He never got the chance for a scream reached his ears, terror dripping from every piercing note.
Enar grabbed his dagger out of his boot and sprinted toward the echoes of Lily’s scream, the clenching in his chest threatening to cut off his breath.
Time slowed. Things he wouldn’t have noticed before passed before his eyes, the color of the blades of grass as they thinned at their tops, the sharp call of birds circling overhead, the crunch of his boots against the ground. Jamie ran behind him as he dashed into the trees lining the path.
Enar ducked under a branch, ripped one free of his shirt. The air felt cooler under the trees and then he came to a stream. A fast moving stream. A fast moving stream his woman had fallen in laden with her bags.
And by the looks of things swimming was not her forte.
Enar ran along the stream bank, stripping the canteen and weapons from his body, keeping an eye on Lily as the current swept her under. He jumped in the icy water, immediately sinking to his chest. Pushing off the rocky bottom, he swam in powerful strokes to Lily. Her head bobbed, the weight of her pack and the strength of the water pulling her under only to push her back up. Her arms flailed, slapping the water, getting nowhere. A wave splashed over her head, she started to cough only to get hit by another wave.
When the wave receded, her face remained in the water. Oh, Goddess, no, no!
Enar swam faster, ignoring the pain in his muscles. One stroke, two and then he reached her. Yanking her head out of the water, he draped an arm across her chest, resting her head against his shoulder. A wave crashed over him and he spit water, coughing it out of his lungs. Kicking hard, he propelled them to the shore.
Jamie stumbled out of the underbrush holding Enar’s weapons and dragging the packs Enar dropped in his rush to Lily.
“Is she drowned?” Jamie dropped everything and ran to help Enar pull Lily out of the water.
Ignoring Jamie, Enar yanked the bag from Lily’s back, drawing the leather straps down her arms. Laying her on her back, he tilted her head to the side, letting the water accumulated in her nose and mouth drain onto the leaf-covered ground. Then he pinched her nose, tilted her head back, pressed his lips over hers and blew air into her lungs.
One, two, three, four.
Tilting his head, he held his ear over her mouth, praying to the Goddess.
Nothing happened.
Cursing, he started to pinch her nose again, but Lily coughed. Enar turned her to her side and whacked her on the back as she spit up water. Her eyelids fluttered as she drew in a ragged breath. Enar thumped her back again for good measure and was rewarded with another cough.
He heard the metal rasp of a fire-starter, followed by the thick smell of wood smoke filing the air. A quick glance over his shoulder showed the remarkable sight of Jamie starting a fire. Maybe the boy wasn’t as big a nuisance as he’d thought.
Tremors vibrated his hand and he saw Lily’s body shake. Rolling her into his arms, he stood, carrying her to the fire’s warmth.
By the time he walked the few feet to the flames, he shook, tremors racing through his limbs. Must be the icy water. Even a warrior trembled after a plunge into waters that chilly. Lily shook too and his chest pains returned.
Kneeling, he placed her next to the fire on a pallet Jamie made and began to strip her wet clothes from her trembling body. Jamie fetched a blanket and covered her with it, tucking the corners under her. Enar rubbed his chest. Bloody thing wouldn’t stop hurting and looking at Lily covered in blankets only made it worse.
He turned to his pack, pulling out a rag to dry his woman’s hair. Her gaze was trained on him when he turned to face her.
“Thank you,” she wheezed.
Enar looked at her red eyes, red nose and red blotches on her cheeks and his breathing stopped. If he had been farther away from her, if she hadn’t screamed, if he had run slower, his exquisite woman would have been lost forever. His grip tightened on the rag.
“What in all things holy were you doing by the stream, woman?” As the words left his mouth, he wondered which of them was more surprised by his bellow.
Lily’s eyes narrowed into slits as she pushed herself up on one elbow. “I ran out of water and went to get more. How was I supposed to know the bank would give way under me?”
“If you had stayed where I told you to, none of this would have happened.”
