lisa pressed herself against the wagon wheel, holding her breath. Heavy footsteps approached.
"Probably just a rat," one of the darians said. "This place is crawling with them."
"Check anyway."
[Fuck fuck fuck.]
The footsteps got closer. lisa’s mind raced through spell options. She could try the invisibility spell, but it took too long to cast. Fire shield would give away her position. Maybe if she—
"Blood Sister returns!"
The shout echoed across the camp. The approaching footsteps stopped.
"Already? The patrol wasn’t supposed to—"
"She’s injured. Get the healers!"
All thoughts of investigating suspicious noises forgotten, the darians rushed away. lisa stayed frozen for another heartbeat before scrambling out from behind the wagon.
[Injured? Who did they fight?]
Whatever the case, she was absolutely going to take the convenient timing.
She followed the flow of bodies toward the camp entrance. Warriors crowded around, making it hard to see. But she caught glimpses—armor splattered with blood, weapons being passed off to attendants.
Then she saw Sirah.
The darian warrior stood tall despite the gash across her shoulder, blood painting her armor in abstract patterns. Her red hair stuck to her face with sweat and gore. Those blue eyes found lisa in the crowd imdiately.
A slow smile spread across Sirah’s face.
[Please don’t be my friends’ blood. Please don’t be my friends’ blood.]
"My prize," Sirah called out, her voice carrying over the noise. "Co."
It wasn’t a request.
lisa pushed through the crowd, trying to read sothing—anything—in Sirah’s expression. Had they attacked the Syux camp? Was that Isabella’s blood on her sword?
Inside Sirah’s tent, the warrior started stripping off her armor without ceremony. Each piece hit the ground with a wet thud.
"Help ," Sirah said.
lisa didn’t move.
"I said help ." Sirah’s voice dropped dangerously.
"Whose blood is that?"
Sirah paused, looking at lisa with sothing between amusent and annoyance.
"Enemies."
"What enemies? Where?"
"You ask many questions for a concubine."
"I’m not your concubine."
Sirah laughed, wincing as the movent pulled at her shoulder wound.
"No? Then what are you?"
[Good question.]
"Soone who’s not going to do anything for you until you tell who you fought."
The tent fell silent. Sirah’s eyes narrowed to slits.
"Bandits," she said finally. "On the eastern road. They thought to ambush us."
Relief flooded through lisa so fast it made her dizzy. Not her friends. Not the Syux camp.
"Now," Sirah said, her voice low and dangerous. "Help , or I’ll find another use for you."
lisa moved forward, helping Sirah out of the blood-soaked leather. The wound on her shoulder looked bad—deep but clean. It would scar.
"You need a healer," lisa said.
"Later." Sirah grabbed lisa’s wrist, pulling her close. "First, I need you."
The kiss that followed was violent, all teeth and dominance. lisa tasted copper—blood from a split lip. Sirah’s hands were already working at lisa’s clothes.
"No," lisa said, pulling back.
Sirah stared at her like she’d grown a second head.
"No?"
"You’re injured. You need—"
"I need to fuck," Sirah growled. "Battle makes the blood sing. You will satisfy ."
"I won’t."
The silence stretched between them like a taut wire. Sirah’s expression cycled through confusion, anger, and sothing else lisa couldn’t identify.
"You refuse ?"
"I do."
[Please don’t kill . Please don’t kill .]
Sirah released her, stepping back. For a mont, lisa thought she might actually strike her. Instead, the darian laughed.
"Interesting." She sat heavily on the furs, pressing a hand to her wounded shoulder. "Very well. Send the healers when you leave."
lisa blinked.
"That’s... it?"
"Would you prefer I force you?" Sirah’s smile was sharp. "I could. But where’s the satisfaction in mounting an unwilling mate?"
"I assu most here wouldn’t care."
"I’m not most." Sirah lay back on the furs, closing her eyes. "Go. Before I change my mind."
lisa didn’t need to be told twice. She ducked out of the tent, nearly colliding with a nim carrying dical supplies. It was funny, given that lisa could obviously just heal Sirah herself, but, well, she didn’t mind getting a little more alone ti.
"She needs help," lisa said.
The nim nodded and hurried inside. lisa stood there for a mont, processing what just happened.
[Wow. She let go. She actually let say no.]
Strange.
---
{Raven}
Miles away, in the Syux military camp, Captain Fenris spread a map across the table.
"The darian camp is here," she said, marking the location. "Based on our scouts’ reports, they have between eighty and a hundred warriors."
"Against our thirty," Armia said.
"Twenty-eight," Fenris corrected. "We lost two."
Isabella’s tail swished anxiously.
"So when do we move?"
"We don’t. Not yet."
"What?" Isabella’s voice pitched high. "Every second we wait—"
"Every second we wait is a second they’re not expecting us," Fenris interrupted. "Right now, they know we want her back. They’ll have doubled the guards, tripled the patrols. We need to let them relax."
"How long?" Raven asked.
Captain Fenris took a mont to think about it.
"Three days. Maybe four."
"Four days?" Isabella looked ready to explode. "You want to leave lisa with those brutes for four days?"
"I want to get her back alive," Fenris said. "Rushing in now is suicide. Regardless of the plan we go for."
Armia considered it and then sighed.
Raven, on the other hand, was considering whether she should just go get lisa on her own.
"I guess you’re not too wrong. We need them complacent."
"Besides," Fenris added, studying the map. "We need ti to prepare. This distraction of yours—it needs to be perfect. One mistake and we’re all dead."
Isabella deflated slightly.
"Fine. But if anything happens to her..."
"It won’t," Captain Fenris replied. "Trust ."
Fenris rolled up the map.
"Get so rest. Tomorrow we start preparations. And rember—no one acts without my order. Understood?"
The three girls nodded reluctantly.
As they left the command tent, Isabella grabbed Raven’s arm.
"You really think she’s okay?"
Raven considered the question.
"She’s alive, probably. That’s what matters."
"That’s not what I asked."
"I know."
They walked in silence back to their tents. Above them, stars glittered in the cold night sky.
[Hold on, lisa,] Raven thought. [We’re coming.]
Reviews
All reviews (0)