Chapter 36
Not for the first time, Robin wished that she could close her ears off from sound the way she was able to close her eyes.
She had always been keen at noticing small changes in the world around her, and she had intentionally honed that ability until she could almost subconsciously sense a threat before it happened—it was the reason she had survived so many dangerous adventures and raids.
But once she had acquired that skill, she seemed entirely incapable of turning it off.
And now, in pain and exhausted on top of a moving horse—while attempting to rationalize the failure of their monastery mission—she wished more than anything that she could shut off her consciousness for just a couple of hours. She would settle for a couple of minutes.
But instead, she felt every muscle movement in Rowena’s back.
Her ears could not stop straining for the sound of pursuit behind them.
Her dry tongue still tasted the bitter tang of iron, though she was not sure when she had tasted blood.
Perhaps she had bitten the inside of her mouth at some point during the fight, or the stench of blood was somehow still fresh in her nose.
Pain filled her head, crowding out all other thoughts. She attempted to drift into sleep, but then a sound or sensation would send panic through her mind, waking her up again.
There was one pleasant feeling, though. And when all the other thoughts got too loud, she tried to bring her mind back to the solid wall of warmth behind her and the comforting grip of Ian’s arm around her waist. She felt safe enough to fall asleep, if her mind would just let her.
She trusted Ian to not let her fall off the horse.
So she breathed in and out, painfully slow as every exhale burned on the left side of her torso where the orb of chaos magic had hit her.
And as she rested her weight against Ian’s chest, she let her entire world sink into an endless circle of pain, warmth, and the incessant sound of horses’ hooves.
Finally, despite her eyes being closed, she somehow knew they had arrived back at Lockwood. Perhaps it was the subtle scent her nose had perceived, or the way the horses pranced a little faster when they knew their journey was coming to an end.
Robin opened her mouth to speak, but her tongue sluggishly refused to move for a few seconds. “Take me to Lyra,” she said. “Best healer.”
She felt Ian’s cheekbone slide along the top of her head as he nodded.
“I’ll ride ahead and wake her.” Ulli’s voice sounded far away.
Finally, in the full safety of home, Robin found herself lulled to sleep as Ian rode past the manor and down the trail to the Majis village.
Her next conscious thought was that everything hurt.
Judging by the bright morning light shining through a small unfamiliar window, she must have been sleeping for hours.
She twisted her stiff neck to survey the room around her. She was in a small bed inside Lyra’s cottage. Happily noting that the room was empty, she let out a relieved moan of pain. Her right side burned, as though she had caught her entire shoulder between a hammer and an anvil.
But she was no stranger to injuries, and she had experienced pain before. So she lifted her head, leaning on her good arm to sit up.
The motion caused far more pain than she had anticipated, and she immediately abandoned that thought, falling back with a grunt. This was not good.
“What are you trying to do?” Ian’s voice came from the now-open door. He sounded quite angry with her, and she had no idea why.