“If I had stayed where you told me to, I would have been thirsty.”
“But you would have been dry and not half-drowned!” The thin cloth of the rag ripped in two and Enar threw the pieces onto the ground. “You didn’t stay where I left you!”
Lily blinked, staring first at the pieces of cloth and then at him as he knelt beside her, gulping in air as if it were a soothing draught. “I’m sorry, Enar. I didn’t realize this would happen. If I knew I was going to fall into the stream I wouldn’t have done it.”
Enar took a deep breath and waged a silent battle to still the rage burning inside. “I know. You just...when I saw you in the water...I thought...well, I’m glad you are all right.” He picked up one of the scraps of cloth. “Let me dry your hair.”
“Oomph!” Lily said, her voice distorted by the rag covering her head. Her arms pushed weakly against his.
Maybe he was rubbing a bit too briskly.
“Sorry.”
But he had to ensure she was all right. What he needed to do was cover her body with his, sink himself between her thighs and tell her without words how thankful he felt that she lived.
Something told him she would not appreciate it right now.
“Here Lily, I made some tea for you, if you think you can drink it.” Jamie held out a cup.
And wasn’t the boy helpful all of a sudden. Must be making up for all those times he ran off.
Wonder how long this behavior will last.
Lily took the cup, her hands trembling hard enough to slosh the liquid. Enar covered her hands with his, helping to steady the cup as she drank. He felt the chill of the stream in her bone-white fingers. Despite the blanket, she remained cold. Cold? Try freezing.
As in, if he didn’t do something soon, she might catch a lung cold and die.
Which would leave him returning to Draconia minus his exquisite woman.
Enar rubbed the ache that slammed into his chest at the thought.
“Turn around Jamie.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to undress and get under the blanket to warm up Lily.”
Jamie made a face and turned around. Enar made quick work of his clothes and slipped under the blanket, curling around Lily, who placed the cup of tea beside her. She snuggled next to him and he couldn’t stop the shiver passing across his skin. Did she even have a pulse?
Yes, yes she did.
He breathed a sigh of relief as his fingers slipped from the pulse point in her neck.
“Jamie, lay on the other side of her. On top of the blanket.”
For once the boy didn’t argue, just laid himself next to Lily back against hers, facing the fire.
Enar released a shaky breath as his arms tightened around a shivering Lily. Tucking her head under his chin, he stroked her back, trying to calm her trembling. If only he hadn’t left her alone. If only he had run faster. If only, if only. His mind raced with possibilities and he forced himself to focus on the here, the now. All that mattered was the feel of Lily’s skin against his, of knowing as long as he touched her, she would come to no harm.
****
Lily snuggled against Enar’s warmth, pressed between him and Jamie, trembling despite their body heat.
Would Enar punish her for wandering off, costing them valuable time? It wasn’t her fault the bank caved in under her weight. Having the water pull her under, unable to breath, the weight of her clothing and packs dragging her down terrified her. How close she came to dying, closer than anything the town’s priests had threatened.
If Enar hadn’t noticed her gone when he did, she would have drowned. Fine tremors shook her body, tightening her stomach muscles, curling her into a ball.
Frightened and embarrassed, what a combination. Where was the invisibility blanket when she needed it?
Enar’s hands stroked her back until her muscles released, her legs straightening. His muscular arms clasped her against his chest, her legs entwining with his, as if she became part of him. As long as she focused on the now, the heat of his skin, the warmth of his embrace, her limbs stopped trembling. But once she remembered the plunge into the icy water, the currents pulling her under and away from the bank, the certainty death breathed down her neck, the shakes started again.
Lily burrowed her head against Enar’s chest, the thought of looking him in the face too daunting. At least he no longer seemed angry.
“Lily, love. Don’t. Ever. Scare me like that again.” His voice rumbled against her ear.
Lily nodded. Not hard at all to make that promise. Swirling away in water currents to another life would not make her future to-do list.
“Look at me.”
