Page 24 of Destroyer

Ru remained standing. “We don’t have time. I need to get back to the Tower. My knees are fine.”

“You will get to the Tower eventually,” Fen said, moving toward her. His expression was gentle but stern, unyielding. “Sit, please.”

She knew that if she didn’t clean the wounds, they might get infected. The infection could spread. And they really did sting. Giving in, she went to the nearest log and sat.

Appeased, he knelt in front of her, inspecting the wounds. They weren’t deep, just bits of skin scraped raw by that strange black earth in the Shattered City. Blood was crusted at the edges, a dried trail of red-brown leading down from her left knee.

Fen made a soft grumbling sound, his long fingers tracing the air about her knees, inspecting, careful not to touch. Then he stood and went to the saddlebags again, pulling out a canteen of water and a cloth.

Ru watched him with grudging interest. His movements were practical yet fluid, almost like an efficient sort of dance. When he turned back, he caught her watching and smiled almost imperceptibly. Embarrassed, she turned away quickly, avoiding his eye until he was kneeling at her feet again.

Rolling up his sleeves to the elbow, Fen set about cleaning her wounds. He dabbed at her knees with the damp cloth, removing any foreign debris. When he reached a particularly sore spot, Ru hissed, a sudden intake of pained breath.

“Sorry,” Fen said, glancing up at her.

She was struck by how odd it was, this familiarity she felt toward him. While she still didn’t know his motives, knew she shouldn’t trust him unequivocally,knewhe was an unknown entity… her gut told her otherwise. Every nerve in her body seemed eager to relax in his presence.

“It’s fine.” She could handle a little sting. It was everything else that made her feel like the world was spinning off its axis. And Fen, somehow, a look of pure concentration on his face as he tended to her wounds… he felt like an anchor.

“Have we met before?” she said. The words were unplanned, unexpected even to Ru, but as she spoke she felt as if they would have come eventually, inevitably. The way she felt when she looked at him, when his gray eyes caught hers, it was familiar. Comfortable, in a strange and inexplicable way.

Pausing in his ministrations, one hand holding her leg steady, the other holding a damp rag, he frowned up at her. “Why?”

She shrugged. “There’s something familiar about you. What did you say your family name was?”

“I didn’t,” he said. “We haven’t met before.”

“Oh.” There was no reason for her to slump in disappointment, to feel oddly dejected by his response.

“But I know what you mean.”

She brightened a little. “You do?”

“I do,” he said, a distant haze drifting across his eyes. And then he was in the moment again, dabbing with the cloth, his thick eyebrows pulled together as he focused his attention wholly on her. Caring for her, even for as small a thing as a knee scrape.

Fen quickly finished clearing away the debris from her knees. He set aside the water, reaching into his doublet and removing a silver flask.

“I’m sorry,” he said, apologetic, “but this is going to hurt.”

Ru knew what came next. She watched him pour a bit of spirit onto the cloth, enough to soak it through. Alcohol would clean the wound and lower the chance of infection.

“Ready?” he said.

She nodded, then flinched as he pressed the cloth to her knee, the stinging liquid dripping into her flesh, smarting horribly.

“Shit,” she swore through gritted teeth.

He chuckled. “Very. Just one more.”

The second knee hurt worse somehow, but the sharp sting meant a clean wound, a quick recovery.

Ru was still catching her breath after the burst of pain as Fen pulled a roll of bandages out of the box. With deft hands, he trimmed bits of bandage from the roll and wrapped Ru’s knees — tight, but not uncomfortable.

“Thank you,” she said.

This moment felt intimate, and it made Ru want to stand up and move away, to seek normalcy, an interaction between near strangers that made sense. But her knees were still smarting, and Fen’s sharp gaze caught at her.

“You’re welcome.” He stood, gathering his things and returning them to the saddlebag. “I think we’ll stay here for the night and set out for the Tower in the morning.”

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