Without Hesitation, Talia Jager [warren buffett book recommendations txt] 📗

get you there.” She put her arms under me and picked me up.

Perfect. In her arms. I rested my head on her chest and listened to her heartbeat as she carried me away. Dying in her arms seemed like a good ending. I let my eyes close again.

“Wake up!”

It took a minute, but I finally managed to open my eyes. Death was supposed to be quieter than this.

“I need you to understand what’s going on. Your head looks fine, which is just weird, but there’s another wound on your side. There’s something in it. I can get it out, but you have to let me.”

Maybe it wasn’t a hallucination?

More water dribbled in my mouth. I could barely make out the cloth she was squeezing above my lips.

“I will wash it best I can, but there’s no way to close it up. No tape. Nothing.”

My focus sharpened for a moment and I thought back on survival class. I pointed to the fire and then to her knife. She looked back and forth and her eyes went wide, but she took the knife and put it on a rock over the fire. She left and returned with a stick. “Only thing I could find.” She held it out to my mouth and I let her put it in and I bit down.

Everleigh wiped the wound with a cloth, and then squeezed water onto it. She took a deep breath and stuck her fingers in the wound on my side.

The pain…a pain like I’d never experienced before ripped through me. The muffled scream I let out seemed only to touch the very edges of how much it hurt. My fingers grasped at the ground beneath me. I felt her fingers as they fished around for whatever was in there. Finally she pulled it out and looked at it. “Metal.”

Using the cloth, she washed the wound again. She took the knife, almost glowing red, and our eyes met. I nodded. She took the knife and pressed it to the wound in quick bursts. I chomped down on the stick, screaming. Death was definitely not this agonizing, this was living.

Once my heart stopped racing and my breathing returned to normal, I licked my lips.

“Here. Eat.” She pressed something to my lips.

I squinted, trying to see what it was.

“They’re berries of some sort. Not immediately poisonous or I’d be dead. Figured it’s better than nothing.”

I opened my mouth and let her pop a few of them in. Bursts of sweet juice filled my mouth as I chewed.

The light from the closest sunstar was already dimming. Night was falling again. My eyelids felt heavy.

“Sleep, Empress.”

I kept quiet and after a minute of staring at her, wondering if this was indeed real, I closed my eyes. Guess we’d know in the next day if Caspar was right. If this wound healed, I had nanites in me.

Before my eyes even opened, I could feel a difference. No more pain. Not even soreness. Everleigh was sitting next to the fire. Her dark hair had been pulled back into braids.

She turned and our eyes met.

My heart leaped at the sight of her, the way it always had, the way it always would, but then rage broke through, boiling through my veins. A broken, guttural sob ripped up from my throat before I could stop it. I cursed myself for letting her get to me. I cursed myself for wanting to let the rage go and take her in my arms. I cursed myself for trusting her in the first place.

She got up and started coming toward me. I turned away. She didn’t deserve my tears. Didn’t deserve to see me like this. I wanted to be strong. Crying just showed weakness.

“Let me check your wound.”

I tried to pull away from her, but my body was still weak from the lack of food and water, and she easily jerked me back. Her fingers brushed over my skin and my heart betrayed me by skipping a beat.

“You’re healed.” Her face twisted with confusion. “Completely.” She looked from that wound up to my head where the injury had been. Then meeting my eyes, she questioned, “What are you?”

I yanked my shirt back down and pulled away. She hadn’t stopped staring at me and it was becoming uncomfortable, but I had no desire to explain right now. I didn’t even know if what Caspar said was true. Though everything pointed to exactly that.

Nanites. I knew nothing about them and apparently nothing about my father. Or what had happened to me when I was younger. Curiosity alone would make me find a way to get home so I could get some answers.

Everleigh blew out a long breath. “Fine. We need to get water. There’s a small stream not too far from here, but it’s downhill. Seeing as you’re all healed, you shouldn’t have any problems.”

I pushed myself to my feet and waited for her to lead.

“You can’t just not talk to me.”

The hell I couldn’t. I had no intentions of ever speaking to her again.

Everleigh began walking. Soon we were on a downhill slope, so we angled ourselves sideways and continued down. I could hear the stream before I saw it and my tongue slid across my lips in anticipation.

Once the stream came into view, I rushed over to it, cupped my hands and drank the water. Once my thirst was quenched, I stood and looked at our surroundings. There were mountains in the distance. To my right, there were some brightly colored trees that looked similar to something on my planet. If they were, they might have fruit. I started toward them.

Everleigh put her hand on my shoulder. “Where are you going?”

I hated the way my body betrayed me. I hated that I nearly leaned into her touch before I jerked my shoulder away instead. Without saying a word, I continued to the trees. My stomach let out a loud gurgle as I got closer and saw they were indeed fruit. First I looked at the few lying on the ground. There were bite marks in them. My eyes searched the area for dead animals and I saw none. Most likely the fruit wasn’t poisonous.

A few of the soft, fuzzy fruits hung on a low branch just over my head. I stretched up and grabbed one then bit into it and the juicy flesh warmed in my mouth. It was close to what grew on Valinor, but it wasn’t exactly the same. Not being positive they were safe, I waited a minute to make sure I didn’t drop dead. When I didn’t, I quickly finished the rest of it and grabbed another one off the tree. Everleigh had caught up to me and was chowing down on one.

Neither of us said a word. We sat in silence. The air was so thick with tension that it seemed to hum around us. Everleigh started collecting firewood again and built a fire.

At the stream, I rinsed off some of the dirt and blood from my hands before drinking more water. I felt as if I couldn’t get enough to drink. I was forever thirsty and hungry. It would be dark soon. The walk back to the fire seemed so far, and I thought about just sleeping where I was. Away from her.

I should leave. Go off on my own again. But I was weaker than normal and not sure I’d get too far.

Plus part of me knew I couldn’t leave her. And that pissed me off. She handed me over to a madman, but walking away from her broke me.

Back at the fire, I laid down with my head on my arm. She took one last look at me and then did the same across from me. Wordlessly, we stared at each other. How could she betray me? Hadn’t that kiss meant anything to her? Before she could see the tears in my eyes, I closed them and let sleep come.

 

Caspar grabbed me and held my head under the water. I thrashed trying to get free. My lungs were burning. I couldn’t breathe. 

I sat straight up, gasping for breath.

“You’re safe,” Everleigh said from her crouched position in front of me. “You’re having a nightmare.”

Turning to her, I could see the water in her eyes, shimmering in the moonlight, and my stupid heart clenched, thankful that she was here with me. The fear I felt in my dream didn’t leave me though. My chest tightened and I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. I was warm and my head felt all fuzzy as the fear tightened its hold on me. He’d find me. He’d capture me again. I’d never be safe. My heart took off at a gallop and I yanked on my shirt.

I didn’t realize she wasn’t in front of me anymore until I felt her behind me. She scooted up right against my body and put her arm around me. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

I hated that her arms made me feel safe. I hated that my heart slowed the longer she held me. I hated that my eyes closed and I fell back to sleep in her arms.