Plucking him out of the mess, I cradled him to my chest. He shook with great sobs, refusing to touch me. Not like it would make a difference since we were both covered. A rope dropped, and I took it, holding Finn against me with one arm as I climbed out. Once I was on solid ground, I turned and headed away fromthe festivities. I’d been avoiding taking Finn to the river because he didn’t handle the cold well, but it was necessary now. He needed to be clean.
I didn't bother to undress, heading straight into the water. Finn gasped at the cold, but like the first night, I ignored his tears to care for him properly. When we were deep enough that the water went to his chest, I stripped him out of the soiled clothes before starting on my own. Finn was shaking, his arms wrapped around his middle, and he wouldn’t look at me.
“Rath,” Godr called from the hill overlooking the river. He tossed me a bar of soap without a word and stood guard with his back to us. This far from the main parts of the village, the creatures of the forest were braver and could attack if someone wasn’t on guard. Usually, we bathed in large groups for safety. That wouldn’t happen now. No one was getting near Finn without my say-so.
I was cleaning off his face when he flinched. I frowned, tipping his head up with a knuckle under his chin to study his face. I hadn’t noticed it before because he kept his head down, but there were scratches on his face. Not from a fall. They were too close together. They looked like they came from a person.
Outrage filled my chest, and my voice was foreboding when I asked, “Who hurt you?”
He shook his head, doing his best to free himself from my grasp. I couldn’t allow that. I was his protector. Someone hurt him on my watch. I needed to handle it.
“Finn. Tell me. Who hurt you? Is that why you fell?” If he was attacked and stumbled, it would explain how he ended up in the trench. Unless… “Did they push you?”
Whether he didn't understand or he just didn't want to answer, he kept shaking his head. I wanted to keep pushing, but his teeth were chattering. He was too cold to stay out here much longer. I needed to get him clean.
With quick efficiency, I cleaned off every inch of his skin. He wouldn’t take the bar to clean his privates himself, so I apologized before doing that as well. I didn’t linger, just made sure he was thoroughly cleaned before moving on. By the time I was done, his pale skin was pink in the moonlight, and his lips were turning blue. I wasn’t nearly as dirty as he was, so I quickly scrubbed and tucked him against me, using my body heat to keep him warm as we came out of the water.
We had no clean clothes with us, and I wasn’t touching the soiled ones, but Godr proved he was a good brother by having a blanket waiting to cover Finn. I cared little for my own nudity, used to undressing around my brothers to bathe or change. Finn was shy, not even comfortable having his chest exposed, and I didn’t want to parade him in front of the clan and embarrass him further.
The blanket wasn’t enough to warm him, but it kept him covered as I marched back to my tent. When I set him on his feet so I could dress him, his legs went out from under him, and I had to lower him to the bed so he wouldn’t hurt himself. I tugged one of my tunics over his head, lacing the front tightly so it wouldn’t fall off him.
I spared a moment to pull on some legwear before wrapping the blanket back around Finn and scooping him up again. When I ducked out of my tent, my brothers were waiting for me, each with a worried expression on his face.
“Have Zoya meet me at the fighters’ fire.”
Verus was quick to respond, nodding his head and running off to fetch the healer. With the cuts and the unhygienic fall, I didn’t want to chance Finn getting sick. I stalked away from the village center and to a fire nearer to the edge of the forest. There were smaller fires since eating all together could get tedious. The fighters lived all together for easier training, and their fire wasthe second biggest after the village center. I wasn’t bringing Finn near the clan again until I figured out who had attacked him.
He trembled in my arms, his face hidden against my chest. His hands were icy cold, but I didn’t flinch from the touch. He could take what he needed from me.
A few fighters sat around the fire, probably the first to have greeted the new arrival so they could escape to have a more relaxed gathering here. They shot me curious looks when I joined them, but none asked questions. Janis, a fighter who I’d fought alongside a time or two, offered me some ale, but I shook my head, sitting as close to the fire as I dared and curling myself tighter around Finn. He accepted the hold without a sound. It worried me. Normally, in his upset, he made plenty of noise; little whimpers and sniffles to let me know how he felt. Now he was silent and unmoving, his breathing shallow like he was trying not to move an inch.
“Korvash,” I whispered, ducking so he could better hear me. “Tell me who hurt you. It’s my job to keep you safe.”
No reply. I wanted to rage, to tear through the celebrations to find who’d attacked my Finn. I couldn’t without releasing him, and nothing, not even vengeance, could pull me away from him now.
Nine
“This place is bad enough without being tainted with people like you.”
I thought I’d finally escaped that mindset. No one I’d met thus far had even batted an eye at a male tribute or my budding relationship with Rath. But that was probably because I was never out of his sight. No one wanted to pick a fight with someone that big and skilled at hunting. They waited until he was away from me to tell me how they truly felt.
“You’re only a hole to fuck. He’ll toss you aside the minute he finds his bondmate. It won’t be a boy. It’ll be a woman who can give him what he needs.”
I’d stupidly tried to protest, arguing that Rath wasn’t interested in women, just like me. It made the angry woman violent, and she lashed out, clawing at my face.
“You don’t belong here.”
“You’re a freak.”
“Whore.”
Each insult was like a physical hit, and I retreated on instinct. I hadn’t realized they were herding me in a certain direction until the middle one smirked at me.
“Let me show you where you truly belong.”
Then she pushed me hard enough to send me into the waste-filled trench. I cried out in surprise, which caused them to run, but she’d pushed me hard, and no matter how hard I fought, I couldn’t get free of the muck. I was humiliated and scared when I heard Rath’s voice. I tried to stifle myself so he wouldn’t find me there, but he found me anyway. He had to climb into the mess with me to get me out, and no matter how hard I tried to keep myself away from him, he still ended up covered in waste.
Now, sitting in front of a smaller fire, I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t look at anyone. I made myself as small as possible and stayed silent. Who knew who else felt the way those women did and was just waiting for me to be alone? If I hadn’t been so obvious about how I felt about Rath, maybe they would have left me alone. Then I wouldn’t have dragged Rath down with me.
