Except Matea hadbeatme there, and our bag’s contents had been ravaged.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I heard my sister say as I rushed over.
“What happened?” I asked as I watched her crouch down.
“Must have been looters that came through.”Sherummaged through what was left. “They took nearly everything…”
“Not the kits Chess gave us, right? Please say itisn’tso,” I begged the Stars as I kneeled next to Matea.
She checked her bag and shook her head,indicatingthere was notrokavkit in it, nor anything else of use. She reached for Rayven’s bag next, while I grabbed my own.
“Nothing in this one either,” she said, throwing the second empty bag to the ground.
“Please,” I whispered to the Stars before peering into the last of our three bags.
And to my relief, a small wooden box sat at the bottom, the image of a vial carved into the top.
“I got one!” I spoke loud, excitement edging in my voice.
I pulled out the onlytrokavkit we had left, then looked up at Matea.
Instead of being relieved, though, she looked beyond worried, her brow crumpled with concern.
“We only have one, but two of us are harmed…”she trailed off as she glanced towards my wrecked wing.
“Every bit of this is going towards Ezra. Do not try to convince me otherwise,” I nearly demanded before standing and heading over to the corner the two males wereresidingin.
Rayven had propped Ezra’s head up slightly, though Ididn’tunderstand why until I drew closer and heard the ragged, heavy way he wasbreathing—asif his airway was partially obstructed.
Likely internal bleeding,I thought.Not a good sign.
Itwasn’tuntil I was that close that I noticed just how badly Ezra was hurt.
There were places on his bare chest where you could see his ribs had been cracked and were slightly displaced, but you could only noticethatif you looked past the extensive level of burns and cuts and bruises littering hisskin from head to toe.
It looked as though he used to have a shirt, but now pieces of it were charred to hisskin,the restlikely ashunderfoot somewhere at that point.
Even his white streak of hair was filthy, like the rest of him,coated in blood.
I almost looked away as fresh tears threatened to escape.
“Aviva, wecan’tstay. We need to keep moving,” Rayven said, and although it seemed like an uncaring request, I knew he was doing his best to keep all of us safe.
Before I could respond, Matea was at my side. “How heartless of a friend can you be, Drayven?”sheasked harshly.
“Matea,” I scolded.
“I mean, Ezra obviously needs time to heal! Plus, Aviva is wounded, too. Did you even notice that part,master wielder?” Mateamocked.
“Matea!” I glared at her. “Go get me some water so I can get to work on Ezra.”
“I’m not leaving you—”
“Now, Matea,” I said sternly, then added softly, “Please.”
Matea’s mood shifted, likely realizing her stress and concern were showing itself in a negative light.Huffing, she snatched up an empty bucket from nearby and headed out of the stable.
Sighing, I turned my attention back to the males in our group. “Sorry about her. Idon’tthinkshe’sused to dealing with her emotions like this,” I said to Rayven.
