Page 29 of The Rising Wave

And collapsed.

“Don't kill him.” The general's call came from behind the men that were suddenly crowded around him. “We need to find out where Ava's gone first.”

Luc closed his eyes and pretended to slip into unconsciousness.

It was a trick they all learned in the Chosen camps.

Sometimes, there was no winning. The best you could do was pretend to be at the end of your endurance, and sometimes you got a reprieve.

Nothing good would come of being questioned about Ava's whereabouts.

He wasn't going to tell them, and they weren't going to stop.

Better to buy a little time.

Hands grabbed him, lifted him, and he kept limp and silent. He thought he'd feel worse, but it wasn't that bad.

The arrow had pierced his skin and hit bone—he guessed his sternum. A lucky escape.

“Do we pull it out?”

“Leave it. If he's dying, he'll go quicker if you pull it out. I need him to hold on a bit until he can tell us where our little princess is.”

“Do you think she was with him? Maybe that's why the dogs have run off.”

“Maybe.” The general paused. “Who's gone after them?”

“The hunt master,” Juni said.

“You go help him. If Ava is that way, she might be a bit much for him on his own.”

A few of the men chuckled, and Luc heard the sound of boots running after the dogs.

“Let's set up camp here in the meadow. The horses need a break and there's water.” The general said nothing else, but Luc could hear the soldiers spring into action.

He was carried over the river, laid down on grass, and he heard a stake being driven into the ground, and felt a rope being tied to his right ankle.

He could feel the blood trickle from his wound, down the center of his chest to drip over the side of his ribcage. It felt like a lot, but he knew these things often felt worse than they were.

A fire began to crackle near him, and the smell of food cooking affected him more than anything else.

He and Ava had had nothing to eat since the day before, although at least they'd been able to drink their fill at the stream before the general caught up with them.

He hoped she would stay where he'd told her to stay. If they started torturing him, he worried she'd give herself up, and that would be unbearable.

He also worried that he was too invested in her. He had only met her two days ago and some of his reactions surprised him—almost frightened him in their intensity—and yet, he didn't want to go back to being the way he'd been before.

Voices murmured in quiet conversation around him.

The sun was warm on his face and chest, and he realized he was comfortable and warm, more so than he'd been in a while. He didn't even need to run and hide. The worst had already happened.

He wished he could sleep. Catch up on all the hours he'd missed over the last week. Except that would be a terrible idea.

He didn't trust his reaction if they tried to wake him.

So he lay in a half-doze, as the soldiers checked on him now and then, and spoke amongst themselves.

“Here's the hunt master and Juni back,” someone called.

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