Are you fucking insane? How long would they have let you live to protect her?
He didn’t have an answer. All he knew was that he was getting tired. More tired than he’d ever been before. And his wounded shoulder was in agony. If he didn’t find her soon, he would have to get out of the water and the leeching cold.
There!
Where? His belly rumbled with frustrated growls as he swept his eyes over the dark water once more, not seeing what the beast had sensed.
And then he saw her, a dark shadow around a pale oval. Lying back in the water, arms and legs spread so that her face was in the air, floating.
He shut down all other thoughts and focused everything on pulling through the water to reach her.
“Lucilla!”
She didn’t answer. Her face so white in the moonlight, eyes closed.
But then she kicked her legs, and he could breathe again. She was alive.
He reached her, still shouting her name, and she rolled in the water, eyes wide and startled.
He grabbed her hand and towed her to the far bank as she kicked and swam beside him, trying to help as they slowly crossed the river together.
A gnarled old willow tree hung low over the water and he reached up with his spare hand to grab hold of it as the water pulled them past. The rough bark scraped his water-softened hands, and his damaged shoulder howled with the pain of keeping Lucilla held tight, but he was able to cling to it and then slowly haul them both into its shelter as she reached up and gripped the branch beside him.
The water was quieter there, smoothed by the tree and its roots, and he was able to let go of Lucilla while she clung to the slick branch. He heaved himself out of the river and onto the muddy bank, and then he turned and pulled her out of the water. She was shivering in teeth-chattering waves as he forced himself to his feet, dragging her up with him.
He found a dead branch and swept it over the muddy bank, doing his best to disguise the marks from their bodies. Lucilla quickly understood and swept up armfuls of leaves from beneath the bushes to scatter over the bank.
When he was confident that it would take an experienced tracker to find where they’d left the river, he tucked her under his good arm, and they stumbled into the forest, following a tiny deer track away from the water.
The brutal cold of the water and the harsh abuse of the swim seemed to have strangely helped the stab wound in his left shoulder. He rotated it gingerly as they walked, testing the limits of the pain. It throbbed in relentless tormenting waves, but it felt less swollen and much cooler, as if the rough scouring it got in the river had purged out the gathering poison.
He pushed branches out of the way, guiding Lucilla through the woods, helping her where his better night vision showed obstacles she couldn’t see. The moon was high enough now that it would have been easy going on a path, but he wanted to avoid any unnecessary exposure, and the trees were dense and thick as he led them south.
Lucilla didn’t complain. In fact, she didn’t say anything at all.
Now that he thought about it, she hadn’t said anything since he pulled her out of the river.
At first, he’d thought she was in shock from the cold, but it had gone on for too long. Had he hurt her when he threw her in the river? Was there something more seriously wrong? Did she resent him for what he’d done?
Gods, maybe she’d actually wanted to go back with the guards. He could understand that she was tired of being hungry, cold, and scared. He could completely understand wanting a warm bed and a safe place to sleep. Wasn’t that what people did? They chose safety. And he hadn’t been able to give that to her.
Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore. He stopped in the path, watching her until she lifted her face and met his eyes. “Did I hurt you?”
She blinked. “What?”
“I’m sorry, Lucilla, I couldn’t think of anything else to do and—”
Freezing fingers settled on his lips, and he stopped speaking.
She stared up at him, her eyes wide and shocked. “I’m not hurt. I’m very grateful.”
His beast flipped over with a quiet rumble. Thank the gods she wasn’t hurt. But then what was going on? He had never met a woman who confused him so much.
His beast let out a mocking snort.You’ve never spent this much time with a woman you didn’t think of as a sister before.
Maybe. Bloody know-it-all. But he still hated the feeling that he was missing something. “Then why are you so quiet?”
Her lips twitched. “You keep telling me to be quiet so you can listen for danger. And it seems to me that there’s a lot of danger around here.”
