. . . the one with the ring she’d purchased only a few weeks ago, for just such a moment as this . . . and blew. Has to work. A fine, dark powder misted over the man’s face, the same drug Jecis used to sedate the otherworlders. He coughed, his skin flushing with color, and she retreated into the darkness. A moment later, his knees collapsed. He hit the ground, already unconscious.
“Bernard?” the other guard said, striding forward. He reached his friend and crouched down—and Vika was there, crouching as well, blowing powder in his face. He too coughed and fell, landing on top of his buddy.
She waited, just to be sure. Both males remained in place.
A small measure of joy burst through her. It had worked!
In an hour, they would awaken and they would remember what she’d done, but they wouldn’t tell Jecis, she didn’t think. Most likely they would rather undergo chastisement for sleeping on the job than cast blame upon her and suffer an even worse fate.
Vika rushed forward, dropping to her knees the moment she reached Blue Eyes’s side. His head was turned toward her, his cheek resting on the stump, his jaw clenched. His eyes were closed, the long length of his lashes fanning out. Flecks of blood had splashed onto his face. Unable to stop herself, she reached out and tenderly brushed the hair from his brow.
He met her gaze. “What are you doing, Vika?”
“Helping.”
“Don’t. I’m not in a nice mood.”
A tide of warmth rose inside her, washing through her. He thought to protect her from himself. He was as beautiful as he was strong, she realized, and she hated seeing him brought so low by such evil.
I should have stopped this. I should have done something.
Well, she was doing something now.
“I must.” As quickly as she was able, she unhooked the cuffs from the stump. Despite the fact that Blue Eyes was still awake, he slumped forward, making no effort to stop his momentum.
She caught him before he hit the ground. He was too big and too heavy for her to drag back to his cage. Plus, his back . . . oh, sweet mercy. Bile burned a path up her chest. Up close, she could see exposed hunks of muscle, decimated tissue, and blood leaking into a thousand tiny rivers.
The tears returned to her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. She eased him to the ground as best she could, felt a vibration, and suspected he’d moaned. It was his first reaction to what had happened. Either the action had hurt him worse than the whipping or he didn’t mind revealing his pain to her.
She straightened, intending to rush to the edge of the clearing where she’d stored food and medicine and other supplies, knowing she would have to feed the prisoners and doctor Blue Eyes swiftly, without alerting anyone at camp. But before she could take a single step, surprisingly strong fingers wrapped around her ankle.
“I’ll be back,” she said, and pointed to where she needed to go.
Blue Eyes maintained his grip. Shadows and golden firelight flickered over his face, twining light with dark, and while she could see that his lips were moving, she couldn’t make out the words.
“Let go,” she said, and prayed she hadn’t yelled. “You’re too weak to do anything to me, and besides that, I have salve over there.”
This time his grip tightened. “I’m not too weak. And I warned you I’m on the edge.”
Her gaze darted through the area, but no one jumped out at her. A blessing, surely, and one she might not receive again. Unable to think up any other option, Vika sat down. Still Blue Eyes maintained his hold on her ankle, forcing her to curl into a ball to meet his eyes.
She placed one hand on her throat, and said, “What do you want from me?”
“I told you what I wanted.”
Just now or before? Deciding to brave it out, she said, “Let me guess. Freedom. Well, too bad. You need medical attention first.”
He frowned at her.
Great. Had she missed by a mile? “Let go of me, or I’ll fight my way free and leave you here. And before you think that will allow you to crawl away to lady liberty, know that I’ll knock you out first. My father wasn’t lying. There’s a tracker in the cuffs, and you’ll be better off staying put.”
“What about you? Will he beat you for helping me?”