slick with rain and clinging to every curve of his muscle. Vi raised her eyes slowly to his.
“May I?” she whispered.
“Go ahead.” The words were stronger than hers, but far from what she’d call confident. He was as nervous as she was. This was uncharted territory for them both.
She wasn’t undressing him. Well, shewas. But not really. It was for medical reasons.
Her racing thoughts had her heart matching pace as she slowly lifted the shirt, exposing the tan skin beneath. His flesh was bumpy, thanks to the chill of the cave and the exposed damp. Vi continued to ignore the cut curves of his muscles and the line of hair trailing down to and underneath his trousers—an easy task the moment her eyes landed on his ribcage.
“Oh, Taavin…” she breathed.
He winced as her fingers lightly brushed the deep bruising that splotched his skin. “It’s that bad?”
“It looks like you had a small mountain crush you.” Vi lowered the shirt slowly. “I’ve usedhallethbefore but—”
“Not very well.”
Vi narrowed her eyes slightly. She’d been about to say the same thing. But that didn’t mean she appreciated him beating her to the punch. As if reading her mind, he wheezed laughter.
“I could tell.” Taavin hid a wince between his words. The fight and flight had stolen their focus from their injuries and ailing bodies; it seemed that the pain was settling in on him now, just like she hadn’t noticed her aches until they’d slowed their pace in the woods. “The wounds that had been inflicted on you—you tried to heal them withhalleth—it was clumsily done. The skin was all knotted and scarred in a way that was going to give you trouble long-term. I was forced to rip them back open and set them correctly.”
That confirmed her suspicions about why she still ached so badly.
“I was learning on the run,” Vi said defensively. “We haven’t had a chance to go overhallethyet. And Firebearing doesn’t cover any kind of healing other than cauterizing wounds.”
“You’re alive—that means you did more than enough,” he said, trying to soothe. “With Fallor on your tail, I assume those wounds were from Adela?”
Vi gave a small nod, lips pursed.
“What happened to you on the way here?” he asked, daring to ask the question that must have been on his mind since he found her on the beach. “I spoke with you on that balcony not more than—”
“Two, three, maybe four weeks ago,” Vi murmured. It felt like a lifetime to her as well. Being unconscious for a large chunk of that time certainly didn’t help.
“Something has changed since then.”
He was right. Something had changed. Jayme’s betrayal had awoken a darkness in her that Vi worried she’d never be free of.
“Vi, what is it?” he asked softly, emerald eyes shining in the firelight. Did hers shine as brightly? Or had they dulled with the dust of the long road she’d traveled?
“It’s nothing.”Besides being trapped in the dark prison of my thoughts. “It took a lot to get here. That’s all.”
He opened his mouth to speak again and Vi knew what he was going to ask. He’d want details. He’d probe for information she wasn’t ready to give. Those events were still lost in the depths of the black waters sloshing in the hole in her chest.
“It seems to have been the same for you,” Vi countered. His turn to look away. “The Swords of Light, the strong arm of the Faithful, are after you?”
“Led by Lord Ulvarth, no less.”
“Their leader?”
