Page 69 of The Freedom You Seek

“Doesn’t surprise me,” I said, trying to regain at least a modicum of distance between us, to which Dion promptly responded with a displeased growl. Not for the first time, I wondered if he had a wild beast in his lineage. Also, to no one’s surprise, he stayed so close that he invaded my personal space the entire time.

As I turned toward him with a scowl and with every intention of snapping at him, he responded with a smug expression and grasped my shoulders, maneuvering me toward Antas and Fig, who were in the midst of a discussion about another trap they’d found.

“Bossy man.” I directed my attention to the two older men who were indeed in a heated argument about how to dismantle an exceptionally nasty trigger.

I leaned against the tunnel wall to watch the men in amusement, but suddenly, a jab of pain burned me from the inside, and something audible clicked.

Before I could utter a single word or even scream, the floor beneath me vanished, and I was immediately pulled down by the relentless force of gravity. Vague flashbacks of another time when the ground was pulled out from under my feet assaulted my mind, and my panicked brain expected a rope to dig into my neck any moment, crushing my windpipe.

But I wasn’t on the gallows, and I was soon catapulted back to reality as something yanked painfully at my shoulder. Waves of agony tore a scream from my lungs as all my weight rested on my arm and the shoulder which had takenthe brunt of the damage from my sudden stop in midair. Black dots and bright flashes danced in front of my vision.

“I’ve got you, Nayana. Stay calm.”

With a firm grip on my wrist, Dion was the only anchor that kept me from plunging further into the pit below. I could neither see nor feel the bottom. Only at the very edge of my consciousness did I notice some of Dion’s tendrils wrapping around my wrist and, seconds later, also encircling my waist, supporting me to ease the strain in my shoulder.

“I…am…calm,” I lied.

Dion pulled me up, supported by more of his magic, and he was as careful as he could be while the pain in my shoulder made me wish for sweet oblivion. Luckily, he was more than strong enough to lift me out of the pit and into the tunnel with ease, and soon, I sat on the floor, breathing hard, still surrounded by black magic ropes pulsating in tune with my heartbeat as if trying to soothe me.

“Are you hurt?” Dion sounded anxious, his eyes roaming over my whole body, searching for injuries. The magic tendrils reluctantly disappeared after he’d made a displeased noise, and he scanned me again now that he could see me better.

The others were close as well, and Ireas kneeled down on my other side.

“My shoulder.” The whimper I tried and failed to suppress sounded pathetic, even to my own ears.

Dion glowered at Ireas, who moved my cloak out of the way and gently touched my injured shoulder. When I winced, he snarled at the younger man venomously, whichwas met with a disapproving sneer from Ireas. No matter how shy he was, he always underwent a complete transformation when he stepped into his professional role as a medic. Ireas faced me once more and completely ignored the protective, growling, fussing bastard next to us.

“Your shoulder is dislocated. I need to set it. Bad news, it’ll hurt quite a bit. Good news, you’ll feel much better almost immediately afterward.”

“Can I do anything to lessen the ache?” There was a dangerous edge to Dion’s voice that I couldn’t fully decipher.

Ireas shook his head, and the pity in his eyes dried my throat.

“Get it over with before I can’t handle the pain anymore.”

“Try not to scream, please.” Ireas frowned worriedly at me, then turned to Dion. “And you, don’t kill me for doing what has to be done. You know that I hate hurting people.”

I wanted to nod, but as a fresh wave of pain washed over me, I aborted.

Dion huffed angrily but repositioned me with such tender care that I wanted to weep, holding me close to his chest before cupping his big hand tenderly over my mouth. His callouses felt rough against my skin, but I didn’t mind at all. “Scream if you have to. I’ve got you.”

His scent surged right from his hand into my nostrils, and my breath hitched in spite of the agony I was in. On better days, I could already lose myself in his smell, but today, I just wanted to drown in it. I was only half aware of Ireas’ hands moving along my shoulder and arm, searchingfor something. When they stilled, I could feel the deep breath the medic took.

My instincts told me it was time to brace myself, as I had done so often when my father had punished me. I told myself this couldn’t possibly be worse and closed my eyes.

Well, I wasso, sowrong. Most of my father’s punishments had been nothing compared to the blinding agony I was in when Ireas set my shoulder. An audible pop followed almost instantly, and I screamed as loud as my lungs allowed, the sounds muffled only by Dion’s big hand. His other stroked in circles over my belly in an attempt to calm me down, and he was singing a hauntingly beautiful melody that only I could hear. Angry that I couldn’t cherish his song and voice as much as I wanted to, I promised myself to ask him to sing to me more often.

“It’s done.” Ireas breathed out a sigh of relief, and Dion stopped his singing and released my mouth, but not the rest of me. “It should be better soon. Your arm might feel funny for another ten minutes, but there’s no need to take it too easy with it after that. You’ll be fine.”

“It already feels better. A lot less pain.” My sigh of relief mirrored Ireas’, and I forced a small smile. “Thanks. To both of you.”

“You must be more careful, Jama. This could’ve been much worse.”

“I’m sorry, Dion. My guess was that there were no traps left because Antas and Fig had already passed this section.”

“Well. They’ll hear about that from me.”

“Don’t.”