Her cousin gasped. “You’re a philistine, bro!”
“Gwen…” Hugh spoke over the trolls. “Your knees are cut too.”
Well, yes, but stinging knees were the least of her problems. “Sabby will help with that at the breach site. I’ve also got a few bandages tucked away in my tote bag.”
Powerful oracles usually had enough time between visions to recover completely or had access to healing spells. But those oracles had acquired wealthy patrons and shared visions of sufficient import to justify the wait or expense. Gwen’s clientele often paid with goods or favors instead of money, because they had far more kindness than cash. If she wanted to eat or pay rent, she had to prophesize every day. Sometimes several times a day. Duringeach session, her sliced palm would scab over, but it would still hurt—and it would keep hurting until she cut it open again.
So, yeah, she carried bandages with her. Always. Just in case she flexed her hand the wrong way and her perennial wound opened wide once more.
“And that bag is…?” The patience in the demon’s tone sounded strained.
“In Lorrie’s car.” They hadn’t wanted to carry any identification with them on their mission, for obvious reasons. “We’ll be there soon.”
And in the meantime, screw it. She was freakingfreezing. If she got blood on her hand-knit gifts, so be it. Farhanah would forgive her.
“I’ll be right back.” Slipping out from under Hugh’s arm, she jogged ahead to dig through the bags swinging from Lorrie’s shoulder. Upon unearthing her knitwear, Gwen promptly stretched the slightly-too-small, pom-pom-adorned cap over her hair and pulled on her lumpy mittens, then waited for Hugh to catch up.
Immediately, he pulled her into the shelter of his body once more, and she blew out a pleased breath as they continued walking along the gravel together.
“Lorrie.” They’d almost reached the drawbridge before he spoke again, this time to their troll companion. “Will I have time to change before you drive us to the breach site?”
Hugh wanted to remove his crop top? Already?
An involuntary sound of protest escaped Gwen’s disobedient mouth. Horrified, she faked a coughing fit, hoping against hope that the whipping wind and crunch of gravel underfoot had covered her telltale noise.
Hugh slowed, his fingers clasping her upper arm more securely. “Are you well, Gwen?”
“Fine.” Embarrassed by her untimely lust for a sitting SERC councilor but otherwise unharmed. “Thank you for asking.”
“Glad you’re good, mini-oracle,” Lorrie said. “As far as changing clothes: No can do, dude. We have no idea when the conspirators might arrive to pin the blame on demons, so there’s no time for delay.”
Oh, thank goodness.
Lorrie tossed Hugh a smirk. “Sorry to just leave you standing, alone in a world that’s so cold.”
“I’m not alone,” Hugh pointed out. “And I’m walking, not standing.”
“Picky, picky.” Kip’s head tipped to the side. “Would you say he’s just like my mother, cuz?”
“Never satisfied,” she confirmed.
The demon’s sigh was barely audible over the cousins’ snickering. Gwen tried to keep a straight face, with limited success.
They reached the drawbridge shortly thereafter, and Gwen separated from Hugh with a small, disappointed sigh of her own. Assisted by his careful boost, she managed to clamber up the embankment and onto the roadway, and the rest of the group followed. Within moments, they’d all stashed their belongings and piled into Lorrie’s SUV. And after a quick U-turn on the Zone’s deserted access road, they were headed for the breach site.
Since they’d discovered that the back seat exacerbated Gwen’s nausea, Kip had waved her into the front passenger seat. In that spot, a large vent blew blessedly warm air directly onto her, and she basked in the welcome heat for a minute. Then she reacheddown beneath the dashboard, where she’d shoved her tote bag. As discreetly as possible, she unearthed her stash of prenatal vitamins from the bag’s depths and tossed the pills back with cautious sips of water.
By all accounts, Hugh was an exceedingly shrewd demon. If they worked together long enough, he’d put together the puzzle pieces and realize she was pregnant. But in the meantime, she was keeping that info to herself. It wasn’t his business, and he didn’t need yet another reason to question her judgment.
Luckily, the trolls had apparently decided to keep her secret too, and Hugh didn’t ask any questions about the pills she’d just taken. He did, however, lean forward from the back seat to quietly remind her to disinfect and bandage her wounds.
Sheesh, she’d had no idea demons were such mother hens.
The rising sun illuminated her first aid efforts as they drove onward. She’d almost finished applying her last bandage by the time they approached Wall Three and the waterway separating Zones C and B. The drawbridge had been lowered over the moat, and the towering door through the wall stood ajar, just like when they’d passed through it hours before.
Normally, the drawbridge only lowered and the door only opened for one vehicle at a time, after the driver scanned a valid pass. Not many passes were issued, for safety’s sake.
“I can’t get used to seeing everything wide-open like this.” Lorrie shook her head as the SUV jolted onto the drawbridge. “Those fuckers really wanted the zombies to slaughter theentireContainment Zone population.”
