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There was no time to solve that mystery. I had to focus.

I drew in a few deep breaths to steady myself before I removed Jeddak’s leather vest and cut away the blood-soaked section of his shirt that was clinging to the broken skin. The wound was deep but seemed to be high enough not to have punctured any of his organs … I hoped. I could see the blue poison from the malarite seeping into his veins, like dark streaks of lightning radiating outward.

Swallowing the lump rising in my throat, I did my best to clean and bind his shoulder, using the water from the waterskin and strips of bandage that I’d found in our supplies. It wasn’t perfect and would probably take weeks to heal, but with any luck, it wouldn’t get infected.

My eyes lingered on the hard muscles across his bare chest longer than they should have. Even in this awful state, he was—beautiful. It looked like his body was sculpted from the rock of the mountains. Exquisite tattoos covered his skin from his collarbone to his wrists, and his chest down to?—

Skies, what was wrong with me? He might be dying, and I was ogling him. I felt my face flush with heat. I started to turn away when the necklace he was wearing caught the light. At first, I thought the symbol etched into the metal pendant was a spider, but when I wiped off the blood, I saw it was a sun with light beams extending outward. Like the bird symbol on the suli map, it felt strangely familiar. Had I seen it before?

I heard Kah exhale behind me. He was staring at Jeddak’s unconscious form, his expression unreadable.

Embarrassed, I released Jeddak’s pendant and moved back toward the fire. “He’s going to be all right,” I said, though I didn’t know if that was true, or if Kah could even understand me. I wished we were close to Askeland so his grandmother could help him. If he got any worse, I wouldn’t know what to do.

Kah glanced at me and then set his gaze back to the courtyard. I wondered again if the magic that connected the two of them had been severed by the malarite poisoning, but there was no way for me to know.

I left the alcove to check that the light from our fire couldn’t be seen. Outside, everything was pitch dark. We were hidden for now, though I knew that if any of the Rathalans survived the attack, our location was compromised.

The hours crawled by. The night grew colder, and Jeddak began to shiver violently. I tucked both our blankets around him and added more wood to the fire.

When the howling winds changed direction and broke into the alcove, I curled up beside him to stay warm, but sleep wouldn’t come. So, I lay awake, watching his chest rise and fall, the only proof that he was still alive, still with me.

Inaya, please spare him, I whispered over and over until my voice grew hoarse.

28

Jeddak

Iwoke up with a start.

My shoulder was throbbing. I reached across to touch it, half expecting a blade to be sticking out of it. But it was covered with taut fabric. A bandage.

The dream of my mother lingered for a moment, pressing like a bruise on my heart. I gritted my teeth, quickly locking up this memory of her with all the others before it started to ache.

With effort, I strained my eyelids open. It felt like my body had been trampled by a hundred horses. The pain in my shoulder was dulling my senses, and it took a minute for the world to come into focus.

The sky was dark. The air was icy. I could smell the smoke of a fire nearby. Everything was quiet except the moan of the wind.

What happened? Where was Kah? I couldn’t feel his presence.

With a groan, I struggled to sit up. A blanket crumpled to my waist.

“Jeddak, you’re awake.”

I glanced over to see Raven curled up at my side, the light of the small fire illuminating the look of relief on her face. That’swhen the memories flooded back—the attack, the stab of the malarite blade, the mysterious bowman.

“How long have I been out?” I asked through clenched teeth as I tried to get a grip on the intense pain. Skies, I felt like hell.

Raven sat up quickly. “I’m not sure. A few hours?”

She handed me the waterskin, wordlessly instructing me to drink. I took a slow sip, wincing. The water was half frozen.

“How do you feel?” she asked softly.

“Awesome,” I groaned, shifting my weight to get more comfortable. It didn’t work. My shoulder burned from the movement. I pressed my palm against the bandage to ease the throbbing, trying to steady my breathing.

“You’re clearlynotawesome,” Raven said.

“Kovaks heal quickly.” I tried to smirk at her but was pretty sure all I managed was a grimace. From the many injuries I’d sustained over the years, I knew my body would heal faster than most, but at times like this, it was never fast enough. I didn’t have time to be injured. Not now. Lila’s days were slipping away with the waning moon. And the Rathalans knew our location. How long could we linger here before they returned with reinforcements?