Heir of Pendel (A Pandoran Novel, #4) (61 page)

As if I'd called his name, Danton glanced up and met my gaze. His face was hard and unreadable, and I felt a swell of…relief? Pain? Was it both? And then he looked back down at the body he carried, and he didn't look back up again.

"Daria." Alex stood beside me, and I had the impression that this wasn't the first time he'd said my name in the past minute. I felt a prick of pain from Alex, but his face was a blank canvas.

"Why is he here?" I whispered.

He studied me, warm breath rising from his chapped, pink lips. "You really don't know?"

I glanced back to where Danton worked with Carter, his head down and his back to me as if he were physically trying to keep me out of his periphery. No, not just keep
me
out of it, but Alex, too. Yes, I
did
know why Danton was here, and I would be lying if I said I didn't.

Alex didn't say another word about it but went back to searching for his fallen, and I walked beside him. He kept close to me but awkwardness hovered between us now. It was subtle, but it was there.

It took a few hours for us to gather everyone. We couldn’t bury them because the ground was frozen, so they were burned. Alex led the men in giving thanks for their sacrifice, people gave their blessings of safe passage to the afterlife, and one of the Nords lit the fire. We stood around in solemn silence as we watched the flames reclaim what the world had borne. The wind howled long and low as if Gaia herself mourned their sacrifice. At one point I caught Danton watching me from across the flames, but he looked quickly back to the fire and he didn't look back.

41

DARIA

T
here were a little less than a thousand in our company, plus a dragon, which I figured counted as at least another thousand. Nexus soared above us as we marched on. He offered to give me a lift for the few miles to Rex Cross, but I didn't want to fly just then. I wanted to trudge through the snow as Alex and his men trudged through it. I wanted to be a part of them and share their loss, and I couldn't do that from up there.

We reached Rex Cross within the hour. I'd been to Rex Cross once, when I'd first come to the world with Alex and his parents. We'd gone to the inn and stayed for the night, but apparently Rex Cross consisted of more than just that inn. There was a small town of sorts, which I hadn't noticed before, nestled in the trees behind the inn. This town technically belonged to Valdon, though situated on its fringes, and as we neared the low fence, a few of the people who lived there approached us, wary. Apparently, Lord Vega's men had used Rex Cross as an outpost, and they hadn't been very friendly about it.

So it wasn't any wonder the people of Rex Cross were equally concerned about our intentions. Also, because we had a dragon. Alex explained what we'd done to Campagna, that we only intended to regroup here, and that we'd be on our way to Castle Regius as soon as possible, but if it was still a problem, we'd camp outside. After that, the people didn't seem very concerned anymore. It also helped that Nexus perched himself in the surrounding forest and out of sight. He blended in astoundingly well with the landscape. And then Otis, the innkeeper at Rex Cross whom I'd met when I'd first come to Gaia with the Del Contes, opened up every room at his inn—free of charge—and even some of the people opened their homes for whoever needed a warm and dry place to sleep.

Under a thousand Nords piled into the little village of Rex Cross and crammed into any niche they could find. Danton and his men were amidst the guards who escorted our prisoners to the stables and tied them up for later questioning, and Alex, Vera, Myez, and I gathered together our injured and followed Thad to the local apothecary, aptly named Mortar and Pestle. The owner was a frail, elderly gentleman, named Eifred, who looked quite shocked at the sight of us, all covered in filth and blood. But when he saw how many Nords were lined up at his doors, he eagerly deferred all medicinal decisions to Thad.

One would think the Eifred had handed Thad the keys to the kingdom. Thad bounced around everywhere, barking demands while sorting through Eifred's stock of herbs and poultices. Myez offered to help with sutures, and after about a five-minute stare-down from Vera, Thad finally agreed to let him help.

Men piled into the Mortar and Pestle, lying all over floors and tables, making it a challenge to even walk. Alex and I worked side by side, going quickly through the stores of analgesics, astringents, and antiseptics while Thad hurried to keep making them. Thad also kept a stick of incense smoking in one corner. It smelled like cedar and burning, and was much too strong for my taste, but he swore to the seven territories it would relax the men and keep the demons away.

