Page 82 of Lies That Bleed
‘Tell Kohen to end it,’Liana ordered.
“Liana says to end it,” I told him, flicking my gaze back to the creature, who was somehow still alive. The instructor’s creatures that had attacked me had died pretty quickly, but maybe the Talanagi were stronger, outlasting their bonded a little longer.
Kohen walked over to me with an emotionless expression, grasped the bolt shooter from my goodarm, and shot the dragon in the back of the head. It went limp, fighting to live no more.
I peered into the woods. “Do you think there’s more coming?”
Kohen shook his head, frowning as he stared at my wrist. “I think this was an assassination attempt, not a move to take our cargo.”
I frowned. Why did people keep trying to kill me? I mean, I was the future empress and they were definitely Luskin, but… it didn’t make sense. Why now?
“You’re upset?” I asked. Kohen’s jaw was clenched shut, nostrils flaring as he breathed deeply.
“Kohen, talk to me. What’s wrong?” I stepped forward and reached out to probe the cut under his eye with my good hand. It might need glue or stitches.
His hand snaked out and grasped my fingers, which he pulled to his chest, laying them over his heart. The wild fluttering danced under my fingertips as I locked eyes with my father’s sworn enemy.
“I couldn’t protect you,” he finally growled out.
Now it was my turn for my heart to beat frantically in my chest.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I don’t need you to protect me.”
His eyes grew stormy, his dark thick brows drawing downward. “One day you will. One day you willbegme to protect you.”
I yanked my hand back, fear spiking through me.
“Shit.” He grabbed the sides of his face. “I freakedyou out again. I’m sorry. Knowing these things… it’s a curse.”
I nodded, suddenly grateful I didn’t have his power.
“The others are hurt, we should go help,” I told him, changing the subject.One day I would beg him to protect me?I wish I didn’t know that.
We both got on our creatures and flew down to the train tracks. I leapt off of Liana and took everything in. It was truly like a warzone. The injured cadets had been dragged out of the train car and laid onto the forest floor. Alek’s medical team was triaging them with the medic-kits, but you could tell they only had basic knowledge, nothing to handle this. There were never supposed to be serious injuries.
Kohen stopped at the tracks and growled, looking down. I followed his gaze, seeing the bolts that had been removed and the track that had been slid over to the side, causing the train to just fly off into the woods. We were lucky to be alive.
I strode over to the worst-looking cadet I could find. It was little Meera. She wailed into the fading daylight as she clutched her arm, which hung limply at her side.
With the medic manual in his hands, Alek stared up at me, panicked. “I think it’s dislocated but I don’t know how to…”
I nodded. I did. It was something Elaine taught me.
Kohen knelt next to Meera and met my gaze, then he peered at Alek and I noticed a slight surge of irritation there before it was gone.
“I can try,” Kohen said. “I’ve seen it done before.”
I shook my head. “I can do it.” I knew she was special to him, and when you were popping in a dislocated shoulder you had to cause someone a fair amount of pain. He would stop out of compassion before getting the job done.
“Get her a stick to bite down on,” I said, and Meera looked at me with wide, terrified eyes.
“I’m going to help you, and most of that pain is going to go away. It hurts because the bone is out of the socket. Once I put it back, you can move it and you’ll start to heal.”
She chewed on her lip and nodded, tears streaming down her face.
Kohen returned with the stick and put it into her mouth. Meera bit down and he peered up at me.
“Just hold her steady,” I told him, but with a widening of my eyes that saidPin her down.
