“I’ve been here,” I blubber, weeping. “The floor broke and I fell down.”
“I am here.” O’jek showers me with kisses again. “Show me your arm.”
I show him—or I try to. I can’t really move it, and he brushes his fingers over it, which causes me to cry out. “Your arm joint has left the socket,” he tells me. “I do not know the human words for it.” He maneuvers his arm, showing me. “We have to push it back in.” He pauses and then adds, “It will hurt.”
“I figured.” I close my eyes and nod at him. “Go ahead.”
Before I can even brace myself, he grabs my arm and thrusts it back, hard. Hot pain sheets through me and then almost immediately disappears. I don’t know if I should black out or sob in relief. Probably both. Then he’s kissing me again and telling me how brave I am, and I just lean against him, miserable and ready for this ordeal to be over.
With murmurs of encouragement, O’jek gets me to my feet and wraps the end of the rope around my waist, and then his, tying us together. I have to hold onto him with my good arm, but he locks his tail and one arm around me, and then we slowly, slowly make our way up the rope. When I’m finally back on the main level again, I flop onto my back and take in deep, shuddering, relieved breaths.
O’jek immediately picks me up and carries me into the water. From there, he gently washes my face and the wound on my head, peering at my eyes. “This is a deep cut and still bleeds,” he tells me. “You must have hit rock on the way down. I will need to sew it.”
Stupidly, I think of my appearance. I touch the cut—just at my hairline—and try not to cry. “Is it going to be ugly?”
“Never.” O’jek scowls as if the thought offends him.
“I’m just…I’m already…” I gesture weakly at my burned cheek and hands.
“You are perfect,” he tells me, tipping my chin with a finger so I look at him. “Just looking at you makes my heart gladden, my mate. Do not ever think you are not the most beautiful female on this world. The most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”
Oh. I blink at him. Where is this romantic side coming from? I feel like I know O’jek, but sometimes he truly astonishes me.
CHAPTER 18
O’JEK
D’see cries all afternoon. I do not blame her. She is wounded and bruised, her arm is sore, and the deep cut on her brow must be sewn with one of the thick awls. I know it is all painful and terrible, but she handles it well. She remains still as I work on her, chewing the chakk leaf I gave to take the edge off the pain, and I am proud of her calm. A few tears are nothing.
When she is sleepy and relaxed from the leaves, I make her eat a piece of fruit that I cut up and feed to her. I give her water, too, and then I insist that she rest. She immediately curls up next to me, clinging to my waist as if she never wants me to let her go. I keep my tail curled around her ankle, so she will not go anywhere if I doze off. I hold her against my chest, and I try to calm down.
She is safe, I tell myself.
She is well enough. We will go back to the beach and the healer can take care of the cut on D’see’s scalp and any lingering problems with her arm. She is fine.
I am not fine.
It takes every bit of my self-control not to clench her tight against me. Not to grip her tightly in my arms and shake her for terrifying me. The last two days, in which I did not know if she was alive or dead, have burned themselves into my spirit and left a scar worse than anything on D’see’s cheek. I cannot stop thinking about how she could have died down in that tunnel below the waterfall and I would have never heard her. D’see’s voice is hoarse from screaming, but I do not know if she was simply drowned out or if she screamed while I was gone outside, frantically looking for her. What if I had gone on to the Icehome Beach? She would have died in that tunnel.
I also cannot get past the horrifying realization that D’see could have left the cave and would have no way to take care of herself.
I cannot do this.
My heart will not be able to endure. I am not sure that D’see will ever be competent enough to ease my worries, and perhaps it is wrong of me to ask, knowing this. Better that I let her stay at camp where it is safe and she is in the least danger…