Page 80 of Tailwind

‘You didn’t have to get involved.’ An argument would work.

‘I know.’ He dabbed around my eye with a fresh cloth. His eyes danced as they tracked the line of bruises. He wasn’t in an arguing mood.

Challenge accepted. ‘You’re awful in a fight anyway.’

I saw the familiar mischievous light appear in his eyes. ‘Then you must be worse, judging from the mess your face has turned into.’

‘Well, it’s not a moneymaker like yours.’ It was intended as an insult, but his dimples appeared and his shoulders shook with a laugh. I’d missed my mark.

‘This is why you shouldn’t get into fights, Paldon. You need to protect your valuables.’

It was my turn to laugh, this time in victory. ‘Hypocrite, much? I know why I was fighting. What’s your excuse?’

‘I was protecting what I value,’ he said, not pausing as he dabbed at my eye.

I rolled my eyes, then flinched as another cut was cleaned.

‘Hey.’ He held my chin lightly with one hand. ‘Stop making it worse.’

He may have been admonishing me, but there was a gentleness to him that I’d never seen before. Not only in his words, but the way his hands had softened as he swapped the cloth for a patch. He placed it along the cut on my cheek delicately. Light fingertips slid along the edges, pressing the gauze into place with as little pressure as possible.

His touch left behind a trail of warmth, his presence lingering on my skin. My tiredness changed. The deep ache that was keeping me on the edge of passing out was replaced with a drowsy comfort that tempted me to close my eyes and lean forward, to drift off some place safe.

‘How’s that?’ he asked, removing his hands. My face was cold without them.

‘Great.’ I cleared my throat. ‘I didn’t feel a thing.’

I was locked in a windowless room being tortured.

A sharp change from being surrounded by my friends in the aviary, but at least in here I was free of Theo’s strange effect on me, one that I had put down to being repeatedly hit in the head.

It felt like an age since Martan had escorted me in, but in all that time the Kiestral PR manager had yet to get to his point. I’d been bracing myself for the final blow: their decision to fire me. Or, Thorne’s decision given how confident he was that it was all over. Yet, while my focus waned and my energy reserves dwindled Martan just kept talking, brandishing his clipboard as he paced back and forth.

‘In the interview you’ll need to be clear, but without details.’

‘Wait, what?’ The heavy dread lightened ever so slightly.

‘I’m not asking you to lie.’ He took a break from wearing a stripe into the polished floor. ‘But it would be appreciated if you could … be a team player.’

‘I’m still with the team?’ I didn’t dare blink to miss Martan’s answer.

He nodded. A single curt nod that changed everything.

‘The injuries Bach sustained in today’s race will take him out of action for a while, without him—’

It was the first time I’d ever heard Martan cut himself off. It didn’t matter that he had though. I knew what he was going to say. Without Bach Kiestral wouldn’t stand a chance of finishing on the podium.

‘You want me to replace Bach Lotiere?’ This was the most unbelievable thing to happen since I’d put on Thorne’s suit. Even if it meant I got to race again, the idea that I would be doing so without my hero leading the way was unfathomable.

‘Temporarily.’ Martan was quick to clarify. ‘If you comply with what the team needs.’

‘Gottyk?’ I couldn’t articulate the whole question quickly enough. I needed to know if I’d be flying with him again.

‘Yes.’ Another nod.

Relief washed over me, finally releasing the tension I’d been holding. As the joy began to build though, a sobering thought ruined it.

‘So … I’ll be teammates with Thorne?’