Page 45 of A Winter Awakening
He wanted to yell and cry out. He wanted to lash out at Sinoe and tell him to take this seriously.
Sinoe closed his eyes and murmured, fingers lightly touching Gael’s skull.
Spots appeared in Orteo’s vision. He bent over, sucking air into his lungs. When he righted himself, three sets of eyes stared at him.
“Edwin, can you make some eustice flower tea for Orteo?” Sinoe rose and came towards Orteo. He placed a hand on Orteo’s arm and switched to the nymph tongue. “Orteo, why don’t you sit on the bed?”
Orteo yanked his hand from Sinoe’s. “I don’t need tea! And I don’t need to sit down,” he said, also switching to Nymphish. “Just look after Gael. Make sure he’s all right. Please.”
Sinoe’s face remained blank. “Gael will be fine. The wound is minor. It’s a scratch. Head wounds bleed a lot. I will check more thoroughly, but first you need to sit down and breathe.”
“You need to—”
“I can’t look after him if you are about to faint,” Sinoe interrupted, voice firm but gentle. “And your panicking is worrying Gael.”
Orteo’s gaze snapped to Gael. He stared at Orteo, green eyes wide. He did look worried. He shouldn’t be worried about Orteo. Not when Gael was the one injured.
I’m getting in the way.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’ll leave.”
“You don’t need to leave, Orteo. Just take a seat.”
Sinoe kept talking, but Orteo didn’t hear it. He strode from the cabin, stumbling outside. He bent over, taking deep, shaky breaths.
He’d failed Gael. Failed to protect him from injury. Then failed him again when he’d distracted Sinoe from treating him.
“Is Gael all right?” a voice asked as if from far away.
Orteo looked up, vision blurry.
His heart stopped. His sister stood before him. As if she’d come here to witness him fail to care for Gael.
But then his vision cleared, and he realised Ori stood in front of him.
“We saw you carrying him,” Ori said. “Is he all right?”
Several others from the village gathered around.
“He’s bleeding. He slipped and hit his head.” Orteo’s throat stung as the guilt and failure spread through him. “I couldn’t look after him. I couldn’t protect him. No matter how I tried,” he choked. “And I tried. I wanted to do right by him. But I couldn’t. I let him down.” His chest tightened. “I let him down like I let your mother down. Like I let you and Liney down. I’m so sorry, Ori. I’m so sorry.”
“Uncle?” Ori stepped towards him. He reached for him.
But Orteo staggered back, shaking his head.
I failed. I failed Letira. I failed Liney. I failed Ori. And now I failed Gael.
He didn’t know where to go or what to do. He couldn’t go in and be with Gael. He’d just get in the way.
But where else could he go? He wanted to run into the forest and to his cave. He wanted to hide from the guilt and shame.
But he needed to see that Gael was all right.
So he leaned against the cabin, closed his eyes, and waited. Thankfully no one else tried to speak to him.
But he could feel all the judgemental eyes on him.
ChapterTwenty-Four
