The Wind's Call (The Broken Lands #4) - T.A. White Page 0,45
She yelped as she narrowly avoided a hoof in the face.
Shouts and screams sounded from outside.
Eva caught a glimpse of someone at the rear of the wagon before Sebastian's thrashing forced her to concentrate on her own survival.
"Would you like to lend a hand?" she shouted at Ajari.
He stared down at her in amusement. "Not really. This is your job. You're going to have to figure it out at some point.
Perhaps, but she'd prefer not to do it while trapped inside a small space with a hysterical equine who considerably outweighed her.
The Kyren didn't need his lethal horns or his meat-eater teeth to kill her. He could just as easily accomplish the deed with his hooves or by crushing her against the side of the wagon.
Eva reached for the wall of the wagon, thinking she might be able to climb out. Sebastian leapt forward, his teeth closing on the spot where her hands had been as she scrambled back, darting into a corner as she wondered what had possessed her to think this was a good idea.
It took several seconds to think past the fear, but when she did, she realized for all his heaving and panicking, the Kyren hadn't actually done her any harm.
Somehow, he'd managed to miss squashing her even in the throes of his panic. His fear had become hers, tangling with her emotions and heightening them.
She panted as she forced calm back into her veins. She was alive, and she was going to stay that way.
Jason's head appeared above the edge of the wagon’s side.
"Don't," Eva warned. Sebastian wasn't in his right mind. He'd hurt anyone who tried to enter.
Jason didn't listen, throwing his leg over the wall and preparing to drop into the wagon.
Sebastian whipped around, his teeth sinking into Jason's calf. There was a sharp scream and then Jason was yanked back the way he'd come.
Eva closed her eyes and forced more of the panic to recede. Some of it was hers. Most of it was Sebastian’s. It filled him up. Made him desperate, which made him dangerous.
"Eva?" Ollie yelled.
"I'm alright."
She was. Somehow.
"Climb up the side," he ordered.
Sebastian stopped moving and stood still, his sides heaving and his head lowered.
"Not yet." She needed to try something first.
"Eva, listen to him," Hardwick ordered.
As much as Eva wanted to do exactly that. She couldn't. Fail here, and they would be right back where they’d started. No one would be willing to try this a second time.
Eva approached Sebastian slowly as she crooned a short lullaby.
"What is she doing?" Jason asked. There was an edge of pain in his voice.
"The exact opposite of what she was told," Hardwick said grimly.
Eva ignored the commentary, reaching for that small piece of herself she mostly ignored.
This was the real reason she'd never been able to fit in her old village. Sometimes the accusations weren't paranoia or suspicion. Sometimes they were blind stabs in the dark that turned out to be true.
She stepped forward, capturing Sebastian's face in her hands and meeting his eyes as she sank deep into that connection.
Even more fear and panic flooded her, and it was all she could do to stand still and not flee. Pain and paranoia came next.
"Help me understand," she whispered.
She had a feeling Sebastian understood this connection better than she did, as a thread of calm floated through their bond. His sides still heaved but he stopped resisting.
An image slowly formed in her mind. Wings and nets. Bright splashes of pain as barbs dug in.
"I understand now." Eva shut her eyes and leaned against him. She hated feeling such weakness, even as she used his strength to remain standing when her legs would have collapsed.
All that emotion. She had no idea how he stood it.
"We won't put them on your back," she promised him.
Slowly, she coaxed him into position again, picking up the strap he'd torn loose from those outside and threading it back through the slats.
A hand grabbed it and Hardwick's eyes met hers.
"We're not going to use the straps for his back," she informed him with a level of calm that would have been impressive if she hadn't felt like she might throw up.
"How does she expect that to work? If he panics while we're moving, he could flip the wagon," someone she couldn't see said.
"He'll be fine if we use only the ones under him," Eva assured Hardwick.
He watched her for several seconds, weighing her words before he nodded, deciding to trust her. "You heard her."