Chapter 25
“REEVE!” Viri screamed, tearing through the water toward him.
Panic flooded every part of her as she swam faster than she ever had in her life, fearing she was too late, that he was already gone.
But then—
Reeve’s eyes shot open, and water surged out of his mouth as he began coughing up half the lake, the sound causing a sob to leave Viri because it meant he was alive, he was breathing.
She reached him in time to help hold him above the surface as he continued purging fluid from his lungs. “Elders,” she panted tremulously, “I thought you drowned.”
Between splutters, he rasped out, “I feel like”—a hacking cough—“I did.”
She kept supporting him, treading water for them both until his coughing began to ease. Only then did she ask, “How badly are you hurt?” His eyes were still dazed and unfocused in the blue light, but at least he was more alert now, even with the bloody smear at the side of his head. “Can you swim?”
His voice was hoarse and tinged with pain. “I think my shoulder is dislocated.”
Viri swore, realizing for the first time that he was holding it close to his body rather than using it to stay afloat. “I’ll help you,” she said. “We need to get out of this water before that thing changes its mind and comes back.”
Reeve nodded his agreement and then winced as the move jolted his head. But all he said was, his voice still rough, “My legs are fine, and I can still use one arm. Don’t wait for me—I’ll meet you on the bank.”
Viri didn’t entertain that with a response, just kept pace with him as they began the laborious swim toward the shore.
Despite his injuries and the agony he no doubt felt, Reeve was able to move swiftly enough on his own, but she stayed close, watching for any sign that he needed her.
Soon, though, she began to wonder if she might need help, since the zingzest was fading from her system with each stroke, along with the adrenaline of fighting the tentacled beast, leaving her no protection against the frigid temperature of the water.
By the time they reached the shallows and crawled out to collapse upon the pebbled shore, Viri had gone beyond pins and needles to complete numbness in her extremities.
It was nearly impossible for her to draw herself into a sitting position, but she gritted her teeth and reminded herself that whatever she was feeling, Reeve had to be feeling worse.
He’d been in—and under—the water for much longer, and his wounds weren’t superficial.
He might not be complaining, but there was no way he wasn’t suffering.
“H-H-Here,” she said, fumbling in her cloak until she clenched her unfeeling fingers around two vials, thrusting them at him. “T-T-Take th-these.”
Reeve was shivering just as much as she was this time, and there was an alarming amount of blood dripping from his temple onto the pebbles, mixing with the water sluicing off them both. But even so, he ignored her, instead sitting up and reaching his uninjured arm toward her chest.
As much as Viri longed to be warm again, she hadn’t forgotten Reeve saying there was a cost to his magic, and right now, he was in no state to pay it.
“N-N-No.” She attempted to push him away, but her frozen limbs were like soggy noodles, barely able to follow her commands.
“If you think I’m g-going to sit here while you f-freeze, then you don’t know me h-half as well as you believe,” Reeve said, his teeth chattering nearly as fiercely as hers.
“B-But—”
He didn’t let her finish her objection, his palm pressing gently against her heart, followed by delicious heat flowing into her. She could do little but whimper as feeling returned to her body, the burn a combination of pain and immeasurable relief.
Only when she was completely thawed did Reeve drop his arm, though he was still shivering violently enough that Viri leaned forward in concern and asked, “Can you heat yourself up the same way?”
“No, but my m-magic will help me recover f-faster than you.” Seeing her question, he said, “Quicker h-healing, sharper reflexes, h-heightened senses. Not as m-much as freshly siphoned reapers, but better than n-nothing. It’s what k-kept me alive b-beneath the water.”
Viri had already seen how swiftly he could move when he chose to, and there had been times when he’d seemed to hear or see things before she could, but the healing was a welcome surprise—especially if his innate magic was what had saved him from drowning.
Viri shuddered as she recalled the tentacle dragging his unconscious form beneath the water, certain she would have nightmares about it long into the future.
“Here, these will speed things along,” she said, pushing the image from her mind and holding the vials out again—the last of the zingzest, and her only supply of morphenine. The former would revitalize him and warm him up, and the latter would help him tolerate what was coming next.
Reeve didn’t argue this time, just swallowed both potions, color coming back into his flesh as soon as the energy booster hit his system, visible even in the blue glow of the cavern.
