Chapter 81

CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE

Ellery

I halted the horses and tied their lines around the brake again before climbing from the carriage. I immediately went to Ryker's side to examine his wounds.

Before I could touch him, he grasped my hands to keep them away from him. "Take care of the horses first."

"Ryker—"

"I'm fine, but we have to get them unhooked from the carriage in case something happens. We can't have them bolting into the woods."

I glared at him as I looked from his determined countenance to his blood-soaked shirt and the awful arrow sticking out of him. It had to be excruciating, but the stubborn fool insisted I take care of the horses instead of tending to him.

"You're being ridiculous," I told him.

"And if they bolt into the woods and we lose the money, this would have all been for nothing. Take care of them."

"They're too tired to run anywhere."

Still, I turned away from him and went to take care of the exhausted animals. He would only lose more blood if I stood there and argued with him over it.

I shot him a disgruntled look over my shoulder as I examined the horses. They'd managed to avoid injury, though the one attached to the broken shaft did have a large swath of coat missing from where the shaft scraped its side.

They were too exhausted to run again, but they remained wound up as their ears flickered wildly, the whites of their eyes still showed, and they watched me warily. Talking quietly with them, I ran my hands over their wet coats as I carefully unhooked one of them from the carriage.

I led him over to a tree and tied him there before returning for the other one. While I worked, Ryker broke off the arrowhead protruding from his chest and patrolled what remained of Ianto's old camp.

We'd agreed to all meet here just in case. We couldn't take the chance of bringing someone back to Tucker's encampment.

Seeing us with a carriage full of the king's money would be a morale booster for those there, but too many things could go wrong if we went straight there. They'd get their happiness boost when we returned with the horses and the story of how we robbed the king… if everyone returned.

I shoved aside that bit of doubt while I worked. It was still too early to worry that everyone hadn't gotten away. We'd anticipated it could take hours or maybe a day or two for everyone to get away.

The king's guards would still be all over the area we'd robbed; the others might be unable to open a portal out of there for hours. However, they would be fine and joining us as soon as possible.

By the time I finished with the horses, the sun had set. The woods came alive with the sounds of the night creatures singing, chirruping, and hunting out there.

I walked over to one of the abandoned shelters. With most of the fence gone, this place wasn't as secure as Tucker's encampment, but it still had some supplies, and we'd stored more there yesterday.

I removed a pail and some bandages before heading to the river to gather water. When I finished, I returned to Ryker. He stood by one of the abandoned shelters with his shoulders back and a fierce look on his face, but his color was fading, and blood had run down to soak his pants too.

My heart lodged in my throat as I ran the last few steps to him and grasped his arm. "You should sit."

"I'm fine."

"You're not fine. Sit down ."

He hesitated before sinking to the ground. If he'd listened to me, he was worse off than I realized.

Panic clawed at my insides as I knelt beside him. Resting my hands on his shoulders, I nudged him forward and gasped when I saw the three shafts protruding from his back.

"There's three of them!"

"I know."

"Why didn't you say something?" I demanded.

"And when did I have time to do that? Besides, even if I had, we still had to get here and care for the animals."

I sat back to glower at the stubborn, exasperating man. "You should have sat down as soon as we got here."

"I needed to make sure we were safe."

"You know we are!"

"I've got three arrows in me, and you're yelling at me."

My scowl deepened, but I refrained from yelling at him again. Resting my hand on his shoulder, I leaned around him to peer at the arrows once more.

He'd taken them because of me . He'd been perfectly safe by the driver's seat but returned to put himself between me and those arrows. They wouldn't kill him, that would take either a beheading or having his heart ripped out, as it did with all amsirah, but they had to hurt like hell.

"Why didn't you stay in the driver's seat?" I moaned.

"And let you take the arrows?"

" Yes ."

"That was never going to happen."

"Why not?"

"I never leave anyone behind."

With a sigh, I gently touched one of the shafts, but I had no idea how to get it out of him. The one with the broken arrowhead should pull right out, but these….

I shuddered at what it would be like to remove those. He was already suffering enough; withdrawing them would only make it worse.

"The arrows have to come out," he said. "I can't heal while they remain in."

"Okay. Tucker should be back soon."

When his head turned toward me, I was surprised by the sympathy in his silver eyes. "That could be hours. They have to come out now."

I gulped as I looked from him to those awful things to him again.

"I already broke the head off one; just pull it out," he instructed.

"I… I… don't know how."

"Grab the shaft and pull it straight out. Don't lift up or down; go straight."

"It's going to hurt you."

"I've endured far worse than this."

That was true. Ryker's body was a roadmap of all the atrocious things he'd endured throughout his life, and those were only the scars I could see; he had many more on his heart and soul.

A lump lodged in my throat as my hand squeezed his shoulder. He was one of the strongest men I'd ever known, and when he allowed it to melt, he had one of the kindest hearts, and so many of those he'd trusted had inflicted pain on him… including me.

"I'm so sorry," I breathed.

When he turned toward me, I felt his gaze boring into me, but I couldn't look at him as tears slid down my face. "There's nothing to be sorry for; I made this choice."

"Not for this… well, I mean for this too." I lifted my head to meet his confused gaze. "For everything. You never deserved any of this… or… or what I did. You deserve so much better than what you've always had."

His face shuttered as he looked away. "It's the past."

"Yes, but?—"

"Take them out, Ellery."

I closed my eyes and wiped away my tears. He didn't want to hear this, and I was delaying the inevitable.