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“The … the dreki …”

“The what?”

“The dreki.” She hugged her elbows to herself as the adrenaline ebbed away.

“You know what that thing was?” He pointed to the mouth of the cave, his eyes narrowing. “Did the runes say something about it?”

Her voice was small. “Yes.”

“That would’ve been very freakin’ helpful to know.”

“The only thing the runes said was that we have to defeat it, and that magic doesn’t work.” Kolfinna shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal, but flinched as pain rocked her injured shoulder. She bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out loud. “We already figured out the latter. Whether you knew or not wouldn’t have prepared you.”

“You were fighting with me the whole time,” he accused. “We could’ve, I don’t know, run away sooner if you had told me!”

“Youwere fighting with me too!” Kolfinna jabbed a finger at his chest. The darkness of the cave obscured half his face, but she could still see the anger carving his features. “I was going to tell you anyway, if only you apologized first! Why is that so hard for you? To admit you were wrong and to apologize?!”

“I already admitted I was wrong!”

“But you didn’t apologize!”

“Who the hell cares for that?”

“I do!” She threw her hands up but cursed loudly when her injured shoulder throbbed painfully, the stitches likely coming undone. She doubled over and tears formed in her eyes from pain. Her voice lowered. “I freaking do!”

“You should put your personal feelings aside and focus on the mission! You should’ve told me about that-that-that thing!”

“I didn’t know anything about it either!”

Blár pushed himself off the wall and winced. He fumbled with the clasp of his cloak and quickly undid it, letting it fall in a heap around his feet. He pressed a hand on the wall and tried looking over his shoulder at his back. Kolfinna sucked in sharply as she realized the back of Blár’s uniform was burnt in some places, revealing red, peeling skin. The cloak had protected him to some degree, but it wasn’t enough. Was that when he grabbed her and threw himself, along with her, into the cave?

Her chest swelled and her throat closed up. Now she looked like a brat withholding information and throwing a tantrum.

“Are you okay?” she asked tentatively.

“I’m fine,” he bit out. “More importantly, anything else I should know?”

She flicked a pebble away from her. “No.”

Why did he protect her? He should’ve just let her get burned a little. She didn’t want to feel gratitude. It was easier to hate him. Was this the third time he had saved her? She didn’t want to keep track anymore.

They stayed that way for hours, staring at the opening of the cave and watching the suns dip into the horizon until an orange glow lit the dunes. Then it darkened completely.

“We should probably head out,” Blár said. “It looks like it left for good. It probably sleeps at this time.”

“No.” Kolfinna rolled a jagged pebble in her hand before tossing it into the opening. “Who knows if it’s just waiting out there for us? And besides, we’re both injured and tired. Let’s sleep and eat for a bit.”

“Sleep?” His eyebrows skyrocketed. “And eat?”

“Yes.”

“Eat what?” He spread his hand out to the small cave, which was only big enough for them so long as they were huddled. It was completely empty, the ground cool but dusted with grainy sand.

“We have food …” she trailed, realizing with a start that her pack was missing. Did she drop it before they were transported here? Blár also didn’t have his pack.

“We have no food.” Blár raked a hand through his inky strands and cursed loudly.

“Let’s at least sleep.”