Page 69 of Savage Assassin

One of the ration packets and a bottle of water is waiting for me on the other blanket when I finally limp my way back up. As soon as I come within view of the firepit, Levin is on his feet, heading towards me despite my assurances that I can make it on my own.

“Just because youcandoesn’t mean you should have to,” he says firmly. “I gave you your privacy just now, so you can accept help with this.”

When his arm goes around my waist, I wonder why I argued so much. I feel instantly calmer, safer, the moment he’s touching me, and I can’t help but lean into him, savoring the warmth and scent of him so close to me, the solidity.

I miss it the instant it’s gone, when he helps me down to the blanket and steps quickly away.

“Last night–”

The minute the words come out of my mouth, I see his face shutter. “Do you feel alright?” he asks, and I swallow hard, feeling that disappointment flood through me again at the emotionless way he says it.

“I’m fine,” I manage. I reach for the food, fighting back tears that I know are pointless. I have no reason to be upset. He hadn’t promised me anything–hadn’t even really done more than give in to my desire for one night. “We don’t have to talk about it.”

Levin nods wordlessly, biting into his own food. I look away, unable to stomach the sight of it, and my ankle throbs at the memory.

How many more days do we have?I’m afraid to ask how many of the ration pouches are left, how long there is before I’ll have to stomach the slowly spoiling meat or starve.

“Is there anything else we can do?” I ask, hearing the edge of desperation starting to color my voice. “Can we make a bigger fire? Send up smoke that someone might see? Is there a chance that might help? Or are there flares in the bag–”

The words start tumbling over each other, a tinge of panic creeping in, and Levin quickly shifts closer to me, touching my hand gently. Just that touch is enough to calm me a little, a warm tingle running over my skin at his touch, but he pulls back quickly.

“The fire could work,” he says slowly. “But there would have to actually be someone in range to see it. That’s a bigif, and we might not get too many chances at that. There aren’t any flares, I looked.”

“Hasn’t someone seen the wreckage by now? Someone flying over?”

“Someone would have to actually be looking. There’s no reason for anyonetolook. There’s no record of us flying out here.”

“Oh.” I bite my lip, once again fighting back the tears. “So I guess the fire, then. If we get desperate.”

“Pretty much–”

Levin breaks off suddenly, getting to his feet. “Bladya!” he swears under his breath, striding past our tiny campsite and a little further down the beach. “Shit! Elena, come here!”

I’m on my feet in an instant, heedless of my hurt ankle, letting out a gasp of pain as I put too much weight on it. I look towards him, towards where he’s gesturing, and I suddenly feel faint as I see what he’s seeing.

Is it some kind of trick? A mirage? Our desperate imaginations?

But both of us can’t be having the same hallucination, and we’re not so bad off yet for that to be what’s happening. Which means that what I see Levin pointing at–the outline of what looks like a huge cargo ship–is real.

It means we could be rescued.

“Wait here,” Levin says quickly, his voice taut. “There’s some high rocks further down the beach. I’m going to try to flag them down.”

“I’ll come with you–”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Please, Elena. Wait here. Your ankle is hurt, and it will take longer if I need to help you–and I can’t let you struggle your way down the beach on your own,” he adds as he sees me open my mouth to argue. “Please, just wait.”

I give in, retreating back towards my blanket. I hate the idea of being left to sit and wonder what’s happening, especially when it’s a fuckinglife-and-deathsituation, but I know he’s right. I’d just slow him down, and risk the chance of us being rescued at all.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to sulk about it, just a little.

Instead, I sit down on the blanket, knotting my hands together in my lap as I try to stay calm. If the ship sees Levin, we might be able to get out of here. But depending on who it is, flagging them down could be dangerous, too. Or–

Don’t think about it,I tell myself as the minutes tick past. I’m afraid to think that we might be rescued, to hope for it, but there’s also no point in thinking of all the ways it can go wrong.

I sit there, feeling as if I’m on the verge of coming out of my skin, until I see Levin coming down the beach. I’m on my feet again in an instant, ignoring the throbbing in my ankle as I watch him come back. He looks stunningly handsome, even a little sunburned and dirty. I remember with a flush of heat how he looked last night, when I’d finally gotten his shirt off and seen his muscled torso covered in tattoos.

“They’re coming,” Levin says breathlessly when he’s within earshot. “They saw me; the ship is headed this way. I’ll help you down the beach. We should hurry.”

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