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I kept my jogging steps steady, resisting the urge to look around as I reached out with my power. Out here in the fields, running through the crops, there could be no mistake. Someone was following me.
My heart rate, which had finally started to slow, instantly spiked again, my already ragged breathing becoming frantic. Who had followed me out here and what was their purpose? I knew it was a man, which meant it wasn’t Amara, but who else would have any reason to follow me?
If it was related to the injured girl, did they intend to force me back immediately, not trusting me to return on my own? Surely no one would want to block Josie’s healing, so they couldn’t wish to prevent my returning.
Or could my pursuer be unrelated to the incident? Had someone seen me running alone and thought I was weak prey?
Determination filled me. My hands clenched into fists and then stretched out again, my fingers extending to their fullest reach. As soon as my pursuer felt my touch, he would realize his mistake.
Steeling myself, I prepared to make a move. Better to take him by surprise than allow him to dictate the interaction. Readying my muscles, I jerked to a sudden stop, whirling in the middle of the field to face my pursuer.
It took the man several strides to process my abrupt halt, and by the time he slowed his forward momentum, he was close enough for me to grab his wrist. But at the same instant I made contact, I recognized his features.
“Nik!”
I let him go, my legs collapsing underneath me at the sudden release from tension. Cramping pain shot through my calves as they protested my recent intense and unusual activity.
“Whoa there!” Nik caught me under the arms, supporting my weight. “Are you all right?”
The pain in my legs made me wince and shake my head, even as my power reached for the seizing muscles. Within seconds, the pain had stopped completely, but I couldn’t bring myself to take my own weight again. The reality of the situation was crashing over me, and the strength I’d feigned only moments ago was already being sucked away.
Nik stared into my face, his brow creased. When I didn’t respond, he grunted and swept me into his arms, carrying me like a baby.
For a second, I considered protesting, but I didn’t have the will. Instead, I wrapped my arms around his neck, burrowed my face into his chest, and shamelessly let him carry me. For a short while there was only the soothing warmth of his body and the rhythmic fall of his steps.
But all too soon he was lowering me into a sitting position on a large, sawn-off tree trunk. I blinked and looked around.
He had taken me to the edge of the field, aiming for a small cluster of trees that provided an area of shade. Someone had cut down this tree, but for some reason, the others had so far been spared.
I glanced from the grain in the nearest field to the low-lying crop in the next one over. Did they belong to different farms? I knew I was letting my mind wander to avoid the real issue, but I couldn’t seem to muster the energy to stop myself.
An orange blur leaped from the ground into my lap, curling up and pressing her head against me. Tears immediately pricked my eyes as I wrapped my hands gently around the fox’s body. Her soft fur was familiar and comforting in a way beyond words.
Nik knelt on one knee in front of me, his eyes worried as he examined my face.
“I saw Ember running, which is how I found you,” he said after the silence grew too long. “I thought you might be in danger at first, but…” He trailed off, tactfully not mentioning that there had been no pursuer to fuel my desperate sprint. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
“I…There was an accident…” It was all I could manage.
“An accident?” He went taut, his face tightening as his fingers slid up and down my arms, looking for an injury not visible to his eyes.
I shook my head. “Not me. A girl. In the town…” Again I struggled to go on, and he waited silently with a patience I hadn’t realized he possessed. The same patience he must have used all those times when he watched Grey.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to speak, quickly relating what had happened as we approached the village and what I had found when I tried to heal the girl.
He listened silently, showing neither sympathy nor judgment, simply allowing me to get it all out. When I finished, he sighed, maneuvering himself onto the stump beside me and running a hand over his face. Instinctively I knew it was the sort of situation he hated—a life was hanging in the balance, but there was nothing he could do and no one he could fight.
It was the sort of situation that was supposed to provide a moment of glory for a healer, not a warrior. Except when it didn’t.
“So there’s nothing you can do to save her leg,” he said at last.
“How can you say that?” The words exploded out of me. “How can they all just accept that such a young girl should lose a leg? She won’t be able to walk or run or dance or…” My words broke off in a choking sob.
He took one of my hands in both of his, seeming to understand that my anger wasn’t really directed at him. I looked up at him, my tears making his image watery.
“How can her parents do that to her? They should be fighting for her! It’s their responsibility to save her!”
“Her parents…” He repeated the words softly, the look in his eyes impossible to read. For a moment there was silence, and then he squeezed my hand. “Your parents didn’t protect you.” He didn’t say it as a question.
