Page 172 of Lady of Darkness

“You need to eat, Scarlett,” Callan said from beside her. She looked down at the plate of dried meat and bread on her lap. They had stopped nearly an hour ago to camp. A small fire was lit before them. They had decided to eat before they set up the bed rolls. The rest of them had anyway. Scarlett was sure if she ate anything it would come right back up, and vomiting would be torture on her wound. She actually couldn’t even remember the last time she had eaten. Sometime when she had been locked in that room in the Lairwood house, but it hadn’t been much.

Sorin and Eliza had taken the horses to some water to drink, and then they were going to rub them down and get them settled for the night.

She felt Callan’s hand hook under her chin, and she jerked back, her shadows leaping for him. Her eyes flew to his hazel ones, and she saw the fear and shock in them.

“Don’t touch her, Cal,” she heard Sloan snarl from his spot by the fire. “Not with that darkness swirling around her.”

Sloan had always been the leery one when it came to her.

He’d always been the smart one.

Callan’s voice dropped low, barely audible over the roaring in her ears. “Are you truly choosing this? Are you truly choosing to go with him and Eliza?” Scarlett just stared at him, trying to keep her breathing steady. “You are scaring me, my Wraith. I need to hear your voice.”

“Let her be, Cal,” Finn warned from the other side of Sloan.

Her breathing was becoming shallow, and her head was so damn loud.

Sorin and Eliza came back into view and something flitted across Sorin’s face as his eyes locked onto hers. He had two saddle bags slung over his shoulder. Eliza was carrying bedrolls along with two more saddle bags. She walked over to a small cleared area and began unrolling them. Sorin dropped the saddle bags near her and made his way across the space to Scarlett.

He held her gaze the entire way and dropped to a crouch before her. His hands rested gently on her knees, and he peered up into her face. “Come. I need to change the dressing on your wound,” he finally said, reaching for her hand as he stood.

She let him pull her to her feet, wincing. She could feel Callan’s eyes on her as she allowed Sorin to lead her to the now unrolled bedrolls.

“Lie down. It will be more comfortable than standing,” he said gently, keeping her hand in his while she lowered herself to the bed roll. When she was sitting, he knelt beside her and reached up to undo the buttons on her cloak. After he removed it from her shoulders, she laid back and let him lift her tunic and remove the dressing.

He swore softly under his breath. “Why didn’t you tell me the ointment had worn off,and that it was… Gods, Scarlett, this pain must be agony.”

He trailed off, and she heard him rummaging through a saddle bag.

“It’s so loud,” she whispered, and she saw him freeze beside her from the corner of her eye. His eyes were fixed on the saddle bag, his hands still inside. It looked like he was barely breathing. She inhaled, and the burning that lanced up her side made tears prick her eyes. “It’s all so loud, and it hurts. It makes the pain from this… It’s nothing compared to the roaring in my head. I just want it to stop.”

She saw Sorin swallow as he resumed his searching through the saddle bag, finally pulling out two jars. When he unscrewed the cap of the first, she recognized the scent immediately as what he’d put on it earlier in the day. The antiseptic. This was going to burn.

“I am sorry,” he murmured quietly, pouring some into the wound. She held still this time, though, gritting her teeth. “As soon as we cross the border, I will portal us to my home. Our Healer can take care of this immediately. I am sorry I cannot do more.”

After a few minutes, he wet a clean cloth with water and wiped the antiseptic away before unscrewing the lid from the ointment. The moment it touched her skin, the pain eased and continued to do so as he rubbed it into the edges of the wound.

Scarlett lay motionless while he applied a new dressing to the wound. As he was finishing up, Eliza appeared beside him and handed him a plate of food. He took it with a nod of thanks, and she went back to Prince Callan. She could see the prince watching them from across the fire.

“Did you eat?” Sorin asked Scarlett when she’d pulled her tunic back down over her stomach.

“I’m not hungry,” she said hoarsely.

“You need to eat. We rode hard today, and tomorrow will be the same.”

“It will likely come right back up anyway,” she answered. He tried to hide it, but she saw the surprise flash in his eyes at her response. At the fact she was speaking at all.

“All right,” he answered quietly. “Do you want to do anything else, or are you ready to sleep?”

“Whatever you want me to do,” she answered softly.

“I want you to talk to me.”

“I am talking to you.”

“No, Love, I want you totalkto me,” he said, standing once more. There was a hint of sadness in his voice as he walked over to the small pile of saddlebags. He came back with a thick blanket and nodded towards the bed roll beside the one she was lying on. “That one is for you.”

Scarlett sat up and began to move towards the roll when Callan’s voice sounded from behind Sorin. “What exactly are the sleeping arrangements here?”

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