Page 10 of Heart's Keeper

"Xerus?" she said nervously. She dared not get closer, and Xerus did not move to draw near, his body still as the mountain. “Xerus…are you all right?" she asked, growing more concerned.

He blinked several times at her as if confused. Then, as if nothing were wrong at all, his expression changed.

"Lana." His eyes brightened and his body relaxed. He looked delighted to see her, as if he'd only just run into her after a nice walk.

Lana's brow furrowed as she stepped cautiously to his side, her eyes searching his face. "What happened?" she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

Xerus tilted his head slightly but didn't seem to notice nor feel concerned for the fact that he had blood and mud all over him. His gaze only reached her.

He drew up a hand and brushed his fingers along Lana's cheek. Lana stilled as his hand fell to her throat and rested there a moment before dropping. "I...was restless. Forgive me. Were you waiting long?"

Lana opened her mouth, then closed it, not sure how to respond. “It’s no matter,” she said finally. “I didn’t want to disturb your hunt.” She tried not to glance down at his body, but it was too difficult. She'd seen him hunt before, but he was rarely messy about it. Judging by what she saw now, he must have not only killed his prey but torn it apart and—noticing the blood on his mouth—eaten it too.

It wasn't that he didn't take prey to eat. But always, it was skinned and cooked first. And if there was one thing Lana knew well from the beginning, Xerus never cared for raw meat. If he caught something, it had to be cooked. So seeing him now and knowing he'd just gone out and made a meal of something without preparation was a little more than disturbing.

Lana glanced around and noticed a few of the housekin watching curiously nearby. It wasn't like they didn't hunt either (it was a vrisha pastime after all, though many preferred to hunt in couples or in packs), but judging by their confused stares, they too knew something wasn’t right.

Lana turned back to Xerus and took his arm, tugging him toward the house. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

***

She waded in the bath, placing herself at Xerus’ back, using a rough washing block to scrape away the grime over his scales. “You really didn’t know you’d been gone so long?” she asked as she rubbed his back.

“No. I somehow lost track of time.” He turned his head to eye her behind him. “I’d thought I’d only been away for a couple of hours, not half the day. I must have been…a little too focused."

That was an understatement. Lana washed his back without a word. She let him dip under the water to rinse off, then moved along the sides of his torso. "What were you hunting?" she asked, trying to sound indifferent about it.

Xerus rubbed at one of his horns, thinking. "Serbil at first...then a pack of ukin."

Lana paused in her washing for half a second, then continued. Serbil, she wasn't surprised about. They were like deer with several long, curved antlers. Ukin however was unexpected. They were like large scaly creatures near to raptors save for their beaks. They were one of the fastest creatures in the jungle and hard to find or kill. No wonder he'd been gone so long.

"Well, I'm glad you're safe," Lana said. "You had me worried for a moment. I thought you might have encountered a gris."

Xerus' mouth twitched. "Not this close to the city."

Lana nodded her head. She circled around to his front and took the washing block to his chest. Red stained the block and trickled down his stomach. She swallowed hard, her mouth turning dry. "I spoke to Xilya and the council while you were gone. We are to ready a team and move supplies to the ship starting tomorrow and be off in a few days." She looked up at him with a serious expression. "I don't think it would be wise to hunt tomorrow if you can help it. With everything that needs to be done."

Xerus grunted in agreement. Lana had begun to wash his stomach when he took hold of her wrist. Lana glanced up and became entrapped in his gaze.

"I didn't mean to make you worry for me, kissala," he growled softly.

Lana licked her lips and swallowed. "I know."

Xerus brought her hand up and pressed it to his chest, then cradled the back of her head with his other hand and bent his head to touch his forehead to hers.

"You swear nothing is bothering you?" Lana asked, unable to stop herself.

Xerus let out a slow breath through his nose and closed his eyes. "Nothing. Only the restlessness, and I still can't fathom why. But there is nothing that I would not tell you."

Lana believed him fully, but still, she wished she knew what he was thinking. There had to be a reason for the sudden odd behavior, but if even he couldn’t explain it, then who could?

"Ah, there is one thing though," Xerus said with a grimace.

"What's that?"

Xerus lifted his head back and groaned. "I think I ate something foul."

Lana brushed a hand along the side of his face. "Like an ukin?" she said.

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