For hours it went on like this, all of us with our heads down, working. There was so much I wanted to say and ask Alex, and I could tell there was so much he wanted to say and ask me, but the task at hand didn't permit that yet. These men needed to be taken care of now. Still, with every glance and every light touch, the promise of that conversation passed wordlessly between us.

It felt so good working with Alex on a task, just like we used to do…before. Before everything turned complicated and the consequences so deadly. But working together now, we fell naturally into old patterns, reading each other's movements and anticipating each other's needs. I'd hold an arm while he'd wrap it, he'd hand me a jar of salve just as I was about to reach for it myself. On these occasions, we'd smile at each other, but the moments were quick and then we'd get back to work.

The night matured and bright moonlight shone through the windows of the apothecary. The candles we'd lit had already burnt halfway, and many of our patients were either sleeping or trying to. I finished replacing a bandage around a Nord's calf when I noticed Alex discreetly standing in a corner, examining his arm. I maneuvered around the bodies and over to him, and when he saw me, he abruptly dropped his arm to his side and pushed his sleeve down.

"Let me see it." I reached for his arm.

He pulled it away. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, and you were also fine that day Jinx sent you to the hospital. Let me see it." I reached for his arm again.

A grin teased his mouth, and this time he let me grab his hand and push his sleeve up. A deep red gash ran perpendicular along his forearm, and there was another one just beneath his scrunched-up sleeve. They'd stopped bleeding, but they were deep and the skin around them was inflamed.

"Alex." I looked up at him with scorn. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"It wasn't an emergency."

"Do you remember how this happened?"

"Ah, I think it was the gargon…when he pinned me down." At my glower, he said, "I wanted to wait until we took care of things here. They need help more than I do."

"Well,
now
it's an emergency. It's infected. Are gargon talons poisonous?"

"I don't think so—otherwise I would've experienced side effects hours ago."

I narrowed my eyes on him. He beamed innocently.

I scowled. "Wait here."

"Why do I feel like you just put me in time-out?"

"Because I did," I said.

He chuckled softly and I left him to find Thad, whom I spotted with Vera in the opposite corner, working on a man with a huge gash on his thigh.

"—a bleeder," Thad was saying to Vera as I approached. "No, it's better if you do it like this…" He slid his arms around her and pressed his hands on top of hers, which were pressing against the linens wrapped around the man's wound. Vera stiffened at his contact and her eyes opened big and wide, but Thad didn't seem to notice or care. Not until he glanced up and caught me watching them, and then they both jumped to their feet so fast one would think I'd caught them doing something inappropriate.

"Uh…hey, Rook." Thad moved over to me, careful not to step on one of the many sleeping, injured Nords. Vera, however, turned completely away from me and busied herself with the injured man.

Huh. Well, this was interesting. "Hi." I looked down at Vera's back then pointedly at Thad.

He glanced away and fanned the tips of his hair. "Need something?"

Fine. I'd get it out of him later. "Yeah, actually…that gargon gave Alex some pretty nasty lacerations on his arm. I need supplies…and probably something to stitch him up with. Just in case."

"You gonna do some sewing, Rook?" He said sewing like it was a code word for something else.

I shoved his shoulder.

He gasped as if he'd been wrongfully accused. "I didn't even say anything!"

"You don't have to."

"I swear…" He started sifting through jars and dried herbs. "Here I am, risking my life for you and Del Can't, and all you two ever do is mouth off." He slammed a jar of salve down on a table. "Both of you."

I snatched the jar. "Thanks. Antiseptic, and a needle and string?"

"Not even an apology?"

"Maybe when you deserve one."

"Sometimes I really hate that we're related," he said.

"Why's that?"

"Because you're too much like me." He handed me a small flask, a long metal needle, and a wad of string.

"Someone's gotta show you how irritating you are." I took the supplies from him with a wink.

He grinned. "Point proven." And then he scanned the room, drumming his fingers on the counter, thinking. "There's not really any more room down here for you to work, so why don't you two go upstairs?"

