“—I said, leave it.”
She draws up next to me, her body stiffening. “There’s no need to get angry. You can have herandthe coin.”
“The gold is hers.”
Katya scoffs and releases me. “As if I would trust the word of a Bloodstone.”
“You did,” he says bluntly.
I sway, searching for something solid to lean against. Or a pillow. Yes. A pillow would be fantastic.
The man catches me against his firm body. “Leave us,” he says, his tone commanding. Frigid.
I even think about obeying.
Katya’s footsteps scurry away, leaving me with this man. This stranger. This Bloodstone barbarian. I squint my eyes, trying to make out his features in the dimness. He remains a silhouette of shadows.
“Can you walk?” he asks, his voice brusque.
I nod and attempt one step before my knees buckle. He catches me against him.
“You cannot.” Without another word, he picks me up and hauls me over his shoulder.
Everything in me shrieks with warning, but all I manage is a strangled scream before blackness reaches in and steals what’s left of my light.
ChapterFour
My Fate is no longer mine, not when it rests solely in the Bloodstone people’s hands. They’re happy for now. I healed Leah. I stayed up the first night, tending to her. After three days, she is healed enough to no longer need me.
Luc didn’t say thank you, not that I expected gratitude. Instead, he ordered me to the care of a young Bloodstone woman.
I jerk my gaze around, taking in the camp I could only see bathed in torchlight the night I arrived. This part of the Tarrobane territory doesn’t look much different from my village. It has the same grassy shores. The same tall, broad trees. The same blue sky. The same flowers dotting the landscape.
Except, it isn’t the same. The Bloodstone people inhabit this area of Tarrobane.
The woman leads me from the watchful stare of the Bloodstone warriors and to a secluded alcove along the bank of a wide river and points her chin toward the root-stained water. I have seen it before—water turned brown from the roots of the nearby trees.
“Luc wants you to bathe,” the woman says, her tone kind.
The young, petite woman wears her light brown hair in a thick braid down her back. No wrinkles mar her skin, and her blue eyes seem vibrant, like the scars of life haven’t touched her yet.
She wears a long black surcoat over dark pants, but unlike the rest of her tribe, she doesn’t have a serpent coat of arms. Instead, someone sewed a large red circle onto the center of the material.
From the satchel on her shoulder, she pulls free a clean surcoat, pants, chemise, and a bundle of herbs. “You will change into this surcoat and bathe with these.”
Automatically, my fingers brush against the gold tree stitched on my blue surcoat. If I shed my clothes, nobody will know I’m Kyanite. Well, except for the stone I still wear around my neck. Surely, they will not ask me to remove it too.
I accept the surcoat and bundle of herbs from the woman. “Thank you.”
She nods.
I lay the clothes on a grassy spot near the bank and place the herbs close to the water’s edge.
“What is your name?” I ask, hoping to compel kindness. If I’m going to succeed here, I must make friends.
“Kassandra.” Eyes the color of the sky meet mine and crinkle at the corners as she widens her smile. “What is your name?”
“Sol.”
