Page 29 of Their Chosen

They all stared at me, waiting. When I realized they meant it, I huffed. “Fine. I have friction burns on my legs from riding in yoga pants yesterday.” I glared at them before adding, “I'll be fine once we get there.”

“How bad?” Arryn asked me. When none of them listened and continued staring at me, I lifted a leg to show the blood I knew was there but hadn't looked at.

“Shit, Killer!” Baer exclaimed. I glanced down to see more blood than I had realized spreading down my jeans and smeared on the saddle.

“Why the fuck didn't you say anything?” Lennox snapped at me.

“Because it's not a big deal, and there's nothing anyone can do about it,” I snapped back at him.

He laughed at me darkly. “Arryn, please deal with this so we can be on our way again,” he barked at Arryn and rode away from us.

“Fucking asshole,” I said under my breath. Just another wonderful day in Avalon. When Arryn dismounted and walked over to help me down, I told him, “Really, I'm okay, Arryn. We can keep going. I don't want to hold us up any longer. I'll be fine.”

“You're not fine, Rhowyn,” he said to me, more firmly than he'd ever spoken to me, his anger evident even if it wasn’t in his voice.

He grabbed me by my waist to pull me down, and I let him, submitting to the fact that they wouldn't be happy until I did whatever it was they wanted. When he didn't put me down and carried me through the trees away from everyone else, I found myself puzzled and thankful. Walking would have been a bitch, which was part of the reason I hadn't wanted to get down. I caught sight of Baer following us over Arryn's shoulder.

“Where are we going?” I turned to look up at Arryn as he kept walking, but he didn't answer me. His eyes darted to mine briefly, but it was only long enough to see his anger, the muscle ticking in his jaw backing up that observation.

Once we were out of sight of the horses and men, he set me down gently. “Pull your pants down,” he demanded, more anger in his voice now.

I stepped back from him in dismay. “Excuse me!?”

“Killer, let me see the burns,” Baer jumped in, his eyes pleading with me full of concern. I studied them both before capitulating and unbuckling my pants. Arryn waved his hand while I pulled them down.

“Sit down,” he demanded again, and gestured behind me to a stump that hadn't been there before. His nostrils flared as I did as he instructed.

“Baer, clean the blood away so I can see how bad the burns are,” Arryn commanded.

Lowering to his knees between my legs, he did as he was told. Despite the pain, my center clenched at the sight of his honey brown hair that was now focused on the insides of my thighs, and I couldn't help wishing that he was down there for another reason. He paused briefly, his nostrils flaring wide before he groaned slightly. Before I could ask, he said, “These look pretty bad.” He gestured with his hands just before water ran down one side and then the other.

“Fuck, that burns!” I exclaimed, but I didn't move.

“Sorry, Killer,” he pleaded, glancing up at me before moving out of the way.

Arryn quickly replaced Baer between my knees and placed a palm directly to my thigh. I jumped and then squirmed at the heat that flowed between us where our skin met. He glared up at me. “If you had told us, I could have healed you before they got this bad.” His tone chastised me like I was a child.

His hand pulled away to reveal completely healed flesh before he moved to the other side. “How the fuck was I supposed to know you could heal me? It's not like I really know anything about any of y'all,” I snapped back, refusing to let them bully me.

That seemed to take him aback, but he gritted his jaw and continued until the warmth faded away again, both of my legs healed. As I stood to get away from him, I realized my muscles weren't sore anymore either. “Thanks,” I snapped out, truly grateful not to be in excruciating pain anymore, but still angry at their tones with me.

I pulled my pants back on but noticed blood was no longer staining the denim. “I didn't think you'd want to put them back on while they were stained,” Baer said softly.

As I buttoned them, I glanced at him, my anger fading some at his thoughtfulness. “Thank you, Baer.” I gave him a half smile, the best I could muster right now.

“Next time, please tell me when you're hurt. It's my duty to protect you,” Arryn asked me as I pulled my boots back on.

I sighed. “Look, I get it, but I don't appreciate being spoken to like a two-year-old child. I just didn't want to slow us down and didn't know there was anything anyone could do. I’m new to this whole magic thing, remember?”

“I do. And I apologize for my tone. It wasn’t my place to speak to you in that way. Please forgive me, Chosen.” His words were sincere, but a wall had been placed between us for some reason, and I didn't like it.

“It's fine, Arryn. Can we go now?” I asked, defeated by this day already, even though we were nowhere close to being done with it.

“Let's go, Killer,” Baer jumped in again, always soothing away the tension, placing me at ease, and distracting me from wondering what exactly had changed between Arryn and me.

They led me back to Meadow, the silence hanging heavily between us. As I mounted, I caught Lennox's eyes as they quickly scanned my body before he jerked his horse around and away from me in preparation to leave again. As if Lennox's hot and cold attitude wasn't enough, I now had Arryn doing the same. A part of me couldn't help but wonder if it was something I was doing wrong, but I quickly reminded myself it didn't matter. I was only going to be here a few more days anyway.

Baer tried to talk to me at first, trying to lighten the mood, but I wasn't really in a conversating mood. After only giving him short responses, he gave up and left me in peace with my thoughts.

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