Page 144 of Moonless

It’s fine. I made it. I wrap the fish and put them near the top of the sack, then gather up the herbs.

Kestria watches me try to fit the herbs in. She lets me go on with it longer than she has to.

“Outside.” She points at the strap. “Tie them outside.”

I do. They’d have fit if the fish weren’t on top. She takes my cloak while I fill the waterskin at the pool, and when I come back she’s waiting by the hearth with her bow.

My father’s shirt is under the spare clothes. I press the folded collar through the hide once, then close the sack and lift it by the strap.

It rests against my back, with the rolled fur below it. I shift the strap so it sits clear of her mark.

Kestria looks down at my left leg.

“Tell me when you need to stop.”

“You too.”

She nods and draws the cloak closer around her shoulders. Neither of us will.

I put the fire out, checking the coals until none glow. Then I leave the water pot on the hearthstone. Nobody’s coming for it. I turn toward the passage.

Kestria waits for me at the first bend. I follow her through, turning my shoulders where the sack brushes the wall.

She goes past the open slab, and I follow her to the outer side. I set the sack down and turn back, getting both palms against the stone. My thigh hurts as I pull it across, so I stop once and move my good foot nearer.

The slab settles into place. It’ll hold.

I keep my palms against it for another breath. Then I lift the sack and go around the outer turn to Kestria. She’s waiting beneath the hanging growth with her hand held out.

I take it and step out of the den beside her.

Chapter 33

“I can walk.”

Rauk steps around a root with me in his arms. The bunch of herbs tied to his sack brushes my foot, and he doesn’t even look down. “I know.”

“I walked all the way out of the den. You were there for it.”

He looks down at me then. “I need to be touching you.”

And I stop arguing. I don’t want down anyway. I woke up wanting my hands on him, and the walk out of the den didn’t cure it.

He’s got one arm high behind my back, where it doesn’t hurt, and my knees hooked over the other, up above his bandage. He’s taking the downhill in short steps.

The bow’s across my lap with everything still tied to it, and I’ve already had to move the lot out of his face once. He’s got the sack hanging off his right shoulder, away from my mark on his neck.

Yeah, I did that.

“Only until the first stop. Your leg’s still bad.”

He nods. “Until the first stop.”

I settle against his chest, tucking my nose into the fur at his collar.

Mmm. He’s warm through the shirt, and he’s got the edge of the cloak pinned under my knees so it can’t slide off me.

“You managed to gather herbs without me.”