“Sorry.” The word came out as a hoarse croak from his parched throat. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
She jerked toward him and the relief and tenderness for him on her face stole his breath. No woman not related to him had ever given him a look like that. “You’re awake.” That one word carried a bucketful of joy. She acted as if she’d expected him to wake up dead.
Which begged one really important question. “How long have I been out?”
She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she calmed down. “Two days.”
Her words stunned him. Was that possible? “Two days?” he repeated in disbelief.
“Yeah. I was beginning to fear you’d never wake up.”
He was stuck in a state of complete denial. She had to be wrong about that. She had to be. There was no way he could have stayed unconscious for that long and left her to fend for herself. It amazed him that she was still alive.
More to the point that she was still here.
“How?”
She scowled at him. “How have you been unconscious?”
“No. How did you survive?”
That brought the color into her cheeks as she stiffened, ready to battle. Indignation lit a titanic fire in the dark depth of her eyes. “I’m not helpless.”
“I wasn’t implying that you were by any stretch of the imagination, but I know our supplies were almost nonexistent. How did you find more food?”
That seemed to defuse her anger a bit. “I rationed the food between us and you no longer have any crackers or sauce packets in your backpack—they’re actually not so bad when you combine them. You didn’t really eat, but I gave you most of the water to keep you from dehydrating.”
He was floored by her actions. “Why would you do that?”
“Like I told you, we’re in this together.”
“That’s not very Qillaq of you. I thought you guys were all about screw everyone’s survival but your own.”
Desideria looked away from his piercing gaze as the truth of that seared her. It was their code. It’d been preached to her since the hour of her birth.
But it hadn’t been her father’s. He’d taught her better and she’d much rather subscribe to his loyalty than her mother’s treachery.
“I owe you.”
Caillen saw a ghost in her gaze. A haunted memory caused by something he’d said, but he had no idea what it was or what had triggered it.
In truth, he was completely stunned by her words and actions. They were so uncharacteristic for her race…
Let it go. It was obvious it bothered her and she didn’t want to talk about it. So he switched the topic to something safe. “Have the Andarions been back?”
“A couple of times. I put your mirror devices on the trapdoor and I sprayed your pheromones around. I think they know we’re here, but that seems to be keeping them confused as to our exact location.”
Caillen grimaced as he moved and pain lacerated his chest and arm. Glancing over to the mirrors, he saw that she’d positioned them correctly, which was impressive. They weren’t always the easiest thing to work with.
“Good, the mirrors should hide the opening even from their eyes and block all their scanning equipment—even the most advanced ones.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “One of Darling’s better toys.” Bracing for more pain, he lifted himself up on his uninjured arm.
Suddenly Desideria was there, helping him An unfamiliar tenderness pierced him through his chest. A foreign sensation he wasn’t used to. He leaned against the wall as she reached for the water beside him. The bottle was only half full.
She held it out toward him like a peace offering. “This is the last of it, so you might want to sip slowly.”
Caillen hesitated. Yes, he was thirsty, but he wasn’t about to slight her. Not after what she’d done for him. “When was the last time you had some?”
“A few hours ago.”
Yeah, right. He saw the way she glanced down and left when she spoke—a sure sign that she was lying. “Why don’t I believe you?”
“ ’Cause it was yesterday?” The expression on her face was adorable. Her smile was impish and her hair tousled. It was all he could do not to kiss her.
But that would probably get him bitch-slapped.
He handed the bottle to her. “Drink.”
She shook her head. “You need it more.”
“Yeah, no. I’m not being altruistic here. If you collapse, I can’t exactly carry you right now. I need you mobile so that you can carry me when I fall over.”
Shaking her head and laughing, she took it from him and drank very slowly as if she was still rationing it.
While she did that, Caillen pulled his pack to him to dig through it. She watched as he pulled out three tablets and held them in his palm.
She swallowed, then lowered the bottle. “What are you doing?”
“One’s for the pain and the other two are a healing accelerant I wish I’d taken before I passed out.”