Page 56 of Shadows of Winter

Were there more enemies about? Maybe he’d been forced to run into the tunnels to engage another group of Virts. But she didn’t hear any sounds of fighting. She didn’t hear anything except the trickle of water flowing into the pool.

Should she leave and limp back to the castle? Or wait for him?

“Vlerion, I’m craving your presence for more scintillating conversation.”

Shadows near the river made her tense, lifting her knife.

Vlerion walked out of the tunnel. He was barefoot, and his clothes were torn, as if he’d battled one of the creatures himself, but his sword was sheathed and his face as calm and controlled as ever as he walked toward her.

“I’m here.” He paused to put on the boots he’d left on the dock, then approached, looking toward her leg.

Her trousers were also torn, but she only glanced at the punctures, the throbbing telling her without an examination that they were deep. She would have to find a healer to clean them and sprinkle protective herbs over them to stave off infection. How was she supposed to open an award-winning meadery when she was hobbling around with a cane?

“You were injured.” Vlerion shook his head as he stopped in front of her.

With little expression on his face or inflection in his voice, Kaylina couldn’t tell if that head shake meant he regretted that he hadn’t been able to help or thought she’d gotten what she deserved for not leaving when he’d ordered it.

That probably wasn’t it—his eyes seemed more sympathetic than vindictive—but she couldn’t help but defensively blurt, “They were planning to blow up the castle from below. To distract you from hurting their buddies. I couldn’t let them do that. Frayvar is up there. And we have a lease.” She winced at that stupid last sentence. As if that had been her primary motivation for going after the men. “I had to stop them,” she finished.

“By leaping into the maw of a fur shark?” Vlerion knelt to examine her leg, thankfully not touching the throbbing bite wounds.

Kaylina didn’t look forward to the healer cleaning them.

“I cracked them in the heads with my sling.” Reluctantly, she added, “The maw-leaping came later. The men were chasing me, and…” Hating to admit that she’d slipped and fallen in the water, she finished with, “I didn’t quite make it to their boat to escape.”

“Ah.” Vlerion touched the back of his own head. Maybe he still had a lump from where she’d struck him. “I’ll take you to ranger headquarters. We have the best doctors. Our people are injured often in battle.”

“That’s not necessary. We have money. I can find—”

Vlerion startled her by lifting her into his arms. “You will not spend your coin on this. It is my fault that you were down here where you could be injured.”

Kaylina gripped his shoulders. Though she was proud and wanted to tell him that she could walk, her leg burned like an inferno, and it was a relief not to have her weight on it. Let him carry her. As he’d admitted, he was the one who’d asked her to come down here.

Thankfully, he didn’t point out that she needn’t have left her hiding spot in the alcove. Maybe he understood her reason for doing it. After all, rangers looked out for their own, didn’t they? The same way she had to look out for her little brother.

“Thank you,” she made herself say as he carried her into the tunnel.

With her hands resting on his shoulders, the memory of caressing them in the alcove came to mind, but the rips in his clothing distracted her. Not only his tunic was torn but his trousers were too, and the straps of his leather torso armor had snapped so that it hung loosely. Yet he wasn’t bleeding anywhere, not that she could see.

“What happened to your clothes?” And why had he taken his boots off?

Vlerion bent to grab her pack and lantern, managing to keep her in his arms as he did so. She tightened her grip on his shoulders to help him, and her cheek brushed his hair. Since it was so short, she hadn’t noticed before that it was wet.

“Battle,” he replied.

“You weren’t wounded?”

“No.”

“How did your hair get wet?”

“Splashes.”

“Splashes?”

“Men fell in as they died,” he said tersely, looking at her. Was that… a warning on his face?

As he continued up the tunnel, and they passed under the still-glowing eyes of the statues, their illumination shone on his hair, reminding her that it was reddish brown. Auburn. Like that of the second creature.

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