But it was the morphenine that smoothed the pained tension from his brow, a moan of relief leaving him as the magic-enhanced painkiller took effect.
No longer shivering, he said, somewhat wryly, “Not that I’m ungrateful, but next time, maybe give me those before I have to swim across an icy lake with a concussion and a dislocated arm.”
“The morphenine is only potent for a short amount of time,” Viri said, “so if I’d done that, then it would have hurt a lot more when I did this.” She grabbed his arm and yanked, hard, popping his shoulder back into place.
Reeve roared with pain, the sound tearing into Viri’s heart, but then he clenched his jaw shut to stifle it, breathing fast and cradling his arm against his body.
“I think,” he panted out, “you enjoyed that more than you should have.”
Viri snorted and didn’t deny it, though in truth, she felt queasy from what she’d just done. His agony still echoed in her ears, but the longer they’d waited to set his joint, the more pain it would have caused in the long run.
“Don’t be such a baby,” she mock-scolded, pulling Wynter’s healing salve from her cloak and swiftly unbuttoning his wet shirt.
She grimaced when she peeled the black material aside and saw the deep bruises across his muscled torso, a sign of just how tightly the tentacled beast had squeezed him.
But she ignored those momentarily and shifted onto her knees to carefully rub the ointment into his upper arm, his flesh warming beneath her fingertips.
Only after his shoulder was fully covered in the salve did she move downward, scooping more out and gently massaging it into the purpling marks on his stomach and along his sides, satisfied to note only a faint scratch left where the grimblade had stabbed him.
Her fingers trickled back across his abdomen, his muscles contracting beneath her touch, feeling like steel beneath her hands—steel covered in silky-smooth skin.
Realizing he’d never replied to her comment, Viri glanced up and caught the look on his face, her fingers stilling and the breath leaving her. Heat scorched her cheeks, but she sternly said, “This is purely medical.”
Reeve’s eyes were sparkling like stars in the blue light. “If I’d known you were so eager to get your hands on me again—”
“Finish that sentence,” Viri threatened, her cheeks still too warm, “and I’ll throw you back in with the lake monster.”
“I’m not the one who stripped my clothes off without a second thought,” Reeve said, his humor impossible to miss. “If I didn’t know any better—”
“You do,” Viri ground out. “Now shut up and let me look at your head. You clearly have brain damage.”
He chuckled, which she not only heard but felt, since her palms were still pressed to his bare abdomen. She hastily removed them, avoiding his too-amused gaze as she rose up on her knees and took his face in her hands, inspecting the bloody gash at his temple.
“How are you even conscious right now?” she murmured, brushing his dripping hair away from the grisly wound.
“You think I’d miss a moment of this?” His brows rose with disbelief. “I’d sooner throw myself back in with the lake monster.”
Viri bit down on a smile and got to work, cleaning the cut as best as she could with her wet sleeve, then slathering salve over it. The magical ointment started working almost instantly, sealing the wound until it was little more than an angry red line.
“There, all better,” she said, releasing his face and shifting away—only to be halted when Reeve’s hand landed on her waist, keeping her close.
There was no humor in his expression now, his features solemn, even awed, as he said, “You saved my life.”
Viri swallowed at the look in his eyes. “You would have done the same for me.” Her gaze dropped to the scratch on his side where the grimblade had pierced him. “You did do the same for me.” She glanced away and said, softly, “I never thanked you for that.”
His finger touched beneath her chin, tipping her face back toward his as he said, just as quietly, “You never need to thank me for that.”
Viri swallowed again, holding his serious eyes as she whispered, “Then you never need to thank me, either.”
He stilled, his gaze searching hers, and her heart began to quicken at the thought of what he might see.
But as if he could read the fear that was suddenly overwhelming her, the intensity vanished from his features, replaced by quirking lips and amused eyes.
“We’re agreed, then,” he said lightly, dropping his hands. “We’ll both be ungrateful assholes.”
A startled laugh left Viri, and she grabbed on to his offer of levity like a lifeline. “That’s nothing new to you—the asshole part, I mean.”
Reeve clutched at his chest. “Hey, I’m injured here. Show some compassion.” He tapped his temple, which was now almost completely healed. “You didn’t even kiss it better. Some bedside manner you have.”