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Beside her, a wolf sat up. He must have been asleep on the floor. He tilted his head at her sudden movements but didn’t move toward her. She froze, studying the beast, when the front door opened, a gust of cold air nipping at her skin.
It was Cillian bringing in cut wood. He set it in a stand next to the fire, and as he unbuttoned his coat, he said, “I see you met Axel.”
“He’s yours?”
Cillian hung his coat and sat in the wood chair. He leaned forward and held out his hands. “Come here, boy.”
The wolf-like dog got up and went straight over to Cillian, his gray tail wagging and his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he panted with excitement.
Eva took a deep breath and moved back to the edge of the bed. “What happened?”
Cillian looked up from petting Axel, his eyes meeting hers. “One of the Others hit you over the head with the butt of his gun. You have a concussion. Our healer fixed up your head wound. How are you feeling?”
She laughed, then hissed as the movement caused her pain to intensify. “Like I’ve been hit over the head with the butt of a gun.”
Cillian smiled, and she swore her heart stopped for a second.
She gazed around the room again, noticing mounted antlers hanging from the wall and a few pictures on top of the bookshelves. But she couldn’t make out the images from her place on the bed. It reminded her of the only photo she had left of her mom, back in Everwood...
The cabin was small but cozy, and a warm feeling settled in her chest. She liked it here; it felt a lot like home.
“Is this your house?” she asked.
He nodded, not taking his eyes off her. “It is. I built it about five years ago. There are some things I’ve been hoping to add—a separate room for the bed and a closer washroom. Speaking of which, there’s a bathhouse just out this door to your left. Feel free to use the water in the pitcher on the counter for drinking or washing. There are some clean towels in the chest next to the bed.”
She smiled as that warmth in her chest grew bigger. “Thank you, Cillian.”
He looked back to Axel, his eyebrows pulled together as he pet his head gently. “You shouldn’t have helped me yesterday—you put yourself in harm’s way and look what happened.” He stood, strode to the kitchen, and poured some of the deep bronzed liquid from the decanter into a glass.
After tossing the blanket aside, she stood, putting most of her weight on her good leg. “He was trying to kill you!”
Her ears rung, and a sharp pain streaked across her forehead. She gripped her head, a moan escaping her lips.
In no time, his hand was on her elbow, easing her back onto the bed. He sat on the edge next to her. “You shouldn’t be moving around yet. Here, take a sip, it’s the closest thing we have to a pain medicine around here.”
Her eyes glossed over, blurring her vision as she stared at the cup. She took it from his hands, brought it to her lips, and took a generous pull, grimacing as it burned going down her throat. What she would give for the last two days to not have been real. If only...
He put his arm around her shoulder, and instinctively, she rested her head against him.
As he rubbed her arm, he said, “I need to see my father and speak with him about what has happened. We need to make a plan.”
She sat forward and faced him. “I should go with you.”
He shook his head. “No—”
“How is he gonna understand the gravity of the situation—”
He took hold of both her shoulders. “Angel, listen to me. Most of the residents here don’t know who you are yet. The one guard at the gate recognized you, I’ve sworn him to secrecy. My brother and Becky, the healer that tended you, are loyal, they won’t speak a word of your presence. But not all of Stone Haven agrees with the peace treaty we were trying to create with Everwood. I don’t want to scare you, but you need to lay low until we can form a plan.”
She took a deep breath. He was right. She was in enemy territory, and in this moment, as far as the people of Stone Haven were concerned, there was no peace treaty. She was their enemy. “You’re right.”
The sun was starting to rise, the light streaking through the cabin and around his form as he stood and said, “I need you to rest and heal, got that?”
Cillian was much bossier than Krieger, but as her insides fluttered at his words, she decided she liked him better this way.
“Okay.”
She needed Stone Haven’s help if she had any chance of getting Everwood out from under General Rush’s control. She needed to be at fighting capacity and fast. Who knew what the general was doing to her people, her crew—her father. She had already lost her mother to violence, was she destined to lose her father in the same way?
