Page 20 of Lies That Bleed
I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see Anika there, gripping her dagger. “Protect our team, I’ve got this!” I snapped at her.
Her nostrils flared but I didn’t give her time to respond. I sprinted past Kohen’s sleeping team and through the woods, stepping into full-on mayhem. Kohen was bleeding heavily from the neck, staunching a wound with one hand while he fought off two attackers with the other.
One imperial soldier lay dead at his feet already. Kohen kicked out from where he sat on the ground, landing a boot squarely in the chest of one of his attackers, and at the same time slashed out with his sword in an effort to protect himself.
He was losing a lot of blood. What the hell was I doing here? What was I going to do, kill one of my father’s men to protect my family’s sworn enemy?
This is insane!
The imperial soldier he’d kicked to the ground stood, holding out a bolt shooter aimed at Kohen’s head.
I never in a million years thought my first kill would be a soldier who had sworn allegiance to my family, but before I could stop myself I stepped forward, coming up behind the attacker and dragging my blade across his throat.
His bolt shooter dropped to the ground a secondbefore he did. The third and final attacker lunged for Kohen and I dropped him too with a sword through his chest.
Kohen stared up at me, eyes wide, as he grabbed the cut on his neck frantically to try to stop the bleeding.
We were locked in a stare. Again. This one all-consuming. It was like the wheels of fate had suddenly stopped and begun to spin in another direction.
My chest heaved as I backtracked through the woods and grabbed his pack. I returned a second later with the staplegun and some gauze from the medic-kit he had most definitely stolen.
My hands shook as I brought the stapler up to his neck. I’d been trained in basic medic triage; blood didn’t scare me. Kohen Badshah did though. He watched me, silently, as I tended to his wound. I peeled his fingers away one by one, stapling his neck back together in such a crude way I was sure it would scar. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would care about that though. My fingers touching his warm skin was sensual, though it shouldn’t be. There was too much blood for that, and yet I kept stealing glances at his lips.
When I finished closing the wound, I was relieved to see it had stopped bleeding. He was so damn lucky it didn’t hit an artery. I taped the gauze over it to hopefully ward off an infection and then set the stapler back into his pack. He stood and I glanced around,taking stock of the carnage. Three dead bodies. All imperial soldiers. Thank the stars I didn’t know any of them personally.
What the hell did I just do?Was I insane? I needed to get out of here.
I turned to leave when Kohen’s hand snaked out and his fingers deftly grasped mine. He tugged and forced me to look at him.
“Thank you.” His voice was thick with emotion, eyes searching, fingers still holding mine as if I were made of glass.
“We never speak of this again,” I told him. “It didn’t happen.”
Disappointment flashed across his face and he dropped my fingers, nodding.
I walked back over to our firepit where Anika was bopping on her heels. Alek was awake now with her.
“What happened? Is Kohen okay?” she asked, looking down at my blood-soaked hands.
“He’s fine,” I said, and then leaned over the fire and threw up the contents of my stomach.
I murdered two imperial soldiers. If anyone found out, I would not only lose my heir status, I could be tried for treason by my own father.
Chapter
Seven
The rest of the night was merciful. I didn’t sleep and neither did Alek or Anika, though they graciously didn’t ask why I had yakked into the fire or had blood on my hands which I’d wasted half a canteen of water removing. Kohen resumed his spot at his campsite, watching me like a bird watched prey.
By morning, we were all ready to get a move-on and start some actual creature tracking and hunting. Alek knelt on the ground and poked a piece of animal poop. “Cougar or lion up ahead. This scat is still warm.”
“Gross,” Tetra commented.
“I want it,” Anika stated quickly.
Alek flicked his gaze at her. “A lion? That’s… powerful.”
She glared at him. “You don’t think I can takeit?”
