Page 25 of Fear the Flames
Cayden takes a seat beside me after Ryder gives him the supplies. He sits close to me, one leg dangles off the side, and the other stretches out behind me. Reaching forward, he gently takes my wrists in his hands and places my hands on his thigh. Water burns my skin a few seconds later, and I intake a sharp breath while squeezing my eyes shut.
“I’m sorry,” Cayden mumbles.
“It’s okay,” I say in a tight voice.
“I suppose I don’t measure up to your healing skills,” he lightly teases.
I huff out a strained laugh, “It’s raw skin. Everything is going to hurt.”
His frown deepens while he uncaps a tin of salve, dipping his fingers in and coating them in a generous amount. My wrist tingles when he wraps his opposite hand around it, rubbing soothing circles on my skin while gently spreading the salve. It burns at first, but the longer his fingers rub it in, the nicer it feels. He seems pleased when my shoulders loosen, his eyes tracking my reaction.
“What made you interested in healing?” His interest seems genuine, no hints of smugness on his face.
“I don’t like feeling helpless,” I answer after a few moments. “If I couldn’t heal Finnian today, I would’ve watched him die in front of me.” Cayden’s fingers still for a beat, but he slowly resumes his soothing movements. “I also like knowing I can patch someone up just as well as I can tear them apart,” I tack on, worrying I said something that prompted him to pause his movements. His proximity is making my head spin. This isn’t us. We’re not friends or gentle with each other. We’re begrudging allies that have been at each other’s throats whenever we’ve interacted.
His soft chuckle brings me back to the present, “Can you do me a favor?”
“What?” I ask, feeling uneasy.
He looks up at me while unwrapping a roll of bandages and begins wrapping my left hand. “The next time you choose to tear a monster apart, can you wait for me to get there so we can tear it apart together? All I got to do was fire arrows at its head.” A shocked laugh escapes my lips; that’s definitelynotwhat I expected him to say. I don’t even know what I expected, but it wasn’t that. His lips turn upward as my laughter fills the space between us and he begins rubbing salve onto my other hand.
“Maybe you just have to be quicker,” I jest.
“Perhaps,” his eyes drop from my smile to focus on my hand again. “Then at least tell me when you’re burned.”
“Perhaps,” I echo.
He sighs, and I have a feeling he would pinch the bridge of his nose if his hands weren’t covered in salve. “Why do I have a feeling you’re going to be the bane of my existence?”
“Because it’s a title I’ll be happy to take.”
He rolls his eyes while reaching for another roll of bandages, but it’s a halfhearted eye roll. “You looked uncomfortable earlier.”
I scrunch my brows together, “What do you mean?” Is he talking about when I almost watched my best friend die?
“By the fire.” He looks up at me after finishing off the second bandage, but he absentmindedly continues rubbing circles on my wrist with his calloused fingers, warming my skin under his touch. I’m thankful the sky is dark because if it wasn’t, he would see my heated cheeks. “You jumped.”
So, it was his eyes I felt on me when Jarek’s leg brushed against mine. I wonder how long he was watching me. I mean, he is guarding me, so I suppose it’s important he keeps an eye out. But I was surrounded byhissoldiers. He should have known I was safe.
“I’m just a little nervous,” I mutter. It’s not hard to believe, and it’s not a total lie. There are no regrets when it comes to leaving Aestilian, but that doesn’t mean I’m just going to embrace the world with open arms. I would be an idiot to do that. This is the first time in fourteen years that I’m in a place other than Aestilian where people know who I actually am.
“Right,” he says, not sounding fully convinced. His jaw clenches, and his eyes get that assessing gleam that they had before he started bandaging me. Once again, I feel like a puzzle sitting in front of him while he’s trying to place the first pieces of the border. Each stroke of his thumb winds me so tight, to the point I feel like I’m going to combust. “I should get back to my post,” he clears his throat, dropping my hand.
“Right,” I rush out, practically jumping away from him and getting to my feet. “I should check on Finnian—thank you again for helping me with him today, and for the bandages.”
“No problem.” He shrugs his shoulders, looking up at me completely unaffected, as if it means nothing.
I turn away from him, but only make it a few steps before I spin on my heels as he gets to his feet. “Do you want me to take a watch shift at some point?”
His mouth tilts up in the corner, never a full smile, just a half. “No, go rest and watch Finnian.” He takes a few strides toward me, and my hands tighten on the leather strap of my satchel. “Goodnight, angel,” he says before passing by me and bounding down the temple stairs.
“Goodnight, soldier,” I whisper into the darkness after he’s long gone.
ChapterTwelve
The brief truce between Cayden and I dissolved quickly over the past four days. In between traveling, there has been endless bickering, which usually leaves one of us red-faced and the other smirking. At one point, I chased him with a knife before Finnian threw me over his shoulder and carried me away from the hazel-eyed heathen. That’s what I’ve been calling him in my head every time he makes me angry, which is often. I don’t even remember what prompted the knife chase…but it was fun. Cathartic. It’s not like I could actually do anything with the knife.
We’re so close to the Vareveth capital, Verendus, that I can hear the cheers and rumble of citizens that have crowded the streets to get a look at their returning commander and enemy princess turned ally. My shaking hands finish off the intricate braid I’ve been working on for the past ten minutes. It starts out as two braids on either side of my middle part before joining together in one braid down my back. Finnian went through my trunk so I could blindly apply minimal makeup since I don’t have a mirror. I wasn’t planning on a grand entrance after traveling for almost a week. Finnian watches me with narrowed eyes while I tuck a ruby and gold diadem into my hair.
