Page 58 of The Flame and the Forsaken

“I made three. You didn’t notice?” He knelt and gently peeled her away from the branch. “Are you hurt? Where?”

“Just... my ankle. What are you doing here?”

Instead of answering, he scooped her into his arms. He knelt to grab the spear she’d dropped, and then her crutch.

“We have to get out of here. There’ll be more,” he said and took off.

“No, the boar. Erran?—”

Mariel bolted awake. She’d passed out from the pain. “Erran...”

“Just hold on.”

“The boar. The meat.”

“I know, Mariel.” He raced through the forest like she weighed nothing.

“I wanted to... wanted to surprise you.” Her head lolled toward his chest. She was losing her battle with consciousness again.

“You surprised me all right,” he quipped, but she heard a softening in his tone.

He kicked the cabin door open and carried her to the cot. She was hardly settled before he’d dragged over a chair and the first aid basket. “You’re bleeding.”

“No, it’s my ankle.” Mariel swooned in her delirium. “Just my...”

Erran tore a cloth with his teeth. He poured antiseptic on her arm, and she screamed. “Arm’s fine, is it?” he asked, working to dress the wound she hadn’t noticed before.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I’m sorry.”

His eyes swept her body. “I need your trousers off.”

“Huh?”

“There’s blood on them. It means you’re wounded... just...” He unbuckled her pants and tugged before she could protest.

But one look down confirmed what he’d said. “Oh Guardians. That’s a deep...”

She awoke again, this time to Erran stitching her thigh.

“What are you sorry for?” he asked as he tied the bandage.

“Last night.” She licked her cracked lips. “And today.”

“I’m going to re-wrap your ankle. Some of the bandage must have caught on the branch, because half of it's missing.” He rooted around in the basket for the thicker roll. When he hunched over, she saw the sweat blooming across the back of his shirt... the harsh breaths lifting his shoulders, strained from tension.

“It was going to be a peace offering,” she said. Her eyes closed in longer intervals, but she resisted the call to pass out again.

“I told you it was a bad idea. That we were outmatched.”

“And I didn’t listen. I know. Butyoukilled one, Erran. We’ll... We’ll eat for weeks on that meat.”

“I only killed it because...” He sat up and wiped his forearm across his brow. His jaw tensed, flexing with his breaths. “Because I was too terrified to stop to think about whether it was a good idea.”

The full weight of the morning hit Mariel like a wave. She’d nearly died. He’d saved her for a second time, but not before deciding that endangering his own life was an acceptable risk. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Erran flicked his hand and returned to wrapping, but he kept messing up and starting over. Finally, he flopped back in his chair, brimming with annoyance. “Be serious. You wanted to surprise me? To apologize?” He pushed to his feet, sending the chair toppling. “Next time just say the words, Mariel.”

“I didn’t...”Didn’t know how. Didn’t want to. Didn’t have the words. Didn’t, didn’t, didn’t.

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