Fortunately, Eva was done bathing by the time he made his way back up the river. All of the blood was gone. A rip in the cloak alerted him to a new injury.
It looked like the wolf had injured her after all. Her upper arm had come into contact with the sharp claws of the wolf. Lucas balled up his fist before announcing himself to her.
Eva jumped at the sound of his voice. She turned around and he saw the redness in her eyes. Her face looked frightened. He relaxed his fist and reached for her shoulder.
"You were hurt?" he asked gently.
"It is not very deep. I can manage," she said, slightly flinching from his touch.
Lucas hated causing her pain, but he needed to see her wound to treat it.
"Let me see it. I collected some herbs this morning."
She bit her lip and thought briefly before nodding. Turning away from him, she removed the heavy cloak he had originally given her. Sliding her shirt down, she revealed her shoulder and upper arm.
The sight of her bare skin distracted Lucas for a minute, but the small gash that was bleeding slightly reminded him of his objective.
"Hmm… This will require bandaging. Hold on."
Lucas picked up Eva princess style and effortlessly took her back to their camp. Nothing had been disturbed since that morning, thankfully. Eva's blanket was still laid out from that morning, so he laid her down on it gently.
"Lay on your not hurt side while I grind up the herbs."
Rummaging through the large pack, he found the bandages and set them out. He started the pot with water to boil. He didn't want to spend any more time in this area, but he knew that Eva did not have a strong constitution like he did.
It was better to treat her before they left. Fortunately, the wind was in their favor for now. The exhaustion from the wolf attack must have finally gotten to Eva, because she fell asleep sometime before the water began to boil.
Lucas set out the first set of herbs and ground them into a paste. Careful not to wake Eva or move her clothes too much, he covered the gash on her upper arm and wrapped the bandage around her arm.
He slipped the fabric of her shirt back over her shoulder where it was safe from his prying eyes. Shrugging off his cloak he laid it over her for now. Finding a new cloak to replace the damaged one would be simple once they found the next village.
Gently he ran his fingers down the side of her cheek. Eva stirred a little at his touch, but thankfully stayed asleep. She was safe, but he could not seem to shake the panic he felt before he knew that.
After turning the second batch of herbs into powder he made a tea. Her sleeping face looked so peaceful. He could not even tell that she had sobbed so much earlier. Grabbing her hand he called to her to wake.
"There is no time to be sleeping, wake up."
"Lucas?" her groggy voice asked after a moment.
The sound of his name coming from her mouth distracted him briefly.
"You must drink this medicine and we must leave."
He urged her once more. She blinked sleepily and sat up with a slight grimace. Looking down at her arm she remembered that she had been injured earlier in the day.
The bitter taste of the medicine made her face twist up in disgust. She obediently finished the medicine and watched as Lucas finished packing up their campsite.
There was an awkward silence that Eva did not know how to break. How did she manage to keep getting injured? This time had been different. At least she didn't trip over a root or any other such blunder.
She knew that it was not her fault that a wolf just happened to show up, but the uneasy feeling did not leave her. It did not make sense for Lucas to keep taking care of her.
They were not even the same race, yet time after time he kept helping her. He showed her kindness, taught her how to fight, to survive, and made sure her injuries healed correctly.
A tight feeling formed inside of her heart. It was easy to ignore this feeling when her days were filled with training and improving her abilities, but now when she was stuck healing another injury all she had left was the feeling.
Eva felt like she might cry again. Despite all the tears she had spilled earlier, more tears threatened to spill from her eyes.
A light touch to her cheek pulled her from her cloudy thoughts.
"Are you not feeling well?" Lucas' warm voice filled with concern pulled at the growing uneasiness.
'No, don't look at me like that. I don't want to care for someone like that again.' She tore her eyes away from his and blinked away the tears.
Crossing her arms as if she was holding the last pieces of her heart together she said, "I am fine."
But she wasn't fine. Her heart was betraying her once again.
Why did she have to blindly fall in love with anyone who remotely looked at her? Was it a curse? She bit her lip.
Lucas hesitated before turning to clean up the rest of their camp. Something felt different about her reaction. Was he just overthinking it?
Slinging his and Eva's packs onto his back he reached out his hand to her. His heart beat faster when her small hand touched his.
Pulling her up was easy, too easy. His mind flashed back to the way she fit into his arms.
"It would be faster if I carried you."
He definitely did not say that because he wanted to be even closer to her.
A conflicted expression came across her face, but she nodded. Lucas immediately lifted her up in his arms. Soon the trees blended into the background and the steady familiar rocking lulled her back into a deep sleep.
******
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