Page 56 of Blood and Fate

The glass in his hand shattered, shards raining down around his boots. The high-pitched yelp behind caused him to spin toward the tent flap.

Satori. How had she managed to approach him without him knowing it? He stood.

Her eyes dropped to his hand, now dripping blood from the broken bits of glass. “You’re hurt.” She took two steps toward him before stopping to grab the water pitcher and towel from a small table. She seated herself on the cot and nodded toward the place beside her. “Sit.”

He sat slowly, concentrating on the warmth that she brought. It was a sort of comfort he couldn’t explain, but at that moment, he was deeply grateful. She didn’t wait or ask permission; she only reached out and took his hand in hers, sending a jolt across his skin.

“How did you get in here?”

She glanced at him, a look of concern crossing her features. “I walked in.”

He huffed a breath. “That’s not what I mean; how did you get in here without me knowing it?”

Her brow creased with understanding. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe you were distracted.” She indicated his bloody hand in her grasp.

That was a possibility. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts and emotions that he may have missed her presence.

“The same way you didn’t know I was there the first time we met.”

She gave him half a glance as her fingers moved carefully over his palm, pulling bits of glass from his bloody skin. When she was finished ridding his hand of debris, she took the pitcher and poured. The water cascading over the cut stung as the blood washed away. She took the towel and then carefully picked up one of the larger pieces of glass, cutting the fabric so she could tear it into strips. He took in her features as she concentrated on wrapping the strips around his injury. A slight V sat in her brow, her brown eyes focused intently on her task. Wisps of her blonde hair brushed her creamy cheeks. His breaths came a bit fuller as he studied her.

“Did you see what happened?”

Her fingers froze mid-wrap, and she looked up to meet his gaze. Her brown eyes were inches from his own, and he could have drowned in their depths if not for the pain he saw there.

“Satori?”

She pulled in a sudden breath, her throat worked on a swallow, and she nodded once.

Did he want to know? Would it be better to remain ignorant? He realized he’d been lost in his thoughts, staring for too long. He blinked.

“Will you tell me? Please?”

Her head tilted, and her eyes moved around the tent, apprehension pressing in on her. She opened her mouth, licked her lips, and closed it until her eyes finally met his again.

“It wasn’t your fault, Kais. You tried. You tried so hard.” Her eyes shone as tears pooled there.

Before he realized what he’d done, he had reached out and covered her hand, the one still holding the bandages, with his other hand.

“Please don’t blame yourself.”

He pulled his hand away. “It was my order that brought us here. He didn’t want to come. Sawyer debated with me on the merits of the crossing instead of taking time to go farther downstream. I’m the one who made the decision, and now he’s dead because of it.”

“Kais, you tried,” she repeated. “I saw you get in the water. You were injured as well.”

Kais reached up and brushed a hand through his hair again. “Yeah, my head is killing me. Did I hit it?”

“You don’t remember?” She slid back away from him. It was only slightly, but he felt her absence like he felt her presence.

“I don’t.” He cleared his throat. “Maybe you could tell me one day.”

With a quick shake of her head, she was up and clearing away the glass from both the pile she had removed from his hand and off the ground.

“So, what now?” She asked.

“We’ll spend the night here and go on in the morning. The village we’re heading to isn’t terribly far. We could be there by mid-day. But now . . .” He trailed off, still thinking of Sawyer. “We should hold a memorial for Sawyer.”

A memorial. Kais hadn’t performed any sort of memorial since . . . He shook the memory off. He’d have enough memories to wade through when they arrived at the village and he was reunited with Lena.

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