A horse started toward us, and Iric helped me to a standing position, relief written all over his face. Then, he glanced down and saw his magestone glowing. He looked at me in confusion as the magestone faded to Sage. He saw my hands and pulled a knife from his pocket, slicing my bound hands free.

I felt numb. What had just happened?

I glanced in the direction of the horse's footsteps and saw Ember riding toward us. Before his horse stopped, he jumped off and ran the last bit to me. "Naomi?" he asked tentatively before throwing his arms around me in relief. Exhausted and more than a bit terrified, I embraced him back weakly.

He hadn't been healed in a while. His expression only turned from relief into concern. "What happened to Jack and Sam?" I asked. "Are they okay?" He nodded, pulling back but keeping an iron grip on my shoulders.

"They are helping the others. There was an ambush. Most of our Slate were killed or kidnapped," he said quickly, eyes roving over my face as if looking for damage.

"Same here," I said.

His voice was shaky. "They were testing them," Iric called from where he was keeping a lookout. "Trying to weed out the weak ones."

"Are you okay?" Ember asked, staring at me intently.

"I'm fine," I lied, my voice wavering. "It's not...my blood." An unabating panic was in the corner of my mind. I needed a distraction. I needed a distraction. "I can help Jack and Sam with some healing," I said shakily, almost choking on a sob. "I'd like to do some healing. They ignored my uniform and just thought I was a woman, so they...They were going to...umm..." I paused, trying to get the words out. What words should I use? They were going to do the exact thing that the foreman tried. The horror of it all washed over me suddenly. "Um...they were going to..." Tears began flooding down my face and I wiped them away with shaky hands.

"Did they succeed?" he asked gently. I shook my head, grateful that he wasn't going to make me say it. He glanced around nervously, eyes lingering on where Vincent had escaped. "We need to head back to camp—we will be safer there," he said and stepped forward. He reached to set a hand on my shoulder, but I flinched back.

"Please, Ember. Just...not now."

"Sorry," he said softly. "This way."

I limped forward as Ember walked back toward his horse and I grimaced, feeling feverish. A part of me wondered why I didn't ask Ember for help, but a bigger part of me knew that I needed to deal with my own problems. At least the pain was a distraction. Ember continued his urgent pace and I limped as fast as I could, losing speed quickly. He ran over to grab his horse. We had gone further from the camp than I thought. The pain grew with each step and silent tears streaked down my face. Finally, I set too much weight on my ankle and my leg gave out, making me tumble to the ground with a cry.

"Ember!" Iric called out in warning, gesturing toward me.

Ember whirled and saw me on the ground. He ran over and glanced down at me, half-hidden in the grass. "What's wrong?" he asked as he knelt by me, concern written across his face.

"Nothing," I gritted out.

"Like hell there is," he muttered, eyes roving over my body. I pulled me leg away so he wouldn't see it, but he simply slid his hand under my thigh and roughly dragged it back out.

I yelped as it caught in the tangled grass.

I glanced up and saw that Ember's face had frozen over. "Where are you hurt?" he asked tensely.

I grimaced but didn't answer.

Ember brushed away the tall grass and saw my swollen ankle. "How bad?" he asked.

I replied. "It's fine."

"Like hell," he repeated. When I glanced up, he had thinly veiled anger in his voice. He slid a hand under my shoulder and knee as if he was going to pick me up.

"Stop," I blurt out in a panic, pushing his hands away.

"You want me to let you die out here in a grassy field?" he asked sarcastically.

I shook my head, wiping away tears frantically. "I'm not going to die. I can make it." I reached out to touch his hand. Once I connected, I began healing the pain in his chest.

Ember flinched back. "What the fugg is wrong with you?" he shot back angrily, finally meeting my eyes and making me quiver under his harsh gaze.

"N-nothing."

"Can I not for once be the one to take care of you?" Fury filled his eyes. "Do you always have to be the protector, or will you actually let me help you. For once?" he asked sharply.

"I'm fi—"

"You are not fugging fine," he roared. "You have an injured ankle that you seem to enjoy aggravating and you are so exhausted you can barely stand up straight. And the bright red bruises on your neck suggest you were probably choked by some half-witted southerner. All of the healers we have left are trying to bring people back from the brink of death and for once I need you to let me help you, so you don't end up there yourself."

A brisk wind blew past us, and I realized I was shivering. I glanced down at my ankle and saw that it had swollen even more since I was with Vincent on the horse.

Ember didn't wait for a response before slinging his coat over my legs and picking me up again. I lay in his arms, horribly tense the entire time.

I was almost kidnapped, I realized.

What felt like seconds later, we entered a tent and Ember placed me on a cot. I glanced down and realized we were in his tent, and I was lying on his bed. He quickly left and I lay back, sleep starting to fall over me.

Ember soon returned with two sticks, and a long piece of fabric.

"We need to keep your ankle stable. That will heal it the fastest until we can get you back to civilization," he said. He glanced up. "There is not much we can do for the bruising on your neck," he said sourly.

I reached up to my neck and winced slowly at the sensitive skin. I had almost forgotten about the rope.

"Don't other people need help?" I asked, beginning to sit up.

"Shut up," he said harshly, focusing on his task.

"I can do this," I argued.

"Shut up!" Ember slammed a fist against the support post, making the entire tent shake. "Fugg it, Naomi. You. You need help. You do. I'm helping you," he said. He stared at me. Suddenly, I saw hurt fill his eyes. "You lied to me." he realized bitterly, eyes focused on arranging and binding the sticks to either side of my ankle. "You swore an oath and you lied. You told me you were okay. Why?" he asked. "Did you want to be taken? Was this your plan?"

I bolted up, anger steaming under the surface and falling as tears. "They killed dewloi," I said. "They killed healers, they almost raped me," I shot back, voice rising as my fever did. "You think I wanted any of this?" I glanced around. "I don't want any of this. I don't want any death or dying. I hate fighting. So, I lied about being injured. My issues aren't your problem."

"Your issues became my problem when I swore an oath to Romina," he returned.

"That's all I am? Ethical...fodder?" I exploded, vision blurred by tears. "You only care about me because of some emotionally induced oath to Roach—"

"That's not her name!" Ember roared, whirling on me.

I flinched and covered my face, heart pounding. A sob burst from my throat.

I could hear rather than saw Ember deflate. "You still don't trust me," he realized. "After all we've been through. After everything. You still don't trust me."

"It's not that I don't trust you—" I said, cut off as he wrapped the first bit of cloth tightly around my ankle, making me take a sharp breath.

"You don't trust anyone," Ember completed bitterly.

I nodded shortly, exhaustion panting at the door.

"Maybe you should go back to the house and stay there," he said.

Panic clutched at my throat. "No," I whispered.

I was so close.

I have to find Anthony.

"Who is Anthony?"

My heart stopped.

I said it out loud.My heart began thudding painfully.

"No one," I lied.

Ember knelt back down next to my ankle and finished wrapping it firmly. His heavy eyebrows sunk even further if that was even possible. "Fine, Naomi. Keep your secrets. I'll keep mine and Romina can keep hers. Amarilla will keep hers and we can pretend that everything is okay when clearly it is not. Fine." he muttered.

I felt weak. Scared. More than that, I realized that no matter how hard I tried, I always ended up sabotaging and hurting those I loved.