for you to have doubts about me.” He leaned over her, a quiet ferocity in his voice. “I won’t let anything else happen to you. All you have to do is trust me.”
The emotions in his eyes were far too complex for her to read. She turned her head away.
“I do trust you,” she said. “I don’t have any choice.”
His sigh told her it wasn’t quite what he wanted to hear. “If that’s true,” he said, “I can suggest a way that might allow us to move a little faster.”
She turned her head toward him again. “What?”
“It may not work. But there’s a chance, Jamie.” He touched her cheek with his fingertips. “All Opiri have a component in their saliva that can heal human wounds. Usually those are the small wounds that come with a bite. But sometimes...” He leaned closer, the subtle colors shifting in his eyes. “I’m only half-Opir. But some of us inherit the healing ability. If I bite you, I may be able to hasten your healing more efficiently than any antibiotic.”
Her stomach began to roil with alarm. “Bite me?” she said.
“It’s the only way to get the healing component into your bloodstream.”
All at once his face changed, became that of a monster, eager to drain her dry. “No,” she whispered. “Get away from me.”
Jamie flinched away as Timon jerked back. “Jamie?” he said. “What’s wrong?”
All at once his face seemed to shift back to normal—though deeply concerned, uncertain, confused.
“You want to take my blood,” Jamie said, anger rushing in to replace horror.
“Take your blood?” Timon backed away and crouched again, studying her face intently. “I didn’t say that, Jamie.”
“That was part of the bargain, wasn’t it? Your Riders’ escort for our blood to feed you along the way?”
“What happened when the first raiders took you? Did one of them hurt you?”
She couldn’t answer. Though she knew he only wanted to help, the memories had been in her thoughts since the first raiders had captured the delegation. She looked at Timon’s face now, and all she could imagine were his sharp, tearing teeth, the feel of them sinking into her flesh.
“Don’t worry,” Timon said, holding up his hands. “I won’t touch you, Jamie. Not without your permission.”
“Please, leave me alone.”
Timon got to his feet and gazed down at her, his mouth pinched. “I’m going to leave you here for a short time,” he said, “and look for a better camp, farther off the main track. Is that all right with you?”
Oak leaves overhead shifted with the breeze, letting through a beam of sunlight. Sunlight the real bloodsuckers couldn’t tolerate.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, avoiding Timon’s eyes.
“Don’t try to move. Rest as best you can.”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He hesitated, released his breath, and went to fetch Lazarus.
For a while, Jamie did nothing but listen tensely to every sound in her little haven: the slight rustle of fresh green grass just outside the circle of shade, the twitter of a bird, the chirp of an insect. There was no man-made sound anywhere within the range of her hearing, but she fought sleep as long as she could.
Then the dreams came. Timon was carrying her off, taking her away from her people just like the tribesman, his arm clamped around her waist and his expression grimly satisfied. He had claimed her for his own. He would brand her as his, with his body and teeth and his will, and no matter how hard she fought—
She didn’t want to fight. God help her; she would give in to everything, anything he wanted. Fear was gone. The barriers of pride and modesty and obligation had fallen under Lazarus’s pounding hooves.
“Jamie.”
Her eyes flew open. She thrust out her good arm as if to fend Timon off and draw him closer at the same time.
He caught her hand between his. She felt the roughness of his palm, the gentle clasp of his long fingers.
“Easy,” he said. “You must have been dreaming.”
Her entire body went hot. “I...”
After laying her hand on her chest, he let go and stepped back. “Are you all right?” he asked.
She caught her breath, glad he couldn’t actually read her mind. “Did you have any luck?” she asked.
“I found a good place for us deeper in the hills, with more trees and water nearby.”
“Can we get there before sundown?”
“If you’re up to it.”
“Let’s go,” she said.
“I’ll have to touch you, Jamie.”
Heat rushed into her face. “I...didn’t know what I was saying before. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You must have good reason.”
It had happened eighteen years ago, Jamie thought, and she should have been over it. To confuse Timon with him...
Irrational, she thought.
“It’s all right,” she said. “I’m all right.”
She was very careful not to cry out when Timon lifted her into the saddle. Timon watched her face with acute concern, but she thought she managed to fool him. He kept Lazarus at a walk, and even the horse seemed to understand what Timon was trying to do; Lazarus avoided rocks and furrows with precise footwork that amazed her.
They reached the new encampment by midafternoon. Timon carried her to a large oak and positioned her with her back to the trunk, almost as if he knew that she couldn’t bear another moment flat on her back. He arranged the remaining equipment nearby, unsaddled Lazarus and then offered her water. She was far thirstier than she remembered having been before and exhausted by the relatively brief ride.
But she said nothing of it. She was grateful when Timon checked her dressings and seemed satisfied. His lean and muscular body relaxed as if he felt more at ease in their new location.
“Tell me about your life in the Enclave,” he said.
Startled by the abrupt question, Jamie looked at him. His profile gave nothing away, but she knew he didn’t mean to make idle conversation. He was still looking for reasons for her strange behavior, and he wouldn’t give up unless she distracted him with other topics.
“What do you want to know?”
