She turned, rubbing at her wrists. “Yes.” She tried to smile at him. “It’s good to see you, my friend.”
Deni rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Sorry for leaving you, but my horse bolted when we surprised them. Thank goodness we did, or they may have shot a little straighter.”
Before she could respond, the sound of shouting came from up ahead, and then she heard Revek’s voice call Luc’s name.
“I’m needed.” He put out a hand to clasp Deni’s shoulder. “Keep her safe for me.”
He was suddenly gone. He hadn’t looked at her. Hadn’t even spoken to her directly.
Her eyes were suddenly hot and a tear ran down her cheek.
“Don’t worry, Avasu. He’s the Commander. He’ll be fine.” Deni patted her back, and then Taira joined them in the clearing, and they helped her out of the thicket, onto the open plain.
She was almost completely healed, but she let them support her as if she was still injured, and somehow, that didn’t feel like a lie.
Chapter 15
Ava.
It had been Ava’s eyes on him.
As he ran toward Revek and the others, Luc tried to balance the horror he’d felt earlier with the knowledge that this time, the eyes on him had only meant him well.
It was hard.
He admitted to himself that he was relieved to have an excuse to leave Ava with Deni, to think things through without looking at the pain and vulnerability he’d seen on her face.
He could hear a fight up ahead, and it sounded as if there were more combatants involved than there should be.
He burst through the thicket and saw Revek, Rafe and the young soldier in a fight for their lives with five Kassian soldiers.
The two spies had been joined by three others.
An arrow whistled past him, and he looked up to see the archer staring at him in disbelief, bow still raised, arm still back.
That no harm shall come to you.
That’s what Ava had told him she’d worked into his shirt.
Someone screamed a war cry, and he was suddenly engaged, fighting up close with his sword.
The tight space and enclosing bushes made everything harder, but he managed to get in a killing swing.
He looked up as his opponent went down, saw the archer aiming for Rafe, and made the decision to trust in his lover.
Trust her with his life.
He leaped in front of his unit commander, swinging his sword at the nearest Kassian spy, and the arrow fletch scraped the side of his neck as it shot past and disappeared into the bushes.
The archer turned his horse and gave a shout. One other Kassian managed to swing up onto their mount and the two urged their horses out of the clearing.
Two men lay dead, and the one Luc had just swung at lay injured at his feet. But he wouldn’t last long.
Luc saw he’d hit an artery, and the spy was losing blood too quickly.
Breath heaving in and out of his chest, Rafe bent over, and spat out some blood. “Just took a fist to the mouth,” he said, waving Luc away. “It’s Revek who got shot.”
Sure enough, his friend had an arrow sticking out of his left shoulder. He looked gray, and was down on one knee.
“Frederik?” Rafe turned to look for his underling, and Luc saw the young man slowly get to his feet, a slash across his cheek.
“That arrow.” Frederik’s eyes were wide. “I thought you were shot for sure, and then you moved just at the right moment.”
“You think the Kassian created those camps for the Cervantes just because, boy?” Rafe asked. “They wanted us because we are the natural fighters they wish they were themselves.”
Luc pulled a cloth from his pocket and wiped his sword down, slid it into its sheath, and noticed Frederik’s eyes were on the weapon the whole time.
“How bad?” he asked Revek.
“Not bad.” Rev wouldn’t look at him. Instead, he breathed in and then gave a shout as he ripped the arrow from his flesh.
Frederik turned to look at him, wild-eyed.
“Rafe, help me get him into the open.” Luc didn’t bother going back the way they’d come in. It was a circuitous route that would take too long. He slung a shoulder under Rev’s right side, and Rafe took the left. Frederik went ahead of them, holding branches back to make the going easier, and they eventually stepped out into the open.
Blood was flowing from Revek’s wound in a steady, relentless flow.
“He should have left it in until we got him to the healer.”
“Yes.” Luc sighed. “But he can’t bear having anything piercing his skin.”
It would do no good to blame Revek for this. He was how he was for good reason. And Luc had yet to find a way to help him.
He thought time would do that, but as the last few days had shown, that hadn’t happened.
A short way down from where they emerged, Ava stood with a patrol unit.
Luc saw her turn in their direction, her face shadowed by the hood of her cloak.
Was that worked with protections, too?
As they moved toward the group, Rafe shouted for a horse to carry Revek, and everyone sprang into action.
As Rafe rode off with him lying across his saddle, one of the Venyatux lieutenants, Raun-Tu, rode up, braided hair flying.
“Will you come speak to the General?”
Luc felt a stab of guilt at the relief the request gave him. More time away from Ava to gather his thoughts.
He nodded, moving across to the trees to untie the horse he’d left when he’d gone into the bush to find Ava.
“I’ll see you later,” he murmured to her as he passed her, letting his hand brush along her shoulder.
She looked up at him, and he thought she might have been crying. It shocked him into a stumbling step, but didn’t stop him.
She gave a nod, but as he swung up into his saddle and followed Raun-Tu, he had the same hollow sensation in the pit of his stomach he had the night before when she had walked away.
He might be the one leaving this time, but he was still the one with something to lose.
Chapter 16
She had ripped away the veil, and it had gone about as well as her mother and father had always warned her it would.
Ava pulled herself gingerly up onto her horse and started back toward the twin columns.
She felt sick to her stomach, and frightened.
Luc had the power now to reveal her secret to others. To put her in more danger than she’d ever been in before.
She had given him that power.
And yet, she still had hope in her heart that he would not do anything to hurt her.
Did that mean she’d won? Had managed to keep true to herself no matter the hard lessons being a prisoner for two years had taught her? Or was it naive and stupid? Trusting too much, too soon.
She gave a bitter smile.
She would learn soon enough, and could do nothing about it now.
“You don’t look so good.” Taira came up beside her. “Deni said you were knocked out cold by that branch.”
She gave a nod, more than happy for her demeanor to be put down to her injuries.
They had just reached the Venyatu column, still lumbering forward at its slow pace, when they were hailed by Raun-Tu, who came galloping down toward them.
When he pulled up beside them, there was a glint of speculation in his eyes. “Avasu, are you well enough to report to the healer’s tent on the far side of the Rising Wave column? The young soldier who went in to help you has had his face cut open, and the Commander says you are the best person to sew it up.”