Page 64 of Fear the Flames
A small smile stretches on my face as I work on wrapping his knuckles. “Tell me when you’re injured or when you’ll be late, and you won’t have to.”
“The consequence of bad communication is worrying about you jumping off a balcony?”
“First of all, I jumpedacrossa balcony. Second of all, that seems like a good motivator.” He rolls his eyes as I tie off the bandage and let go of his hand. He pulls his hand to his face and examines my work. “You’re shocked I’m more than a pretty face with a dragon link?”
“You could say that,” he says as I reach for his other hand.
A frown turns my lips when I notice the bruising that has already begun to form on this one. I gently take his hand in mine and curl my fingers around the top part of his wrist, wanting to avoid causing him further pain but not being able to verbally express my thanks. I don’t trust myself not to crawl into his lap if he looks at me with an expression riddled with self-hatred again. I feel his eyes on me, so I stay focused on my task.
“After I got away from the castle, it was a pretty smooth ride. Oh! Speaking of rides, I borrowed a horse from your horse pen in Ladislava. She’s tied somewhere in the camp.”
“If I wasn’t so annoyed with you, I’d actually be impressed.”
“It’s an honor to almost impress you, Commander Veles.” I look up and mock bow at my waist, savoring the light expression he now wears.
“Do you make the ointments yourself?” he asks, tucking a strand of stray hair behind my ear. His blinks are turning heavy the more he fights the sleep deprivation that weighs on him. I place a hand on his shoulder and gently try to lay him back against the pillows. He looks at me with a leveling expression, “I can stay up a bit longer.”
“I can jump across another balcony,” I suggest, giving him the same leveling stare.
“Evil woman,” he sighs while lying back. As soon as his head hits the pillow, I see how prominent the exhaustion is on his face. He fights to stay awake, waiting for my answer.
I give in and start, “I make them alongside another woman. Her name is Nyrinn.”
“Hm?” he murmurs, trying to inquire for more details. But he can’t manage to get the words out.
“She’s the best healer I’ve ever met, and she’s the one that gave me the satchel.”
Cayden mumbles something incoherent as a response, it sounds something like me being his best healer, and I know sleep has overtaken him. I stay focused on my task and finish wrapping his hand, placing a kiss on his knuckles once I’m done. I lean forward and gently placing a kiss on his forehead.
“Goodnight, soldier,” I whisper.
ChapterTwenty-Nine
Idon’t know what I expected the border to look like…but it wasn’t this. I expected something darker and drearier—wounded soldiers everywhere and unanswered cries for help on a never-ending loop. But it’s fairly pleasant once you get over the fact it’s a war camp.
Cayden, who now walks beside me, explained that there are three lines within the camp. We’re in the third line. The first line is defense, the second line is medical, and the last line is supplies and residential. They even have taverns and markets within this line. No permanent structures, just larger tents where soldiers can congregate. The mood here reminds me more of Aestilian than the Inner Kingdom does. It’s nice to be in a place where I don’t have to worry about breaking an ancient vase whenever I turn a corner. The most valuable thing I could have broken in my house was a plate, which is Finnian’s vice; mine is water glasses. They should really have handles. If I was back at the castle, I would have sought Finnian out to have breakfast together.
I hate the way our strife gnaws at me. I’ll think of something to say whenever I see him; I don’t need to rehearse words for him. I sent a letter to Ailliard last night to inform him I won’t be in the castle today since I’m taking a meeting here. His response came this morning, telling me he’ll take today to venture out into the kingdom since he hasn’t had the chance yet.
“There’s something I have to tell you.” Cayden’s words send anxiety shooting through me. I hate when people say theyhave totell me something, it would be much less nerve-wracking for them to just say what they need to say rather than add a build-up to their statement. “Saskia and Ryder know.”
I stop in my tracks, and my mouth hangs open. “When did you tell them?” He doesn’t have to tell me he’s referring to the heist; I just know.
He grins at my expression. “I let it slip when you were passed out.”
“What doeslet it slipmean?” I suspiciously inquire. He’s more careful than that. If Cayden was a book, maybe you’d get a glimpse at the prologue if you were lucky. I’m not upset he told them; I’m just curious to know how they reacted.
He shrugs his shoulders as we fall in step beside each other again. “I said something too evasive, and Saskia hung onto it. Apparently, Saskia already figured out what we were planning, and she and Ryder had a bet about who would slip up and reveal it first.”
“Did they bet that you would?” His smirk tells me everything I need to know. “Those bastards,” I curse. They bet that I would be the one to slip up. “Finnian wasn’t included in the bet, right?”
“They wouldn’t put you in that position,” he confirms, easing my nerves.
I press my lips together and nod. I figured they wouldn’t, but the clarification is comforting. A tremor crawls up my spine when I think about telling Finnian. I’m going to do it the next time I see him. It’ll already be an emotional conversation, and it’s not right if he’s the only one out of the five of us that doesn’t know. Cayden looks over at me and raises a brow; he must have noticed my shiver.
“The breeze is just a little cold.”
It’s not a total lie. The sun may be high in the sky, but it keeps its warmth locked away from the rays that reach us. I made the decision to keep Cayden’s sweater on after I stepped outside in just my leather fighting gear and started shivering. The sweater is so long on me that it covers my thigh holsters and makes me appear unarmed. His eyes darkened when he saw me, but he thankfully said nothing about what he felt. He just asked me if I was ready to go and walked me to the market for breakfast, where we got coffee, and I made him try a new pastry—fluffy bread filled with dark chocolate.
