Page 142 of Bones
“A bad person wouldn’t think of Rally again. A bad person would never call it the worst thing they’ve ever done.” He pulled back enough to gaze down at me, sincerity shining in his eyes. “You arenota bad person, darlin'."
I love you.I wanted to say, but I didn’t.
“We should keep goin’,” I said instead, “or we’re gonna be walkin’ in the dark.”
The sun moved across the sky as we trudged along. The cluster of trees with the smoke rising above it grew closer. By the time the sun began to set, it took all my energy to keep putting one foot in front of the other. The pain in my back jolted through me with every step. I tried to distract myself by thinking of ingredients I could use to make a salve for my back. My go-to had been a salve made from comfrey and plantain for years, and I knew plantain grew wild here. The salve Griz and Raven had used on my back was a recipe from the old healer's notebook that had horsetail in it. Maybe the trading post would have some dried plants I could use and some sunflower oil. It wouldn't be too hard to make an oil infusion. Not quite the same as the salve, but close.
I didn't have any experience with whip wounds so I didn't know if it was normal to have lingering pain. The wounds hadn't gotten infected, whether from the salve or my healing powers. Some parts of the scars seemed like they would heal pretty flat, but other parts seemed like they would be thicker and raised. Those were the ones that seemed to ache?—
“Bones?”
I blinked and glanced over at Trey.
“You ok?” he asked. “You were lost in thought over there.”
“Just thinking about salves.”
A grin spread across his face. “Salves, huh?”
“Don’t you ever think about salves?” I raised an eyebrow.
“I think I can honestly say I have only thought about salves one time and that was when we were reading the healer notebook to find something to put on your wounds.”
“Well you picked a good one,” I said, trying to chase away the memories that darkened his face.
“That’s lucky ’cause I think we picked the very first one that had ingredients we could find.”
“It had horsetail in it.”
He looked nervous, and I grinned.
“Horsetail was a good choice.”
“How come?”
“It reduces inflammation and helps wounds close faster.”
"Well, that's fucking cool." He grinned back at me. "Why were you thinkin' about salves?"
“I was thinkin’ if the trading post had the right ingredients, I might be able to make an oil infusion for my back.”
"Is your back hurtin' bad?" he asked, studying my expression like he was waiting for me to lie.
I bit back the compulsion to do just that. “Yeah.”
"Then we'll do that. We should be there soon."
“Do you think they’ll have plumbing?”
“I’m not sure. I hope so. A hot bath would be nice.”
“A hot bath would be fuckin’ incredible,” I corrected him, and he chuckled.
In the distance, the wolves started howling again.
“How far away are they?” I asked, shuddering.
"Pretty far." Trey glanced up at the setting sun. "But I'm still glad we're gonna have some better shelter tonight."
