Page 60 of Held

Seventeen

Briar had never been a caretaker before.

She always thought that if she got roped into it, she would do a purposefully lackluster job. But she found herself putting all of herself into taking care of Wick as he healed in their tiny cave behind the Yedzeva ravine, catching him rabbits to eat. Fluffing up his nest with new stolen clothing. Polishing his horns. Bandaging his wounds. Taking quick breaks to rub herself clean with snow, rushing back into the cave as fast as she could, not only because she was freezing, but in case he needed her. Gathering herbal creams from the village to soothe his burns, rubbing them on him every morning and night. Wick insisted they were helping, but he also said Skullstalkers healed much faster than humans, so Briar couldn’t tell if his rapid healing was because of her or not.

“There’s no other way out,” she told him as she rubbed oil into his horns. There was nothing medical about it, she just saw some oil when she was sneaking around the village and decided to treat him.

“I’ll sneak us out at night,” she continued. “No problem.”

Wick raised his head to give her an amused look. He had spent the last few days in the shoddy nest Briar had built him, insisting that it was truly the best thing anyone had ever done for him, even though there were times on that first day when he was practically sitting on the ground.

“Youwill sneak us out,” he repeated, lowering his head again so Briar could resume her work on his horns. “Where will I be? Hiding in your pack?”

“You know what I mean.” Briar rubbed an easy circle around his horns, careful of a burn creeping up near the right base.

“I’llguideus out,” she corrected. “You know how many times I’ve had to stealth my way out of someplace? And I’ll do it again. Nobody will see us. Not the townsfolk, and not…”

She trailed off. Wick picked up on it, like always.

“You said he was gravely injured,” he said.

Briar shrugged. Renaulthadbeen gravely injured, and she wished he’d injured him more. The lipseed-stinking bastard.

“So were you,” she said. “And you’re fine.”

“I heal quickly,” Wick said. “Even from Malblossom.”

Briar snorted, rubbing his horns harder. She had been going over those flowers in her head, mapping them out until she could recognize them on sight. She had even crept back to the ravine and examined the net. She had seen something like it before, but only in passing. She never paid much attention to monster hunters. According to Wick, many of them didn’t even carry Malblossom nets. There were not many rules for fighting Skullstalkers, except to pray to whatever god you believe in and hope your death is swift.

“My eye is already back to normal,” Wick continued.

Briar tilted his head up to check. Wick’s eyewasback to normal, not counting some discoloration at the edge.

She stood back, holding her shiny hands at her sides as she examined the burns peeking out from the bandages. The burnswere no longer black or angry red, but a vivid pink. On a mortal, it would be unheard of. She had never been so happy that he was a Skullstalker.

“And the rest of you?” she asked. “How’s the pain?”

“I am fine.” Wick smiled. “Itchy. But fine.”

She smiled back. Of course she did. She always did, even when it took everything she had in her not to burst into tears. Every time she looked at him, her eyes were drawn to the lone wing at his back. Even if he was facing her, it was unmistakable what she’d done to him.

She couldn’t get past it. She took hislimb. He should be cursing her, swearing revenge.

“Briar,” Wick said. “I said I amfine.”

Briar breathed out hard through her nose. Then she smiled harder, forcing any uncomfortable emotion underneath it.

“I know what would make you feel even better,” she said.

She pressed her oil-slick hand to his belly, avoiding the bandages. They both watched it slide down, reaching under his loincloth and closing around his length.

Wick’s eyes drifted shut. The tension in his face drained away, and Briar felt something in her own chest loosen.

It was not easy, fucking when Wick was injured like this. But it was the only time Briar had felt okay since she cut off Wick’s wing.

Seven days after the ravine, they finally made it back to the mountain path.

“Told you we wouldn’t get caught,” Briar whispered.

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