Page 46 of Bounty Hunter

“Do you know what you’re doing?” I ask through gritted teeth.

He stays focused, offering no response.

“You learn this skill from the mercenaries?” It’s low of me, but I want a response, and I know I’ll get one if I use the mercenary card.

“Told you I’m not a mercenary.” He smoothly threads a needle.

After that, the pain’s too much, so I keep my jaw clenched shut and turn my head to stare into the flames instead of his handsome face as he starts talking. I’m proud when, even as he begins to stitch it closed, I make no sound, only a couple of instinctive twitches of my arm give away any indication I feel it at all. I can’t take all the credit, though. I’ll never admit it aloud, but his ongoing one-sided conversation has been more comforting than I expected. He’s been talking the entire time in that deep, steady voice of his. Something about a shard beast battle that I missed most of after a particularly tender needle tug, another part about an archery contest when he was a kid, and an extra long bit about his hawk named Simon and his beast dog named Arrow. After he’s finished and his talking has stopped, and the only sound between us is the crackle and pop of the fire, I find I wish I’d been able to pay a little better attention.

I realize as he carefully wraps my arm and sets it lightly across my stomach, and my eyes open and shut tiredly, that he’s never shared anything like that before—the personal things that seem unimportant but make a person real. I want to knowmore. How could this man be a Tulip killer? A mercenary, even. It just doesn’tfit.

My eyes feel heavier than they’ve ever felt, burning and dry. Closing them has never felt so good. But as I enjoy the sweet relief of darkness and almost-sleep, my thoughts begin to free themselves from the confines of my mind and come out mumbled and nearly indecipherable through my lips.

“You don’t really seem like a mercenary… don’t think you kill Tulips.”

My sentence drifts off, and I open my eyes once more to drink in the sight of him before I sleep. I notice he appears to have frozen as he was inspecting one of his many knives, looking at me with an intensity that almost wakes me up. But nothing can wake me up now. My eyes close, and I reach sleep.

Chapter 32

Ikar

Istay awake long into the night, my thoughts keeping me company as I guard our small camp. The magic that increases my hearing ability may be blocked, but I’m gifted with excellent abilities even without it, and I know I heard what I heard. She’s doubting that I’m a mercenary, she even said something about Tulips, and that topic hasn’t been spoken of since the night she arrested me.

I’ve been waiting to get more information from her, but I’ve resisted the urge to ask since she believes I’m out to kill them. Any curiosity from me will only reinforce her wrong belief about me, so I’ve kept my questions to myself, but as we near the end of our journey, I find myself feeling antsy. If she really does drop me off in the hands of the officials like a common criminal and disappears, I will be at square one. I’ll have to track her down again or find information somewhere else—so much time wasted.

On the other hand, maybe I shouldn’t worry over it yet. If she’s beginning to believe I’m not a mercenary, or a killer, theodds are swinging in my favor that I can convince her to let me go before we get to Moneyre. Maybe she’ll even work with me long before then and all of this will be resolved, but that seems a lot to hope for when I’m still cuffed.

Vera shifts in her sleep and draws my gaze. My eyes freely trace the curve of her nose and pause on her lips, lingering on how her bottom lip is a bit fuller than the top. She’s so different than any woman I’ve been around before, especially Nadiette. At first, I considered her somewhat of a scrawny tomboy, dressed in her overlarge men’s clothing and her face framed with flyaway hair. She comes with enough attitude to make up for the fact she had no idea how to wield a weapon. In fact, she seems almost the complete opposite of Nadiette in every way I can think of, which is why I’m surprised that I find myself more attracted to Vera than I have ever been to any other woman. I drag my gaze away and run a hand through my hair. This can’t happen. This attraction. The almost-kiss. None of it. Not when I am looking for a Tulip to be my future wife. Guilt swarms my chest.

I sheathe my weapons and force myself to shut down my thoughts for the night. Never before in my life have I been blocked from my magic, been forced to fight without it, and it’s more physically draining that I would have thought. I lay down, knowing I need sleep more than ever if we’re to make it through this journey alive, but I lay there for a long time before sleep comes.

When I wake, my eyes burn, but we waste no time preparing to set off in the morning. Rupi returned sometime in the night,and Vera woke up overjoyed to have her nestled against her chest. I admit I am relieved as well—the small bird has grown on me.

“How’s your arm?” I ask, sinking to my haunches near where Vera sits as she struggles to braid her hair with her injured arm. If I knew how, I’d help.

“It’s fine,” she says, finally tying the end off with a wince.

“That’s my line.” My lips twist wryly.

My words have their desired effect, bringing a small smile to her face and easing the tension at the corners of her eyes. I snag her hand in mine and turn it over, revealing the side of her arm that I stitched last night. She doesn’t say anything as I remove the bloodied bandage. Being this close, I can feel her light breath on my neck as I work, and she smells good. It makes it difficult to focus. The stitched wound is swollen, and it looks painful. I can’t hide a frown at the sight of it, but it’s normal for this stage of the healing process.

“You stitch as neatly as any Healer,” she says with appreciation in her voice, as I begin to wrap a clean bandage around it.

“A necessary skill on the battlefield,” I mutter.

I chance a look at her eyes and see that my comment has triggered that fearful glint again. Probably for the best.

I stand and step away, needing distance. I busy myself by opening the map and scanning it, estimating where we are before we set off. “I think we can make it out of this forest in two days, maybe less. Then we’ll be on fae land. If we make good time, we should be to Moneyre in five days.”

Vera merely nods as if she barely heard me, trusting me to navigate as she croons to Rupi. My, how things have changed—she’s beginning to trust me whether she recognizes it or not. I refold the map and pocket it once more, feeling renewedmotivation to quicken my pace today. Vera keeps up, even as she’s busy with Rupi for the next while, until finally Rupi swoops into the air and disappears into the trees.

The silence is comfortable between us until Vera snort-laughs through her nose, and I throw her a questioning frown.

“What?” I ask, not sure if I truly want to know.

She bites her lip in an attempt to stop a grin from turning into a full-blown smile, but it doesn’t help. “Nothing… just thinking about yesterday.” She giggles again.

“I don’t recall anything particularly humorous about yesterday.” My frown deepens as I think about the everwisps again, trying to figure out what she’s talking about.

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