Page 88

“Fuck,” I cursed aloud. What the hell were two small children doing in the woods alone? Their parents must have been nearby. At least, that’s what I hoped. There must have been an adult with them who could help us. Maybe they would come back. But I couldn’t stay idle and wait, only hoping someone would come. Not when Elias’s life was on the line.

I turned and walked back towards him, nearly collapsing again as I knelt on the ground beside him. I was in so much pain, had absolutely no energy left in me, and the sun was almost starting to set. I realized all I could do was sit with Elias for a moment, attempt to collect some energy, then maybe drag him further into the woods for more cover. I could make camp, tend to his wounds, and pray he made it through the night.

A few minutes went by before I finally stood and started dragging him into the brush. I only made it fifteen feet before I couldn’t go any further.Fuck. An agonizing groan escaped me as I let go of his arms and pain shot through my ribs. I collapsed next to him yet again, andtears welled in my eyes as I stared at Elias. He was half-dead lying on the ground, and I could do nothing about it.

The weight of everything I had just learned began to eat at my emotions. Elias was a lycan. A wolf, like the wolf from my dream – the same damned dream that started this whole mess in the first place. Well, it was my own stubborn curiosity that started this mess. But Elias…he wasn’t human. And not only that, but he was sent tokill me.

He was sent to kill me, but…he never did.And, I learned that King Volund was plotting something against my father – something that required my death. What the actual fuck was I going to do?

I looked at Elias again, and mustered up the energy to inspect his wounds. Four stab marks – thigh, bicep, shoulder, and back. They were still bleeding, but not as heavily as when the bandit sliced through him with my silver knife. Either way, I needed to bandage them before they got infected, if it wasn’t too late. I had a few bandages in my pack that I could…

Shit. My pack. I left it at the site where Volund found us. I no longer had my pack or my bow. I had nothing but my mother’s knife.

Elias’s breath hitched and I glanced down in fear that it was his last. But his chest still rose and fell, ever so slowly. Too slowly. Was there enough wolfsbane on four knives to put Elias in this bad of condition? Did all four knives have wolfsbane on them, or did it only take one? I knew wolfsbane was toxic to humans, but not like this. Lycans must be incredibly sensitive to the plant.

I remembered reading the plant’s information from the plant-book to Nadia. “It’s extremely dangerous for…” the words after that were smudged. Could it have been referring to lycans?

It didn’t matter now. That book was in my pack which I no longer had, so if there was information on how to stop the poison, that informationwas lost.

I began putting pressure on the wound in Elias’s upper arm, and my ribs ached from the movement. I winced before noticing the pain very subtly began to subside as small, faint waves of energy flowed from the skin of Elias’s arm and into my hands. It immediately reminded me of when my head was splitting from the injuries from the bandits, and Elias’s touch numbed the pain.

This gave me a thought. Maybe, just maybe, I could use the energy from the mating bond to speed up his healing. What had Volund said? “Once the bond is fully set…” Was our bond set? Would I know if it was? Would…would I even want it to be? After learning everything Elias was, what he kept from me, what he was meant to do to me…did I want to be fully mated to him, whatever that meant?

In that moment, it didn’t matter. What mattered was keeping him alive. I laid myself down on the ground next to him and cradled myself as close to him as I could, making as much skin-to-skin contact as possible without having to undress and expose ourselves.

As I laid there with him, I swore I felt the heat from his body begin to rekindle. But I couldn’t confirm it because my eyes were getting heavier and heavier, exhaustion quickly taking over.

It took no time at all for me to fall asleep. I had no idea how much time had passed when I was startled awake by the sound of heavy footsteps. I shot up to a sitting position, wincing from the pain in my side. Before I could make it to my feet, three men appeared through the trees, entering our small camp and surrounding us. One of them was older, maybe my father’s age, while the other two were younger, with broad shoulders and muscled arms. All three of them had weapons in hand, aiming them towards us.

I stared at them, wide-eyed. They were certainly not Sprathian. But neither did they look like they were soldiers from Rimor, Chatus, or Monuvia. Their clothes were plain, their weapons looked almost old and rusted.

“Who are you?” the older man demanded.

“I…” Did I dare tell them the truth? No. Not when Volund was on the hunt for us. I couldn’t trust anyone. “We’re travelers. Nomads. We were attacked.”

The older man, likely the leader, narrowed his eyes at me. “Attacked where? By whom?”

“Bandits,” I lied. “Maybe a few miles from here. We jumped into the river from a cliffside. Please…we’re injured and we need help.”

The leader only continued to glare at me, eyes still narrowed in distrust. “You need to leave here.”

My body stiffened. “Leave? We can’t even walk. Please, is there anywhere you can take us to get help?”

“No,” he responded quickly, almost interrupting. “We do not allow outsiders here.”

Outsiders?

“If you are being attacked, you very may well have brought them here. You need to leave.”

“Sir, please…he’s not even conscious,” I gestured towards Elias.

“That is not my problem.” He stepped a little closer, and I got a better look at his features, something oddly familiar about them. “Leave now, or face execution.”

My heart fell into my stomach, creating a wave of nausea. “What?? Can we at least have a day to rest? Then we’ll leave, I promise.” The promise was empty, as I wasn’t even sure if Elias would be conscious in a day, let alone make it through the night alive.

The man lifted his sword higher until it pointed directly at my head. “This is your final warning. Take him back to the river and let it take you downstream. You cannot stay here.”

I held my breath. After barely surviving the waterfall, he wanted us to go back to the river and just…float away? It was dusk, and would be very dark soon. He couldn’t be serious.