Page 29 of Bosse
His scary eyes got darker. “Start talking.”
“I will as soon as you show me your injuries.” She cocked her chin to make her point. It also helped to hide the terror racking her body.
Could he tell her heart was beating inside her chest like a brat having a fit?
Probably.
He grumbled worse than an eighty-year-old man when he couldn’t be thirty yet. Rolling away from her to leave his backside exposed, he said, “Should be obvious.”
She dropped the sack she’d brought, a larger one this time, and knelt. It had been an hour since his battle, and that gash was still open. From what she’d learned about shifters since being in this castle, his healing should have kicked in by now.
He might escape, but he wouldn’t get far.
For him to turn his back to her while injured and vulnerable surprised her. Clearly, he saw her as no threat. She had her weapons, but he would be right. The wolf would shred her before she could draw her magic up to work.
Regardless, this felt like she was gaining a smidgen of trust after all she’d been doing.
Pushing the hood of her robe off her head, she rolled up the wide sleeves halfway up her arms. “I’m going to touch you.”
He grunted.
Should she take that as yes or no?
She decided on yes.
First, she pulled a gourd of water and a towel from the sack. She used the wet towel to wipe blood from the injured skin and gently touched the wound. He remained still. She asked, “If I sew this, it will stop the bleeding until you heal, correct?”
He took his time answering and sounded suspicious again when he said, “Yes.”
“Prepare yourself.” She dug out the needle and thread she’d brought just in case.
“You can’t hurt me.”
Taking him at his word, she tried to sew quickly, grimacing for him every time she pushed the needle into his skin.
He didn’t so much as twitch.
If she had a wound like his and someone sewed it with no pain medicine, she’d be crying and screaming. That thought led to wondering what Krol would do to her if he caught her in this cage now or found out she’d aided Bosse in any way. She forced her mind to stay on task and not think of the hideous punishment he would dish out.
“Why are you doing this?” Bosse asked.
Careful with her words, she replied, “I’m trying to help you and someone else at the same time.” She’d never expected to be in this situation or to put her life at risk for anyone other than someone she loved. She didn’t even like Rez, but her mother had loved the woman. Although Alifair did love the rest of their gifted clan, she would not do this again. It wasn’t the fear of death.
No, it was the fear of facing something worse than death from a demon.
If Krol found out, would he feed her to his new flying creature?
Bosse knocked her mind away from dwelling on the worst-case scenario when he asked, “Who is this other person, and what do you want from me in return if I can escape?”
“Please don’t ask me to tell you more than I can. You’ll understand once you’re free.”
“That makes no sense.”
She agreed, but if she told him everything now, she’d fail to get him out of here.
After all this, would Bosse escape? By not sharing what she needed from him to help save Rez, she could be dooming her true plan to fail, but she would not risk him being captured again. She’d fretted over what to do for hours, but saving Rez fell onhershoulders. This man had suffered enough without adding her problems to his.
If the dream were to be fulfilled, it would have to happen on its own.
