It wasn’t until he sat down across from her that she realized he had Xaydin’s saddlebags in his hands.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Oh come on!” He started pulling out potions from the bags. “Are you kidding me! There’s not a single healing potion in here? Why, Xaydin? Why?”
Gisela winced as she realized that was one potion no one had thought to grab. “He picked others instead.”
Ronan looked as sick as she felt. “Why?” he repeated. That tone would have been comical if this wasn’t such a serious matter.
“Failure to think ahead. Why didn’t I get one?” She could kill herself for her idiocy.
Ronan gave her a dry stare. “Because no one thinks they’re going to be fatally stabbed until they are.”
Those words shocked her. More than that, they horrified her. “He’s not fatally wounded!” How could he say that?
Without a word, he went over to the cage where he’d trapped their imposter as a rat. “You better pray he survives. Because ifhe doesn’t, I’m locking you in that body and feeding you to a playful cat.”
The rat actually screamed as it tried to get out the cage.
Gisela grabbed the cage and shook it. “If he dies, you better pray he feeds you to a cat before I get my hands on you.” Because she wouldn’t be nearly as merciful.
“What is this?”
Gisela looked up as what appeared to be a group of royal guards came rushing toward them. When she started to unsheathe her sword, Ronan stopped her.
Holding his hands up, he rose slowly to his feet. “We’re trying to help the prince.”
Color drained from the captain’s face as he rushed forward. As soon as he reached Xaydin, he cursed.
“Who did this!”
They both pointed to the small cage. The imposter actually shrank back from the bars.
Ronan curled his lip. “That’s right, asshole, you can’t go any smaller. The cage is enchanted so you can’t shift.”
The captain’s eyes widened. “A shape shifter did this?”
Ronan nodded. “He ambushed the prince.”
The captain snapped his fingers at his men. “Get him back to the inn. Fetch a surgeon. The best they have in this tiny place.”
As they moved to help Xaydin, the captain eyed Ronan and her warily. “Make sure those two don’t go anywhere.”
Gisela went straight to Xaydin’s side. “I’m going wherever Xaydin goes. You will not keep me from him. Anyone who tries needs to arm themselves.”
That seemed to catch the men off guard, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t about to let him out of her sight. Not after someone almost killed him. She didn’t know anyone here, and if Xaydin was awake, she was sure he wouldn’t trust any of them, either.
So why should she?
But she would give credit that the soldiers picked him up with care before they gently took him back to the troll inn that was mostly empty this time of day.
“Where’s he staying?” the leader asked once they neared the stairs.
“Follow me.” She rushed past them so that she could lead them up the stairs to the room they shared.
Gisela winced as she opened the door and silently cursed. The day had started out so wonderfully. As Xaydin had suggested when she awoke, she’d taken her time getting ready.
If I hadn’t done that, I could have helped him.
