Knox met her stare. “Or it’s going to hurt.”
Yvette lay back down. It could have been worse, she supposed.
Knox tended to Florian first. His brow remained low and focused as he worked, removing the thorn and washing the wound.
It wasn’t long before Lilith entered the tent with a bucket of steaming water. Knox left Florian’s side and went to work with her in tandem. Yvette knew they were siblings, twins even, but had never really seen the resemblance between them. Lilith’s blonde hair was so contrasting to Knox’s deep brown. Though there was some similarity in the harshness of their cheekbones,otherwise there was no startling resemblance. Yet seeing them side by side, they moved almost as one, as if they had truly been together all their lives.
“We’re going to have to pour this on the vines,” Lilith explained, her hands still moving. “The saltwater gets them to release their grip.”
“It would work better if we had a tub,” Knox grumbled.
“That stuff is boiling, Lil’,” Florian said, echoing Yvette’s fears.
“Better than forcing them off,” Lilith said without hesitation.
Florian turned to Yvette, blocking her view of the twin’s work. “You won’t feel a thing, right?” he said, a shaky smile on his lips. She must have looked terrified because his gaze was soft in the way one reassures sick people and hurt children.
Yvette nodded even though it wasn’t true. She was regaining a tingling sensation in her hand and the upper portion of her leg. Her teeth clenched just before the first splash of scalding water hit her skin. A growl ripped through her throat, back arching from the ground as she rode out the wave of pain, though she knew even in this moment that it was being mercifully dulled. Florian was looking down at her, smile tense and a real glimmer of fear in his eyes as he smoothed back a lock of her hair.
“Beginning to regret coming with us?” he asked, voice low enough for only her to hear.
As ridiculous as it was, despite every bit of pain that she was certainly feeling, Yvette’s ribs began to shake with laughter.
Florian’s smile widened, flashing his white teeth just before the next boiling splash tore a scream from her throat.
When morning came, Yvette struggled to avoid consciousness.She’d never been the heaviest of sleepers, and so once those about her were moving, her mind was apt to rise even if she would have preferred to rest for hours more. So it was a rare surprise that she seemed to be the last one to wake. When she finally opened her eyes, accepting that any more sleep was a lost cause, she was alone. Soft light was filtering in through the opening. She moved to roll away from it, only to ignite the pain in her leg, which had been content to linger as a dormant ache.
Yvette groaned.
It did not hurt so much that she wouldn’t be able to walk, but it was enough that she wasn’t too keen on trying.
Her attention was drawn by raised voices outside, Knox’s voice. “-hiding this, what else isn’t she saying?”
Yvette held her breath, hoping to hear the response.
Florian was speaking, but she couldn’t make out what was being said. His tone sounded defensive.
Her mind began working quickly. They’d seen her magic last night, and now they trusted her even less. She could turn invisible and eavesdrop, but as injured as she was, Yvette doubted she had the grace to pass unheard. Not to mention that if she was caught, it would hardly encourage their trust in her.
You don’t deserve their trust, pet, Victor’s voice whispered in her ear. She could too easily imagine what he would have to say about all this. That she was playing the hero in a story where she was most certainly the villain. That she could tell herself that she was defending him all she wish, but it was really herself she didn’t want to expose. That if she had only stayed with him, she wouldn’t be cold and exhausted and filthy and hurt…
And as much as she wanted to deny everything his voice told her, she knew he was right.
Tensing her lips, Yvette pulled herself up to sit, refusing to wallow any longer. She slipped her boots over the bandages that Lilith and Knox had applied the night before. Then she stood,a slow process that involved a good deal of pain and hissing. Once she was up though, it wasn’t as bad as she feared. Her leg held her weight perfectly well. With a final strengthening breath, Yvette went outside. If there was going to be a conversation about her, she at least wanted to be there to defend herself.
The Blades were all there, gathered around the dying fire. A telling silence fell as she emerged. It was clear that they had been hoping she would remain asleep a while longer, perhaps long enough for them to reach a decision. Her eyes scanned their faces as she joined them. Rhea, Lilith, and Gareth’s looks were guarded. Knox’s gaze was openly distrustful, almost accusatory. Florian, however, looked back at her with an expression of embarrassment, perhaps even guilt.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Much better,” Yvette answered. “Thank you.” She made eye contact with Lilith and then Knox as she said this, to remind them that in spite of everything they had chosen to help her last night.
“You didn’t tell us you had magic,” Rhea said, arms crossed over her chest.
“Not because I meant you any harm by it,” Yvette explained. “I only find that people are often less inclined to trust me once they know what I am, what I’m capable of.”
Knox snorted.
Rhea’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You know well enough that Keira was a mage. She is also one of the most trustworthy people I have ever fought beside. We hold no such prejudice here. What I distrust are secrets.”
