Page 27

His silver eyes returned to hers. “That was not an answer.”

“Then we can both be dissatisfied.”

His tail moved once against the ground. “I am beginning to understand that this may become common.”

Kesta turned back to Lina before he saw the reluctant amusement pulling at her mouth.

When she finished checking the splint, she became aware that Dreven had not moved. He was still crouched nearby, one forearm resting across his knee. The position shifted his armor enough to expose more of his chest than she had been able to see in the basin.

The scars there were not random.

Kesta knew wounds.

Battle damage tore, punctured, burned and shattered. These marks were too precise. Parallel lines crossed the bronze skin beneath one collarbone. Another scar formed a nearly perfect circle near the edge of his sternum, with small branching marks radiating outward.

Someone had done that deliberately.

Her eyes followed one pale line beneath the edge of his armor.

“Medical curiosity?”

Kesta looked up sharply.

Dreven had caught her staring.

His expression was neutral, but there was a gleam in his eyes that had not been there before.

“Professional habit.”

“Does your professional habit tell you I am dying?”

“No.”

His brow lifted.

Kesta nodded toward the scar beneath his collarbone. “It tells me someone wanted you to hurt for a long time.”

The faint humor disappeared.

Keth, who had been checking one of the prisoners near the edge of the shelter, looked away.

Dreven did not.

For several seconds his silver gaze held hers while the tip of his tail tapped once against the stone.

Then he said, “Your seven minutes are nearly finished.”

Kesta understood the dismissal.

She also understood that she had touched something real.

She returned the injector to her pouch. “All right.”

Dreven started to rise.

“Why me?”

He stopped halfway.