Amund reaches for me, but I pull back quickly.
He looks like he wants to help but doesn’t know how. I close my eyes, hot tears spilling as I cover my face with my hands, but all I cansee are flashes of my mother lying in her own blood. NowI’mthe one covered in it.
“How bad?” I ask, but the words come out garbled.
“Hard to tell.” Amund tenses. “Your upper lip has a deep laceration, but I can’t see your teeth, so I don’t think the bite went all the way through.”
My head is spinning, the world threatening to upend itself at any moment.
“I need to get you to the infirmary.” His voice softens. “Can you stand?”
I force myself to nod.
Amund offers me his hand. I stare up at it, surprised by how large it is. He’s the only reason why I’m still breathing at all; otherwise I would have shared the same fate as Emilía. Swallowing hard, I place my hand in Amund’s calloused palm and his fingers close around me, strong and confident.
With his help, I climb to my feet—
As soon as I stand, my knees buckle. Amund catches me. I slump against him, trembling violently from the adrenaline. “Sorry, I-I don’t think I can walk after all.”
“It’s okay.” Amund scoops me up in his arms, drawing me against his chest. “I’ll carry you to the infirmary.”
Amund’s grip is steadying, anchoring me to the present. His muscles are sturdy and hard as I let myself lean against him like I can borrow some of his strength. He whispers something to me, but I can’t hear anything over the awful ringing in my ears.
The world goes dark.
Amund carries me inside the infirmary and lowers me onto a bed. Through bleary eyes, I look up at him. Now he’s covered in blood too.Seeing so much red is enough to make me hyperventilate.
Amund starts searching the cabinets for something. No one else is here. It’s just us. Which means I have to rely on ahunterfor help. He grabs a clean cloth and some gauze and then returns, kneeling down beside me until we’re on the same level.
“We need to stop the bleeding,” he says before pressing the cloth to my lip.
I yelp at the pain, and he withdraws instantly. “Do you prefer to do it?”
Nodding, I take the cloth from him, our fingers brushing for the briefest of moments. I press the cloth firmly against my lip. The pressure only makes the pain worse, but at least I can control it.
Amund moves throughout the infirmary, gathering supplies. He grabs a washbasin and more cloths and bandages, along with some ointments, his movements methodical and calm. I don’t know how he’s able to maintain his composure throughout all of this. He seems entirely unaffected.
Then I recall the way he looked at me, panic shining in his eyes, and I realize that isn’t true. He’s just trained himself not to show it. He hides his emotions, the same way I normally do but can’t right now. I have to get mine back under control, and quickly.
Amund sets the supplies on the nightstand.
He kneels down in front of me, his attention fixed on my face with an intensity that makes me shiver. “Let me see.”
For some reason, I don’t want him to see me wounded. Like letting anyone see makes it real. Part of me is missing now, and I’m afraid what I will look like without it. Amund’s hand closes around mine, lowering the blood-soaked cloth.
His gaze darkens. “You’re still bleeding too much.”
I go to cover it back up again, feeling safer hiding behind the cloth, but Amund doesn’t let me. “We need to try something else.” He peels my fingers back and grabs a small tin filled with a white powder. “Thisis absorbable hemostatic powder. It helps blood clot and should stop the bleeding.”
He pats the powder over my lip. It doesn’t sting like I expect, but feels gritty like crushed chalk. Before long, Amund is pressing clean gauze over my wound, applying firm but gentle pressure.
Our gazes lock.
I’m all too aware of how close he is to me.
My breath catches in my throat.
He withdraws his hand. “Good, it’s working. The bleeding seems to be slowing.”
