A damn spell? It had to be.
She rubbed her hands down her sodden jeans, then gently pushed his hair away from his face. He appeared almost white under his tan skin.
“Aerén?” she rasped, terrified now.
No response.
Her heart thudded in her ears as she grasped his shoulders and shook him a little. “Aerén, wake up! Please,please, wake up!”
Only the waves crashing on the black sand answered. She felt for a pulse in his neck…
There, a beat so faint—
“Aerén!”
His eyelids fluttered open, revealing dull, gray half-moons. A low groan escaped him. “L-Leya?”
“Yes, it’s me.” Relief turned her limbs to jelly.
“You o-okay?”
Always about her. Tears blurred her eyes. “I’m fine—”
“I, I’ve been hit…”
“You don’t say.”
“Y-you must remove it,caeli. It’s spelled.”
She’d already figured that out. “I know.”
His breathing grew labored. “Remove… It’s…immobilizing…me.”
Only then did she notice he wasn’t moving at all.
Dammit, she couldn’t just pull it out. It would shred his insides. Christ knew what else the damn spell would do to him.
Leya scrambled around to his back since more of the shaft was sticking out on that side. She dragged off her sopping jacket, wrapped it around the nock and post, and broke the arrow—
Ow! Pain shot through her left shoulder, and she gritted her teeth, realizing only then that she’d probably injured it when she hit the rock.
It didn’t stop her. She hurried to his front, covered the metal tip with her jacket, and gently eased the rest of the arrow out of his chest. Despite the agony he must be in, he didn’t make a sound, but his face turned even paler.
“Now…the one in my thigh.”
What?Her gaze rushed lower. In the dwindling light, she found the other arrow impaling him. God, she wanted to kill those cowardly bastards.
The whining winds slapped the wet strands of her hair against her face. Breathing hard, Leya dropped the broken shaft, then did the same with the arrow in his thigh, breaking, removing, then tossing the thing away. Blood oozed.
Hastily, she pressed her sodden jacket against the wound to staunch the flow. Even his fast healing abilities seemed to have slowed again.
A rapid look over him revealed no more freakin’ arrows, thank God!
His booted feet rested in the ebb and flow of water against the shore. The wind continued its whining. Flurries of snow fell, dotting the black sand. She didn’t understand how the weather could switch from overcast and steady rain to this icy tempest, but they had to seek shelter. She glanced around, relieved to discover a darkened entrance to what had to be a cave directly behind them.
“Aerén, can you move?”
His legs twitched. His jaw clenched, his eyes darkening with frustration. “Need a minute.”
