Page 29 of The Midnight Arrow
He didn’t like to be dirty, I realized.
“You tore through a few of the sutures. I’ll need to redo them,” I told him quietly.
He didn’t say anything. In fact, he was entirely too quiet.
Lorik scrubbed at his body until not a speck of blood remained. He uncapped the bathing tub and watched the dirtied water swirl down before he turned on the taps again. He didn’t even hiss when the icy water met his flesh. He didn’t even shiver, keeping still as fresh water from my well rose around him.
As for me, I kept my eyes firmly on his shoulder, cutting out the threads of the sutures before threading my curved needle.
“I’ll start stitching now,” I said softly, warning him. He nodded. Though the water was fresh, no steam rose. He didn’t heat the water, and I wondered why.
Lorik gave no indication that he even felt the needle piercing into him. I made quick work of it, and only when he had a fresh bandage on his clean skin did I start to feel more at ease.
Rocking back on my heels, I looked at him.
Lorik turned his head to regard me though he looked like a spoiled prince reclining in the tub.
“Why don’t you heat the water?”
“Will you join me if I do?”
A flood of heat burned in my belly. “Don’t be silly.”
“I’m being infinitely serious,” he replied, straight-faced, no hint of amusement on his features.
I tucked a strand of loose, wavy hair behind my ear, wetting my suddenly dry lips. My hands needed to be washed, but I couldn’t move. Not when he was looking at me the way he was.
Lorik took pity on me. He smiled. Whatever mask he’d had in place before vanished…or perhaps his grinning, handsome face was more of a mask than I realized.
“I don’t heat the water because it’s a comfort. And I don’t need comfort right now. I need to remember.”
“Remember what?” I whispered.
“My duty,” he murmured, lowering his chin before jutting it forward, gesturing toward the front room of my cottage, to the door. “To protect.”
My brow furrowed. “From…from the Severs?”
“He wasn’t a Sever,” Lorik snapped. While his tone wasn’t harsh, I still felt the bite of his words. “He was a Shade. A murderer. A thief. An oath breaker. And he wanted to die. He knew I would end him. I gave him mercy when I should have let him rot into this forest.”
“What?” I whispered. I’d always known that there was more to Lorik than I could see…but this? “A Shade?”
“A Shade is what the AllavarithinkSevers are,” he said, rolling his good shoulder, bringing a hand up to pinch between his brows. Then he inspected underneath his short claws, flicked out a piece of dried blood, and then took up the cloth again, scrubbing around his fingers. “But Severs have their own laws.Shades break them. Some were cast out from the Below, to be hunted or to be alone.”
“How…how do you know all this?” I asked, my heart thrumming in my throat.
Lorik met my eyes. Bright, swirling blue. For a long while, he said nothing. Then…
“In Olimara, there’s a collection of three books in the library,” he said, his gaze sliding away, scrubbing at his claws again.
“Olimara?” I asked. “The western village on the other side of the Black Veil?”
He inclined his head once. “Books rumored to have been stolen from the Below. By a Sever. Brought up to the Above world and given in exchange for the right to live in the village, to live out the rest of his days there.”
“And is that true?” I asked, utterly still. I’d never been to Olimara. Was that where Lorik lived?
“Who knows,” Lorik said, his tone gruff. “Everyone lies.”
“Even you?” I asked before I thought better of it.