Bennet turned to Amaris, ripping his knife from its sheath. He pinned her to the ground and pressed the blade against her neck. His teeth bared and spit flung from his mouth. “Did you try to kill him!”
“No, she helped,” Gris said, wrapping her hands around Bennet’s forearm.
I did a little more than help,Amaris thought.
“Please,” Gris pleaded.
Bennet’s glare shot back and forth between them, but he pulled back and sheathed his knife. “Let’s get moving. We’re already at a pace to reach Luana Bay well past sunset.”
“No, he needs medical attention,” Amaris snapped, standing to face Bennet. Her face may have only reached that puffed-out chest of his, but she couldn’t let that stop her. Theodoric needed a doctor.
“He’ll get what care we have when we return home,” Bennet barked as he stepped closer, his chest inches from touching her nose. He turned to Theodoric. “Can you ride?”
“I can,” Theodoric said, struggling to stand as Gris draped one of his arms around her shoulders. A tall redhead slid under his other arm.
“No, you can’t,” Amaris interjected. “You almost drowned. You could pass out and fall off your horse.”
“I’ll be fine.”
She ground her teeth, forcing herself to keep from screaming at him, but she couldn’t force him to go to the hospital. Those were the patients she hated the most, when they continuously refused and thought they knew better.
“Only if I ride with you,” she demanded, crossing her arms. There was no point in fighting it. If she ran, they’d find her and drag her along anyways.
“No,” Theodoric said.
“If you pass out, you’re going to fall off and break your neck. I’m riding with you whether you like it or not.”
She turned to grab his menacing horse, but the damn beast had already found its way toward them. Its black coat fit its evil personality. She swore it mocked her as if it were waiting for her to get on its back to buck her off too.
“Are you a mystique?” Gris asked, helping Theodoric with the other man’s assistance toward the creature.
“She’s a murderer, not a mystique,” Bennet snapped beside Amaris.
“First of all, I’m not a murderer. Secondly, I’m a paramedic.”
“A para-what?” Alan cut in from nowhere, coming to stand beside her. Probably to make sure she didn’t run off.
Amaris digested his words. None of them had any idea what she was talking about. They’d never heard the termsparamedic,ambulance, orcell phone. A shiver crept down her back, and she had the strangest feeling she was no longer in Gainesville. Amaris took in the morning sprouting around them.
“What year is it?” she asked, daring a glance at Bennet as he glared back at her, his eyes narrowing in.
“Six thousand, fifty-six, why?” Alan asked.
She sucked in a breath.Time travel is a definite no.She shook the ridiculous thought from her head.She was in a coma in a hospital. No other logical explanation existed.
They managed to get Theodoric on his horse, but his face leached of color. Exhaustion settled over him, and she wondered if he’d plummet to the ground at any moment.
Bennet snatched Amaris and whispered, “If you try anything, you’ll be begging for death.” He jerked her arm, flinging her forward.
Gris pulled Amaris’s boots from her saddle bag and tossed them to her. At least she had the decency not to let her walk around in mushy socks for the remainder of their journey.
Amaris’s adrenaline was fading, and a bout of nausea was around the corner. She allowed a single boost from Gris to mount the horse. She awkwardly swung her leg over to avoid roundhouse kicking Theodoric in the head as she settled in front of him.
She conjured up a smile toward Gris, not that she deserved it. She might have had immense physical strength and even persuaded Bennet to pull the knife off her neck, but she was still part of the band of criminals. Gris stared but didn’t offer a smile back. A muscle in her jaw feathered before she turned for her own horse.All right, maybe she is like the others.
Theodoric gripped the leather reins and got them moving. He hunched forward, his breaths trailing down the back of Amaris’s neck. Of all the things to dream about. She expected her mind to come up with something more exciting, like a car chase or a superhero coming to her rescue, but it was settling on vivid and oddly detailed Renaissance fair people.
As they rode, she attempted to shift her dream to something other than Theodoric’s monstrous form leaning against her, but with each passing minute, she felt the weight of him growing heavier. He shouldn’t have been riding this long and would probably collapse before they made it to their destination. He’d aspirated water and might have had a lung injury. Amaris needed to convince him to see a doctor before he could develop pneumonia or worse. It might have been some stupid dream, but on the off chance that it wasn’t, she needed to get him to a doctor.
