Page 37 of Trapped By Claws
A small smile tugged at my mouth. "Thank you." I brushed my fingertips over the tabletop. "And thank you for helping me. How did you heal me?"
He scowled, the lines in his brow deepening. "It was nothing. The medicine. That's all. That's what it was."
Something in the way he said that made me even more suspicious. Something had happened. Something he hadn't expected and wouldn't explain.
Even stranger, I wanted to be close to him again. I curled my fingers against my palms, steadying myself. Then I drew in a deep breath. "I thought I was dead."
Raw emotion cut through his eyes, darkening the brightness. "Well, you aren't."
"How, though?"
His throat bobbed. "Just…"
It was significant then.
I stared at him hard, folding my arms. "How did you heal that wound? It felt like that spike on the crab's claw tore me. I…I felt myself going cold. I was bleeding out. And I couldn't move my legs. I think—I think I broke my back. I was paralyzed and bleeding out. Wasn't I?"
He grabbed a jar from the cupboard and made another mug of the strange herbal concoction. It smelled foul but familiar. "Yeah," he murmured, his gaze fixed on me and his frown still present. He drank the cold, murky liquid.
"So what happened?" I approached him, then flinched. Where had I smelled that before?
"I healed you. Accidentally."
"Seems like a really lucky accident."
He grunted, then finished the mug of whatever herbal concoction he was drinking. "I have duties to attend to. Tagger will stay with you. There's dried and salted salmon if you want it. And whatever else you find in here."
I nodded, rubbing my arm as I contemplated what he said.
"Don't try to run this time." He removed his cloak and handed it to me. "To keep you warm. You can explore the rest ofthe rooms here. Use anything you like. But don't leave. All right? I—I'll see about doing something to make it warmer."
I accepted the cloak but twitched my shoulders noncommittally.
"Promise me," he said, sterner this time. His bright-green eyes darkened. "You can't get to the surface through the cave anyway. Those vents that you're smelling the air from aren't big enough for anyone to get through. All access points are below the sea, and there are more giant crabs in there among other things. Plus it's a maze."
I narrowed my eyes at him.
He responded in kind. "Promise me that you will stay here until I return, and I will go check on your mother. There's a storm right now, but I can make sure she's safe."
"Another storm? How bad is it?" My arms dropped to my sides.
He shrugged. "Bad enough that they can't get any signals out. And the boundary's still got them trapped, so even if another ship does come by, they can't get anywhere. Yet."
"So they're just out there, alone in the cold?"
"No." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "There is shelter on the island. They aren't the first to be trapped there. Just…trust me. I'll make sure your mother is safe. All right?"
"Fine. I promise then."
"Thank you." He sighed, then pulled the cloak up around my shoulders. "I'll be back soon."
I watched him leave. Tagger hopped up on the table beside me. He tilted his head and squeaked.
"I never thanked you for helping me." I held out my hand. When he sniffed my fingers, I scratched him. His fur was every bit as soft and dense as it looked. As I offered him some of the fish, I smiled at him. He snatched it out of my hands and gobbled it up.
I didn't touch the water-logged bread. The dwarves were able to eat that kind of bread even after it fell into the ocean, but I wasn't certain it wouldn't make me sick.
Instead I tried a few pieces of the greasy fish and some of the pickled vegetables: pickled mushrooms, pickled green beans, pickled onions, and pickled beets. Not the most appetizing, but the sharp, vinegary flavor reminded me of hot summer days when my family had been whole and the family table had been loaded with the summer harvest. Even when I was working at the tavern and Erryn had been fighting against giving up her dream of being a singer, it hadn't been so bad. Bowls of fresh greens, deviled eggs, loaves of egg-washed wheat bread, tureens of steaming soup.
