Once or twice, Alexios tries to say something to Silver, but Silver always shakes his head and glances at me. Whatever they want to talk about, they can’t say in front of me, it would seem.
“Who was that? I mean, who is attacking?”
“Hard to know at this point, given we cut and ran,” Silver says.
“It was the right thing to do,” Alexios adds. “None of us were prepared for that kind of onslaught.”
“The guards must have been bought off, or killed,” Silver murmurs. “We didn’t have even the slightest indication...” He closes his mouth, his lips a thin line.
“We got cocky,” Alexios agrees. “And now we have to hope we get lucky.”
The tea isn’t enough to make things better. The warmth of the run for our lives is fading, as is the relief at still existing as we all realize that the others may not.
“We didn’t post a single fucking guard,” Alexios mutters. “Not one lookout.”
“Mattias and Elias were looking out,” Silver says.
“So they either let that happen, or they died first.”
“They wouldn’t let it happen. They wouldn’t let me be hurt!” I interrupt his speculation, growing increasingly upset at the very idea of Mattias or Elias betraying me. They might have worked for the sheriff, but they looked after me.
But, there’s the other option. If they didn’t betray the mercenaries, maybe they died first. I don’t want to think of that being a possibility. I don’t want to imagine any of this being true. I want to shut my eyes and discover that this was all some fucked-up fever dream.
“Try to get some rest,” Silver says, coming over to sit next to me on the stretcher. “It’s been a long day and it will be an even longer night.”
“I don’t want to rest. We should go back for the others.”
“Absolutely not. Nobody leaves the rendezvous point until everyone is here or accounted for,” Alexios says, his voice rough with command.
“Lie down,” Silver soothes, putting a large hand on my shoulder and easing me back onto the bed.
“It’s this dress,” I mutter, my eyes filling with tears. “Dresses are cursed. I want it off!”
“Do we have a change?” Silver asks Alexios.
“Yeah. It will all be too big for her, but...”
“Grab a shirt, a sweater, some underwear, and some socks,” Silver says. “She needs to be in something warmer than this anyway.”
He helps me strip out of my clothing, and then helps me re-dress in an oversized white t-shirt, a big wooly sweater, and long socks that come up over my knees.
“Cute,” he says, pressing a kiss to my nose, the tender touch sending a little blush of warmth through my body. “Now, you’re going to lie down under this blanket, and you’re going to curl up and get some sleep.”
“But...”
He fixes me with that gaze, the one that makes it impossible to look away.
“How are you doing that?” I clap my hands over my eyes.
He chuckles and peels them away. “It’s just something I know how to do to help people.”
“Like you helped me get fucked in front of a million people?”
“Helped you enjoy it,” he says, flickering a wink at me. “Not that you needed much help. Now lie down. Let me tell you a bedtime story.”
Outside the rusty door, there is brutality taking place in the distance. I know that. I know death is being dealt. I know those I have already come to care about are in danger. I know I may have lost them forever.
Knowing all those things makes me eager to escape into Silver’s story.