“No,” she said, a note of sympathy in her voice. “There was no one else but you in the woods. No one’s come looking for yousince either. At least not that I’ve heard. Your horse was with you. She’s fine. Out in the shed at the back of the house.”
At least there was that. He’d grown fond of Kenzi the last two years. He’d hate to lose her. Drawing in a deep breath, he tried to sit up again. “I have to go.”
She was instantly on her feet, her hands on his bare shoulders. They were rough hands for a woman, calloused and strong. She pushed him back down easily. “Are you stupid? You’re not going anywhere.”
“If my men haven’t come out of the woods, they’re in great danger. I need to get back to them.”
“It’s the middle of the night with a storm raging. Your men are fine, or they’re dead. Either way there’s nothing you can do for them right now.”
He glared at her. “I can’t do nothing. There’s a witch in the woods, dug in to the center. My men are trapped in there with her. They need help.”
Her face paled. She believed him. Good. But, still, she shook her head. “There’s no one here who can help you.”
“Of course not.” He couldn’t hide his disgust. The townspeople never helped. They only got in the way. “Send for your priest. He’ll be able to dispatch a rider to request more troops.”
“There is no priest.”
“What do you mean there’s no priest?”
“I mean there is no priest here. There are twelve houses in this village. Thirty people live here. None of them are priests.”
Fuck.
He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He was in the squatter’s village they’d seen along the way. The one they’d avoided as likely corrupted. This wasn’t a hunting shed. This was likely the woman’s house. And what was a woman who looked like an angel doing living amongst thelowest elements of society? He couldn’t ask. She’d helped him which was miracle enough in itself. It was a wonder she hadn’t stolen his horse and left him for dead.
Schooling his features to neutrality, he looked up at her. “What is this place called?”
“Toam.”
It meanttombin the old tongue. He thought she might be joking, but there wasn’t so much as a trace of amusement on her face. Of course, someone who lived in a place like this was unlikely to know ancient Fae.
“Is there someone I can pay to deliver a message to Sulen?”
“Not before morning.” She pulled the blanket up over his body, and he only noticed then that he was shivering. “You need to rest. In the morning, I’ll find someone willing to go to Sulen. No one’s going anywhere tonight. I can give you something to help you sleep if you like.”
He shook his head. He couldn’t risk her giving him a potion. Who knew what she’d already forced down his throat? He needed to keep his head clear. “Just water.”
She grabbed the cup on the table and held it to his mouth again, tipping the liquid into his mouth.
It didn’t taste like poison.
He didn’t want to sleep. He didn’t think he’d be able to sleep with his thoughts spinning and his worries snapping at him like wild dogs. His men were well-trained. Daris could have had his own patrol years ago if he’d wanted it. Asher was a good medic and Kenet was a woodsman at heart. Sol was a veteran with a good head on his shoulders and Lew would keep them from despair. They’d keep the younger soldiers alive until he could find them.
There was a chance they’d make it out of the woods again. There was always a chance. Closing his eyes, he cast up a silent prayer, placing it in God’s hands. He asked for protection andguidance. He asked God to guard the lives of his men. He asked for peace, for quick healing, for the courage to go back into those woods to face that thing again.
When he opened his eyes, the woman was watching him with a complicated look on her face. “Are you in pain?”
He shook his head. It was a lie. He was in a great deal of pain, but he wasn’t drinking her medicine.
Because sometimes witches looked like angels, after all.
“I’m fine for now,” he said. “You’ll wake me at dawn?”
She gave him a short nod and withdrew, moving back to the old rocking chair to settle herself again. She pulled the blanket all the way up to her neck like she wanted to hide from his gaze. Had she been watching over him tonight before she fell asleep?
He’d never had a woman take care of him. Not that he remembered. She’d said her mother was the healer, but she was the one who was here, trying to find a comfortable spot in that hard chair.
For the first time, it occurred to him that he’d probably taken her bed. The bed he’d pinned her to earlier. A flush of heat crept up his neck.
