But it would be better soon. I’d help her to safety, and Marta and Elric would make her feel at home in Belden.
As I gazed down at her, it occurred to me that I never asked for her name.
It would seem that after all my years in solitude, I’d forgotten my manners.
I cleared my throat and sat down next to her on the pile of furs. “Miss? Excuse me, Miss? It’s time to wake up.” I spoke softly so as not to alarm her.
She stirred before squinting her brown eyes at me. “Time to get up already?” Her hair was a rumpled mess and her voice was gruff from sleep, but she was beautiful all the same.
“Yes. It’s time we get going. Would you like some water?”
She nodded her head and I passed her my drinking skin. After taking a deep swallow, she handed it back to me.
“I realized I didn’t get your name yesterday,” I said as I tied the water skin onto my satchel.
“It’s Iris.”
Iris.
“After the flower?” I asked.
My mother’s favorite flower.
She nodded her head before standing and stretching with a groan.
“How do your feet feel?”
She bit her lip. “They’re a little sore.”
“I have something that might help. Sit down.”
Iris sat on the bed and I handed her a tincture from the shelf before pulling several strips of leather from my bag.
“Drink that. It’ll help with the pain.” I held up the leather strips. “I’m going to wrap your feet with these. They’ll provide some extra protection from rocks and stones.”
She yanked the cork off of the tincture and gave a look of disgust as she brought it up to her nose.
I let out a warm laugh. “It’s best if you drink it quickly. It tastes awful, but I promise it’ll help.”
“Fine,” she grumbled and downed the tincture in one go. Her face contorted into a tight grimace. “Shit. You weren’t kidding.”
There was something about her crass demeanor that I found endearing.
I finished binding her feet and took the vial from her. “I told you it was awful.” I shrugged my shoulders and smiled.
“You didn’t tell meyourname, you know.” She cocked her head to the side, her arms crossed over her chest.
“It’s Selvyn.”
It had been so long since I’d introduced myself, so long since I’d heard someone call me by my name.
“Selvyn,” she said to herself and tapped a finger to her full lips in thought. “I like it.”
“My mother was quite fond of it as well.”
She stared at me in disbelief, as if the very thought of me having a mother shocked her to her core, but I decided that now wasn’t the time to explain.
“Shall we head out then?” I asked, eager to change the subject and get started on our journey.