"Upstairs…?" I had no idea there was an upstairs in this place.

"Yeah, there's a little loft up there. It's where the witch doctor sleeps, but, well…" He nodded to the space behind him, where Eifred had passed out in a corner, head slumped forward and snoring. "I think you two could use the privacy, anyway." Thad gave me a knowing look.

I didn't respond. Mostly because privacy with Alex sounded nice.
More
than nice. "And how do we get upstairs?"

"There's a staircase on the other side of this wall, right before you get to the storage closet."

I hadn't even noticed it. But then again, Thad hadn't let any of us back there. He hadn't wanted any of us messing up his system. "Thanks," I said and started walking away.

"And Rook…"

I knew I wouldn't like what he was going to say based on his smirk. He had an assortment of smirks, and this particular one translated as 'what I'm thinking is totally inappropriate, and if I said it aloud, it could possibly get me smacked.'

So, true to form, he said it aloud.

"I'll make sure no one goes upstairs tonight." He winked. He looked so proud of himself, so glorious, certain he was getting under my skin.

So I smiled. Broadly. "Thank you."

He laughed as he shook his head, and then he got back to grinding something in a mortar and pestle. I gestured for Alex to follow me, and he stepped carefully over the bodies and met me at the back of the room.

"See what I've had to put up with?" He nodded toward Thad.

I chuckled. "You heard all that, huh?"

He grinned as he held out his hands to help carry some of the supplies, and I handed him the linens and the jar of salve. "Though I have to admit: I am looking forward to a little bit of privacy," Alex said for only me to hear.

The way he looked at me made my entire body fill with butterflies, and I smiled, feeling my cheeks warm. "I am too."

Sure enough, a small wooden stair sat right between two walls, and a torch burned at the top landing. Alex followed right behind me, the planks of wood creaking and groaning as we ascended, and the top ended in a door that had been left slightly ajar. I pushed it open, and it creaked on its hinges.

To call it a loft was generous. This space was about the size of a large broom closet, with a low, angled ceiling and a twin bed and small table—equipped with an oil lamp—miraculously squeezed inside. A sash of pale moonlight streamed from a little round window on the far wall, illuminating a small washstand and mirror nestled in the only remaining corner.

I ducked through the low, oblique lintel. "Watch your head," I said.

He followed close behind, ducked through the low doorway and closed the door after him, but the loft's ceiling wasn't much better. It sloped upward, but even at its tallest point, near the washstand, it still brushed the top of his hair. He was too big for this room.

I grinned. "I guess this is a perk of being short."

"Whatever makes you feel better about it." His eyes sparked with something I hadn't seen in a very long time.

"I don't believe you're in any position to be teasing me right now." I waved the needle.

"I'm not in a position to be doing much of anything, so…" He tapped on the ceiling, which currently pressed his head down at an uncomfortable angle.

I laughed then took the supplies from Alex. "Take off your shirt."

"Only six months as a princess, and look how demanding you've become."

"You don't know the half of it."

"Oh, but I do."

I made a face and he laughed. I loved hearing him laugh, and the sound of it warmed me from the inside out. And then he moved to the edge of the room, near the washstand where the ceiling was a little higher, and he took off his shirt.

I couldn't help it. The sight of him momentarily paralyzed me. His smooth and tanned skin, the muscles working in his abs and arms and back as he pulled his shirt up and over his head. Sometimes—like now—he looked so beautiful I forgot to breathe. That had to be some sort of superpower: being so beautiful you stun your enemies and they asphyxiate to death. He tossed his leather shirt on the bed, looked back at me, and caught me staring. He smiled innocently.

I laughed and shoved a linen at him. "Wash up."

He didn't move a single perfectly toned muscle.

"
Please
," I said. "You smell terrible."

He laughed again then moved to the washstand, turned on the faucet, and set to scrubbing his hands, arms, chest, face, and hair. There I was staring at him again, so I plopped down on the bed, set our supplies on the table, and used a little bit of magic to light the little oil lamp.