Page 40 of Winter's Edge
“I confronted him...” I continued, “and I may have shot his finger off with an arrow."
Grady grunted. “Well, that’s a sure way to get shot at.”
"He asked me how many fingers he was holding up, so I gave him my god damned preferred answered." Gentle pressure from soft bandages pushed against both sides of my shoulder, and I hissed through gritted teeth.
"And that's when he shot you," Archer said, his breath feathering my lips.
"Yes, so naturally I ran so he wouldn't do it again. Apparently he’s made himself a few friends, and they all chased me back into the Slipjoint Forest to get me."
The sound of tape ripping almost drowned out Archer’s sigh. "Jesus, Aika. Drunk men and guns against a woman who'd just hurt one of their own. Do you have any idea what they would've done to you if they'd caught you?"
I knew he wasn't asking it because he thought I was stupid. He asked it because he hated to think it, just like I did.
"The bald man made it clear what he would do to me, whatelsehe would do to me." I couldn’t think about what would’ve happened if I hadn’t gotten away. I did. That was all that mattered. Still, though, I knew just how lucky I was.
Grady huffed a breath and then began to tape me up. "So how did you escape?"
"Through the window in the room Faust kept me in for hours and hours. I told him about the fake poison, made it seem even deadlier and everything, and he said his supply was already full until winter was over."
"Shit," Archer said, releasing his hold from my other shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"So what are you going to do with no money?" Grady started to pace with his long, limping strides, the floorboards groaning under his muscled weight. "Go back to your family and hope for the best this winter?"
A sense of hopelessness flooded down on top of me, so heavy and defeating that it took a moment to draw another breath. "That's just it. Most of my family is in Old Man’s Den."
Grady stopped pacing. "I thought you said—"
"I did. I ran into Lee while I was there. He'd come from the direction of the brothel smelling like alcohol, surrounded by men who were trying to get him drunk. He said…he said Jade was in there too."
"Didn’t you say she was only fifteen?” Archer asked.
"Yes." The word hissed out as my whole being deflated. "I don't know what happened after I left home with the package, but maybe it was the bald man who took them with him. And my baba… I have no idea if he's even alive—" My voice seized altogether.
Archer brushed his fingertips over mine and squeezed. I squeezed back, thankful for the comfort.
"It's just a rumor," Grady started, so low I could barely hear him over the crackling fire, "but I've heard you can sell people to the whore house in Old Man’s Den. For money."
My whole body compressed into a block of ice. What he'd just said cut through my mind with too many sharp edges. "What?"
"I'm not saying that's what happened,” he said, limping back and forth again. “But it's possible."
"What?” I said again, more like a whisper. How could someone sell another human being? That was beyond my scope of horrors. Suddenly the air in the cabin was too heavy, too punishing, but I knew if I moved from this couch, I'd drop before I made it outside. "Lee and Jade. I wanted so badly to go back for them, but…" I shook my head hard, scattering the tears that had started to fall. "I wasn't even sure I'd get back to Slipjoint Forest safely."
"You did good by running," Archer said, his voice firm. “You couldn’t have saved them anyway since you were shot.”
He was right, but it still didn’t change the fact that I’d left them twice now. Jade was tough. She could handle a lot, but being sold like a piece of property to a brothel? I knew Jade almost better than I knew myself, and underneath that fierce exterior was most definitely a terrified fifteen-year-old girl who would never, ever let her brother wander free without her to get drunk with a bunch of strangers. She loved him. We all loved each other in that complicated way families do.
Which firmed my decision.
My stomach made a steady climb up to my throat, but I forced it down with a swallow so I could say my next five terrifying words: "I have to go back."
Archer groaned. “You were just shot and barely made it back here.”
"Fuck no," Grady rumbled. “I have no interest in seeing Faust’s pack at our doorstep again after they chase you out.”
"Even if you did go,” Archer started. “They're not going to accept you with open arms, or open hands, what with the missing fingers and all. Besides, if they're selling people now—"
"I saw a wolf there. A pup. I could see through its eyes."
