37
MISKA
It had taken days for their wounds to heal completely. I didn’t know why I’d expected a thanks or maybe a job well done, for I received neither. Instead, they had barely spoken at all since their argument. Now, it seemed I was the buffer between their ire, and I was growing weary of it.
“Where are we going?” I asked as I hoisted my basket over my shoulder. The weight of my pack was becoming too much, but I didn’t want to tell them. Not that they would help me.
They ignored me.
“Are we closer to where we need to go?” I asked again. We had been trekking through the forest for at least half a day, and I was thirsty.
Nothing.
I sighed loudly, trying to get their attention. Nothing. I considered again if I should just slip away. It would be more difficult now that they were both healed and alert. I had almost slipped something into their food and escaped last night, but really, where would I go? I didn’t even know where I was, and I had no way of getting home. If I left and tried to make it on my own, the likelihood of being captured again was almost certain. Kaden and Isaiah may be horrible, but they didn’t seem to want to go back to Nismera, and they hadn’t killed me yet. They may be monsters, but they were at least the monsters that I knew.
“Can you please just tell me where we are going?” I’m tired. “I did help you both af—”
I was looking at their backs and not watching where I was going. My foot caught on a rock, and I pitched forward. My knees hit first, and I caught myself on my hands before I could land on my face. I hissed and pushed myself up, my left knee stinging.
Reaching down, I lifted my skirt to expose my stinging and throbbing knee. Blood dripped from the scrape, and I carefully dabbed at the edges. A low rumbling growl of a hungry predator filled the air, and my eyes shot up. Kaden and Isaiah were staring at my knee, crimson bleeding into their eyes. I swallowed and slowly lowered my skirt, tiny red dots seeping through the cream-colored fabric. Isaiah stepped forward, but Kaden slapped a hand against his chest. Isaiah snarled at Kaden before he registered who he was looking at and stopped.
“We’re not killing her,” Kaden said, meeting his brother’s glare.
“I wasn’t going to kill her.” Isaiah shoved his hand off him. “Merely a sip or two.”
“No.”
“I’m starving,” he rebutted.
“And you think I am not?” Kaden snapped. “She’s the last Jade Healer. Not only do we need her in case we run into Nismera again, but we can also sell her once we are done with her. We would get enough from her so that we can disappear.”
My stomach dropped. The sting on my knee suddenly is the least of my concerns. “Wait. Sell me to who?”
Both ignored me.
“That’s your plan?” Isaiah asked. “Get enough money to disappear? After everything?”
“Yes, after everything. What is yours? Fight Nismera? You saw as well as I did. We are not enough.”
Isaiah scoffed, turning away from his brother. “I don’t run, not from her, not from anyone.”
“You do when there is no hope of winning.”
Isaiah looked as if Kaden had slapped him.
“We have lost, Brother, and not only do we have to worry about her, but what of Samkiel, huh? You’re a fool to think he isn’t looking for her as we speak,” Kaden said, pointing at me.
Isaiah cursed and started pacing, his boots digging into the ground. “I forgot about him.”
Kaden swallowed and slid his hand over his neck. “I wish I could.”
He noticed me watching him and dropped his hand from the faint scar. His jaw clenched as he stomped toward me. My hands scrambled for purchase in the dirt as I backed into the brush. He stopped beside me, and I flinched, thinking I would feel his hand across my face, but the blow never came. Instead, he lifted me by my elbow and settled me on my feet.
“Clean yourself up or you’ll have more than Isaiah to worry about. You would make a tasty meal for many creatures in these woods,” he said, and nodded toward my basket.
I took a hesitant step away from him and reached for my supplies. “I don’t want to be sold,” I said in a small voice, taking a leaf and adding a bit of the salve to it.
“I didn’t ask what you wanted,” Kaden replied.
