Page 8 of The Serpent and the Silver Wolf

“What makes you think I’ll take you, once you tell me how to get there?” Her brow scrunched. “You lose your leverage.”

“You’re a hero, remember?” His eyes barely peeked open, no more than a sliver. “You’ll do the right thing.”

“I’m not—” She pinched the bridge of her nose.

But his lids stretched wider with effort, just enough for her to catch the violet flicker beneath.

“Even if you’re not a hero,” he rasped, “and just another monster like me…you’ll honor your word. I can tell.” He swallowed. “Promise me you’ll get me there alive. And I’ll tell you which way to go.”

Her muscles locked. It felt like the whole damn world had funneled down to this—his words, her answer, and no way to step past it.

“Fine.” The word punched from her throat. “I promise.”

He didn’t answer.

“I said I promise!”

She grabbed his shoulders, shook him hard enough to whip his head from front to back.

Nothing.

“Damn it.” The snarl tore out. “You are so annoying!”

The vow sat sour in her mouth, but it bound her just the same. She’d do what she could to keep him alive long enough to point the damn way.

He’d played her like a hellspawned fiddle.

“Where have my clothes gone, pet?” Kazuma coughed himself awake.

“You kept leaking. And your ribs are broken.” Aimee didn’t bother looking up. She pointed toward the bandages now wrapped across his torso—layers of dark linen, torn from his shirt, and knotted firm to keep him held together.

“Also. My name’s Aimee. Enough with the ‘pet’ nonsense. It’s creepy.”

She drew the last knot tight on the makeshift stretcher—branches lashed together with pieces of her own clothes, crude but serviceable. Rising to her feet, she dusted her hands off against the thighs of her loose linen pants.

“There’s some water next to you.” She jerked her chin toward the bamboo tube resting near his side. “Drink up. Then tell me where to go.”

Kazuma reached for the tube with a wince, turning it over once in his hands before lifting it to his lips. He took a small sip, swallowed, then grimaced.

The tube hovered in front of his face for a moment.

“Aimee.” He said it as if he were tasting the sound of it. “You went through my things.” His eyes traced down the length of her. “Find anything you like?”

She cocked a hip, arms crossed loosely. “Nothing large enough to notice.”

He choked, snorting out the water before stoppering the tube with one hand and letting his dark hair fall forward, half-shadowing his face.

“Perhaps, one day, I’ll show you just how...noticeable I can be.” His tongue flicked out, wetting his lips. “Aimee.”

Lifting her face toward the sky, she silently begged for mercy as she lugged the stretcher next to him, then slipped her arms under his armpits.

“Not now! You shameless woman! I am injured!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” She heaved, then dropped him onto the stretcher.

“Ow!”

Ignoring him, she pulled one of the ties loose from her belt and started securing it across him, maybe a little too snug.