I eye her. “I don’t know if I trust you.”
“I can’t do any more damage to you than already has been done.”
Well, that was the truth. “Fine. Do your worst.”
She turns and walks away. The move doesn’t really surprise me. She’s not exactly a warm and fuzzy kind of person. She comes back a few minutes later with a medic bag. “Sit.”
“Right here?” I ask.
She doesn’t dignify my question with a response. “Fine.” I manage to sit on the ground, and she drops to her knees next to me. “Take your shirt off.”
I give her a surprised look. “Right here?”
“You want those ribs wrapped or not? You really think the men are going to stop what they’re doing to stare over here just because you took your shirt off? Besides, your back is to them.”
“Okay, fine.” I struggle more than I should to get out of my shirt. As bloody and torn as it is it should be easy; but it’s anything but. Reika doesn’t offer to help; she just watches me with bored disinterest.
When I finally get it free, she nods at my chest. “Underclothing too.”
“Oh, good grief.”
I try not to think about how weird this is, but she doesn’t make it any more awkward. She wraps me quickly, and I finally feel a tiny bit of relief. “See? Isn’t that better?”
“Yes. Thank you.” I work at putting my shirt back on, though I’m not really sure what the point is right now. It's destroyed. She starts on my forehead, but I bat her hand away.
“It’s fine. Is Kinsley really pregnant?” I ask her. She doesn’t respond at first to my question. “I’m not going to tell anyone; I just want to know if she is and if she’s okay.”
“She’s safe and unharmed,” Reika says.
Relief wells inside me just at hearing she’s okay. And the fact that she didn’t tell me she wasn’t pregnant or act surprised, tells me she knows Kinsley is. But just knowing she’s okay helps a lot. “How are things? Really.”
Her eyes meet mine. “It’s been bad. The guivre attacks are so prevalent. They’ve burned entire sections of the trees around our homes and homes that have people in them.” There’s pain in her eyes, and it guts me.
Sorrow fills me. “I’m so sorry. That's awful.”
Her eyes harden. “Right. But as long as it doesn’t touch you, you’re fine, right? The other kingdoms stay safe by staying away, right?” Her voice is full of bitterness, and I don’t know what to say. I want to defend myself and the other kingdoms, but there’s an element of truth to her words. The Dragon Kingdom certainly hasn’t done anything to help, and it sounds like the Wolf Kingdom is worn thin trying to keep themselves safe, let alone help another kingdom.
I look her in the eye. “I’m trying to change that.”
She scoffs. “Sure, you are.”
“Do you not see the dead guivres and men around this area? Or did you notice the downed guivres yesterday?”
Her eyes narrow. “That was you?”
I smile as much as I can without it hurting. “Yep.”
She stares at me. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you come here?”
I stare at her. “The answer to that question is literally dead on the ground all around us. And here I thought you were one of the smart ones.”
“Why?” she asks again.
"Reika, I came here to try to take down as many guivres as I could, and before you ask me why, I did it because Ican. Because Redara can take down multiple guivres. I did it because there are good people in this kingdom who don’t deserve what’s happening to them. I did it because Kaldar is a good king, and Kinsley is my friend. But even if none of those things were true, I did it because something bad is happening and it’s within my power to do something about it. So, I did.”