She pressed her head against his chest. Why did he have to ask that? Never mind she talked to him only minutes before. At the moment she couldn’t stand to give anyone her gaze. They might see the fear in her eyes, know she almost died and pity her for it.
A finger, thick and blunt, reached under her chin, forcing her gaze to his. She stared into blue eyes, and it seemed as if she fell into their depths, took a dive off a cliff and landed in the blue waters of Enar’s gaze.
And while she floated on the currents of his emotions, she saw they mirrored her own. His gaze reflected the fear possessing her and it seemed so easy to give him her fear, to hand it over, to forget about its controlling tendrils snaking through her veins.
Enar kissed her forehead, releasing her chin. Lily’s limbs relaxed, freed from their burden of tension, and she floated away into sleep, knowing Enar would keep her safe.
Chapter 11
Lily curled onto her side, a stone pressing through the blanket into her hip. Once her limbs stopped trembling she’d move the thing. A breath rasped out of her lungs, caught in her throat and she hacked up more water. Guess that meant time to get moving. Lily opened her eyes, surprised to see dark shadows over the landscape. When she fell asleep sunlight covered the ground. Where did the light go? And where was Enar?
A cough later and she rolled over, her gaze focused on the campfire, its yellow and orange flames licking the air. No Jamie, no Enar, nothing but her and her blanket.
And her packbag. With her wet clothing someone threw over the bushes to dry. How nice. Now she had no dry clothes to wear.
Maybe Enar’s bag contained dry clothes. Wrapping the blanket around her naked body, Lily ignored the pressure in her chest and the feeling something was seriously wrong, and walked over to Enar’s packs. A wet shirt and pair of wet leathers spread across a bush, drying.
Please tell me he has another spare set in his bag.
She knelt and rummaged around until she found a black shirt and leather trousers.
She glanced around. Still no one present. Which meant they’d show up right when she dropped the blanket. Oh well.
But they didn’t. Lucky for her, seeing she looked like a child playing dress-up with her parents’ clothes.
Enar’s shirt hung past her fingers, off her shoulders and halfway down her thighs, long enough to make a dress. But as the night air carried a chill, she pulled the leathers over her bare legs and rolled the hems up. A strand of rope around her waist completed the outfit.
Wasn’t she a sight.
The bushes rustled and Lily whirled toward the noise, heart in her chest. What if it was a wild animal? How would she defend herself?
Yanking a smoldering stick from the fire, she faced the noise.
“What are you doing, woman?” Enar’s voice boomed from behind her.
Lily let out a squeak, dropped the smoldering stick on her bare toes, jumped back and landed wrong when her feet finally reconnected with the earth. Her arms windmilled as she fell backward.
How graceful could one person be?
Right before she hit the ground in a heap of embarrassment, strong arms grabbed her around the waist, hauling her upright.
“Woman, I swear, you are an accident waiting to happen. What were you thinking, picking up a burning stick?”
She turned to face him, gesturing over her shoulder. “There was a noise in the bushes and I was trying to protect myself.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“You weren’t around.”
“I am now.” His eyes bored into hers and Lily shivered. “What are you wearing?” Enar held her at arms length, raking his gaze over her body. One corner of his mouth twitched.
Lily felt her cheeks flame and she doubted it was from the fire. “Mine were all wet. Yours weren’t.”
The twitch in Enar’s mouth gave way to a grin followed by a chuckle. “You look good in those. Maybe I’ll just give them to you.”
How humiliating.
The feeling washed away on a wave of coughing. No more water came up, but her chest suddenly felt cinched by a tight band of red-hot fire. Enar patted her back. It had no effect, but she appreciated the effort.
“Hurts,” she gasped, pointing at her chest before another cough rolled through her.
“Jamie!” Enar bellowed, as he helped lower her to the ground. “Where is that pesky lad? Jamie!”
Lily drew her knees up to her chest and rested her head on top of them, trying to draw in a breath through the pain. What happened? She felt fine when she first got up. Now she felt feverish with a tightness crushing her chest.