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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Ryker

Ellery winced when I knelt to set her on the ground. I’d tear out Gaius’s intestines and hang him with them when I finally got my hands on him.

Somehow that fucker had managed to get her back in chains, and he’d wounded her badly. She trembled so much the chains rattled as her teeth chattered and blood continued flowing from her side.

“Bring us bandages, water, and ointments!” Tucker yelled.

All around us, amsirah scurried to gather the supplies Tucker had ordered. They raced back to us.

I took some bandages from the woman who handed them to me as I tugged at Ellery’s shirt. The chains rattled as Ellery shivered, and goose bumps broke out across her flesh.

“Get me the keys to the chains!” I yelled.

One of the women from the palace rushed over and held out a key to me. The other keys on the ring clinked together as I took it from her.

I squeezed Ellery’s hand before pulling them toward me and sliding the key into the lock. I undid her wrists and ankles before tossing the chains aside.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

When she spoke, blood slipped out of her mouth to wet her lips.

“Fuck,” I snarled as I dabbed her lips with one of the rags they’d delivered. “Save your strength. Don’t talk.”

“You should… take care… of… you,” she whispered between rattling breaths.

“I’m fine,” I assured her.

Gripping her shirt again, I lifted it to reveal the gash in her side. My fingers stilled on her blood-drenched, too-pale skin.

The blade had sliced upward, revealing her ribs, and little bubbles popped in some of the blood from the hole in her lung. “What did he do to you?”

“It… will… heal.”

I lifted my eyes to hers and tenderly touched her cheek. “Save your strength. Don’t talk.”

“The others? Mr. Flet… cher… Ianto… Billy?”

I glanced over my shoulder at where the others lay in the clearing. I couldn’t tell what shape they were in, but men and women were working on Ianto, Fletcher, and the boy. If they were already dead, then no one would be trying to help them.

Some of the women who had come off the battlefield with us were also maimed. Most had already been taken care of, but they were tending a few.

“They’re alive,” I told her.

She closed her eyes, and a small smile played at the corners of her mouth before it fell away. “Good.”

“Stop talking. You need to rest.”

She opened her eyes again and gave me a skeptical look. “So do you.”

I didn’t acknowledge her words as I washed away the blood and gently cleansed the wound. When I was satisfied I couldn’t do any more, I wrapped the bandage around her and knotted it.

I settled her shirt back into place; I’d prefer to get the bloody material away from her, but she wasn’t strong enough to move, and I wasn’t going to strip her in front of everyone. For now, she needed to heal before I could clean her further.

Carefully shifting her, I settled with my back against a tree. She opened her eyes and leaned against my side. Callan brought us a blanket and helped me get it around her.

When he started to leave, I stopped him with my words. “Callan.” His brow furrowed as he turned back to me. “Thank you for helping to save her.”

I would have lost her if it hadn’t been for the musician clinging to her.

Callan bowed his head. “He never should have gotten her into the portal.”

“Not… your… fau… lt,” Ellery got out from between her chattering teeth.

“What happened?” I asked the musician.

He knelt at Ellery’s side as he revealed what had happened while I was at my father’s. I shouldn’t have let her go on her own.

You can’t keep her caged.

While that was true, I sure wanted to try. And if I did, I’d break her far more than my father, Gaius, or the nobles ever could.

She loved and trusted me; she’d never recover from such betrayal, but I couldn’t think about the possibility of losing her. It was too painful to imagine.

When Callan finished the story, no one spoke as he rose and walked away. Ellery’s lids kept drooping, then snapping open as she watched the amsirah working on the others. Then they closed and didn’t open again.

Her breath still rattled, and occasionally she shivered as she slept. After too short a time, her chin lifted, and she blinked at the amsirah rushing around the clearing while they tended to the wounded, fed the animals, and cooked dinner.

“How… are they?” she asked.

Before I could answer, Ruby stopped and knelt at Ellery’s side with a cup of water. She placed her hand on Ellery’s knee and brought the cup to her lips.

“Everyone’s okay,” Ruby said. “Fletcher was badly hurt and will take a few days to recover, but he’ll be fine, and so will Billy and all the others. Don’t worry about them. How are you doing?”

Ellery smiled as she closed her eyes. “I’m good.”

Her breath still rattled in and out as she fell asleep again, but it wasn’t as labored as before, and even her shivering was lessening.