Page 48 of Diamond

It falls to the ground soundlessly, a small distance from Nasrin. Its blood reminds me of her former companion's hair, and I feel elation starting to erupt in the pit of my stomach.

Both of my hearts are thumping violently in my ears and I can feel patterns flickering across my face, but I keep my face stoic.

I won't make the same mistake I made when I first met her.

Nasrin is shaking as her eyes go from the creature to me. I must be a sight, holding onto the large plant behind me for support, blood dripping from the hand holding the thing's knife.

I just killed something in front of her and both hearts ache as I wait to find out if she will leave now.

The pain from the spear still lodged in my thigh is radiating through me. I move to a more comfortable position to catch my breath. I make sure my eyes keep scanning around us in case there are more of those deceptively weak-looking aliens.

I have a feeling that even if there are, they would not want to face the same fate as their friend, but I've been reckless enough as it is. If only Samke was here with me… but no, I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

Roshan makes a sound that snaps my attention to him and when I look to make sure he is not hurt, I find Nasrin holding tightly onto him.

Her eyes are still stuck to the dead body of the creature, and I am torn between celebrating my kill and asking her whether she is still going to leave.

I do neither.

I can still hear her threats echoing through my brain, the rage and fear in her eyes as she stated how quickly she would walk out if I was violent like I was before. I cannot help but wonder if the only reason she has not left is because she is still paralyzed by fear.

I want to celebrate my victory and roar triumphantly from the mountaintops, but I know how she feels about bloodshed and I would rather not make her uncomfortable, so instead I sit quietly and pull the spear out of my thigh with a wince.

Although I made no promises, I really did intend to keep my hands blood-free until I reunited her with Ree. The night had different plans.

"You're bleeding."

I barely hear her whisper with how hard my hearts are beating but I am sure I would be able to pick up the sound of her voice anywhere now. I look down at the source of pain in my leg and swallow thickly.

"Yes, but it will heal."

She scoffs and circles around the dead body to sit a short distance from me, visibly shuddering when she looks at it.

We sit beside each other in silence for a moment before she pushes away the hand that is doing a terrible job of covering up the wound. "It looks bad," she says. I want to argue with her, but her piercing gaze makes me keep my mouth shut.

"We will have to patch it up to avoid infection," she concludes and I slide my pouch out from behind me, opening it up to pull out the tools that I think we will need.

Nasrin lets out a dry, throaty sound that I decode as some kind of laugh when I look up at her face. "You slept without a shirt but left your weapons close," she notes and I make a sound of agreement.

"For times like these," I say and she smiles shakily.

I pull out the spray canister and stitching device Ree used on me earlier when she patched me up and pass them to Nasrin.

Her hands are shaking when she reaches out to grab it and guilt envelopes me like a thick blanket. I should not have let her come that close to danger. I was complacent in my efforts at guarding Nasrin; that's the only explanation for it.

I curse myself silently. How I long for the high walls of a cloister.

She gets up and grabs a water bottle from the bag of supplies and waits for me to stretch my leg out.

I do so and clench my jaws firmly together when she pours the water and then sprays the liquid on my leg. It burns, but I grind my teeth and look at the wall of the cave.

She reaches her hands out again. "Now your hand."

Nasrin quickly patches me up, washes my blood off her hands with the remaining water, and sits down again—this time a little farther away. I don't mind it at all. She can sit as far from me as she likes, as long as she doesn't leave.

I wouldn't even blame her. She had only one request, and that was no more violence. If I had stayed vigilant, I wouldn't have given that creature a chance to strike.

It would have been dead well out of her sight. I'm still not sure how I didn't hear it, or that I was so confident in our position that I decided it was safe to sleep.