but accidents happened. “Just lower the blaster and we’ll talk. You don’t want to kill anyone. It leaves a stain on your soul.” He knew that better than anyone. The teen seemed conflicted but determined.
It would be easy enough to take him down, but Zaxe didn’t want to dent his confidence. He liked that Esau was man enough to stand up for his sister, even though he was only eighteen.
“I had no choice.” He was watching Jamaeh as he spoke. She had one hand wrapped around her throat. There would be bruises there, just like the one on her face where the bastard had struck her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” She licked her lips, which were chapped from the heat and wind. Dust clung to her clothes and there was a rip in her tunic, but she was alive. Everything else could be healed or mended.
“Jamaeh.” He started toward her, needing to hold her in his arms, to reassure himself she really was safe.
Esau took a step forward, the toe of his boot catching in a discarded flask. When he lurched forward, the blaster discharged, hitting Zaxe dead in the chest. The exact same place he’d taken the hit from the explosive. He fell back several steps and righted himself. “Boy, either kill me or put the damn weapon down. You shoot me again and I’m not going to be happy.”
What little remaining color he had drained from his face. “I didn’t mean to do that.” He stared from Zaxe to the blaster and back again. “How are you upright? Did I miss?”
“No.” Not taking any chances, he strode forward to take the weapon. Jamaeh moved in front of her brother.
“It was an accident,” she insisted. Did she think he’d shoot him?
“This isn’t an accident.” He grabbed her by the shoulders, dragged her against his chest, and kissed her. Mindful of her injuries, he eased his hold, but she threw her arms around him and held on tight. The taste of her settled him. She really was alive.
“I left so you’d have a chance,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.
“Once I got over wanting to throttle you, I realized that. You knew I’d follow you.”
She shrugged. “I knew you’d finish your mission.”
She had no idea the power she held over him. He was only being to understand it himself. He tucked several skinny braids behind her ear. “The mission changed the moment Helldrick hurt you. I couldn’t let him live after that.”
“No, I suppose you couldn’t.” Her slow smile filled his world with sunshine. He bent his head to kiss her again when a throat cleared beside them.
“Ah, I take it you know each other.” Eyes wide and a slight smile on his face, Esau watched them.
How would she answer? How much would she want her brother to know? His heart pounded, not from the adrenaline from the battle but in anticipation. He wanted her to claim him as her own. He wanted a place to belong, to call home.
Only she could give him that.
“Yes, we know each other.” Keeping one arm around his waist, she faced her brother. “I’d like you to meet Zaxe. And Zaxe, this is my brother, Esau.”
Not exactly the endorsement he’d hoped for, but she wasn’t disavowing him. He could work with that. Esau held out his hand. “Sorry I shot you.”
“I’ll forgive you. Once,” he added as they shook.
When Jamaeh slumped against him, he caught her. “You need to sit. You need water and food.” Leaving them, he scavenged through what hadn’t been destroyed, finding enough to do them several days.
Both siblings watched him with varying degrees of concern. He sat beside Jamaeh and handed her a water flask. “Once you’re rested, we’ll head back to Badwa.”
She stiffened. “Of course.”
What had he said wrong? “Don’t worry about Reman. I’ll make sure he’s not a problem.”
“Great. Good. When that’s done, I guess you’ll be on your way back to wherever you came from.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jamaeh cursed her tongue for the hundredth time as they threaded their way through the marketplace. Even though she’d been away from home for less than a week, it seemed different, almost foreign. It hadn’t changed, but she had.
The men flanked her, both of them keeping a watchful eye. Good thing, as she was distracted by the man on the right side of her. What was Zaxe thinking? No way to tell from his expression, which was as stoic as ever.
They’d bypassed the outcast settlement on their journey, unsure of their welcome, and camped