Page 73 of Whispers of Ruin
“How could he fight them off and kill them?” Ryker asked.
“I have no idea.”
“Maybe it’s because he’s a mixed breed.”
“Maybe.”
Though Kaylia knew that wasn’t the answer,shewasn’t a mixed breed after all. And she suspected Ryker didn’t buy the explanation either, but neither of them had a better one.
“I’ll see you soon.”
With those words, he turned and walked away. Kaylia entered her shelter, gathered her things, hastily packed them into her bag, and tossed it on her shoulder.
When she left the shelter, her gaze went to the witches who were erecting a new barrier as Ryker’s men carried their dead into an open portal. Sadness hung heavily in the air as more dead were transported back to their families.
They had to be here, but she hated this place.
Kaylia kept her head high as she hurried back to Brokk’s side and set her pack on the ground next to him. She removed the ointment and leaned forward to dab it onto the raw, red, circular wound.
Dozens of smaller circles peppered the larger one. Those circles reminded her of an octopus’s tentacles with all its little suction cups.
They literally sucked the life from him.
Kaylia shuddered at the reminder and recapped her ointment before returning it to her pack. Brokk’s far-paler-than-normal skin was clammy to the touch as she smoothed the cream over the wound.
When she finished, she kissed just behind the injury and her ointment. She had no idea why she did it other than she had to connect with him.
He stiffened against her then relaxed. She inhaled deeply, savoring his scent, before moving away and placing her hand on the ground beside him.
His fingers found hers and intertwined with them. The strength and warmth of them were a little reassuring but not enough to ease the worry churning inside her.
When the memory of Fabian rose into her mind, she pushed it down. Ignoring the reminder of him did nothing to ease her guilt, but this wasn’t the place for it. Brokk needed support in his weakened state, and she would give it to him.
CHAPTERSIXTY-EIGHT
“Ryker was asking about you,”she told Brokk.
He removed his hand from hers and settled it in his lap. “Tell him I’m fine.”
“I did. He said we’re going to stay here tonight. They’re returning their dead to Tempest now.”
“How many did they lose?”
“Five, I think. I didn’t ask, but that’s how many bodies I saw while we were returning after the attack.”
“That’s too bad. How about the witches?”
“I don’t think they lost any.”
“Good.”
Kaylia fiddled with the edge of his blanket as she recalled her conversation with Ryker. There was something she had to ask Brokk, but she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.
But it wasn’t a question that could go unanswered. “He asked how you withstood the seduction of the mandarus when they couldn’t.”
Kaylia couldn’t bring herself to saywhen we couldn’t. She hadn’t felt the pull of those creatures as badly as the others either and could have withstood it. She couldn’t say the same for the others as they were all far more enthralled than her by those women.
Brokk’s eyes remained fixed beyond her shoulder on the canvas wall of his shelter. While she waited for him to speak, her heart hammered in anticipation ofsomething… but what that something was, she didn’t know.
