Chapter 60. A Bandage Unwound from the Outside In, and a Kiss Rationed by Duty

Chapter 60: 60. A Bandage Unwound from the Outside In, and a Kiss Rationed by Duty

I let my own horse drift a little closer to Alicia’s and lowered my voice. "So far, so good, eh?"

"Don’t say that," she murmured. "You’ll jinx it!"

"I’m not superstitious... so better enjoy ourselves for a while." I laughed.

"You’re the most superstitious person I’ve ever met..." She sighed. "You wouldn’t walk under a ladder until you were fifteen."

"Well, I got burned once."

"By a ladder?"

"Nope~! By a very upset plasterer."

She laughed quietly, and I felt a little of the tension drain out of my shoulders.

At the back of my mind, the panel gave a faint pulse, and I opened it for a moment to check.

[STATUS]

[Lust: 97%]

[Aether Reserve: 82%]

[Physical Condition: Recovering, 70%]

[Tip: Please stop wincing every time your horse trots.]

I decided not to answer.

By the end of the first day, I’d developed a whole new respect for how many people can nag one man at the same time.

"Sit up straight," Laura called from the head of the column, without turning around.

"I am sitting up straight."

"Your left shoulder is dropping... You’re favoring the ribs."

"How can you see that from the front?"

"I can see everything."

"You’ve got eyes in the back of your helmet or something?"

"I don’t even wear a helmet."

"Then it’s worse than I thought."

Ten minutes later, I forgot myself and reached up to scratch my neck, and a sharp pain went through my side like a lightning bolt.

I hissed through my teeth. Before I could recover, I became aware of a pair of eyes on me.

I looked over, and Alicia was watching with a perfectly calm expression and one raised eyebrow, the kind that says ’I told you,’ so without needing to say it.

"I didn’t say anything," I said.

"I didn’t either."

"You looked."

"I can look... It’s a free country."

Behind me, I heard a snort.

It came from the back of the column, and it was followed by a low, rumbling chuckle that I recognized instantly as Sharon’s laugh. I decided that I was surrounded.

"It’s true what they say," Ferris called to me from his position near the wagon. "Sir Ravenshield is the most scolded knight in the whole Order."

"Whaaaa...?! Who even says that?!"

"Everyone! It’s practically a legend... They say you got yelled at by a healer, a commander, an instructor, and one of the best knights in the kingdom! It’s all before breakfast."

"That’s not true at all."

"Is it not?"

"Well... It was after breakfast."

The guards laughed, and even Holt let out a dry little breath that might have been a chuckle. I let it go.

It was an odd thing to feel, a little embarrassed and a little proud at the same time, but it seemed to go with the territory.

Being laughed at by people who liked you was a very different experience from being laughed at by people who didn’t, and I’d had a lot of the second kind.

...

We stopped around midday on a low, grassy hilltop to let the horses drink from a small stream and to eat something cold.

From the top of the rise, the whole country rolled out in front of us, wide and green and dotted with farms, and in the distance... a long gray ribbon of river caught the sunlight.

Laura had brought out her field glass, a small brass tube that she’d borrowed from Hallis, and she was studying something to the east.

I walked over, with my bread in one hand, and stood beside her.

"Do you see that?" she said.

"Which part?"

"The bridge... It’s down there." She pointed. "About two miles upriver."

I squinted. A stone bridge, broad and arched, crossed the river at a narrow point between two low cliffs.

It was a handsome thing, built of pale granite, with a wide road running over it and a pair of stone lions guarding each end. I looked at it for a long time, and I didn’t see anything wrong with it.

"Oh wow... It’s perfect," I said.

"That’s the Silver Road bridge," said Laura. "The one that’s supposedly closed for repairs."

"I see no scaffolding there."

"There’s no scaffolding... There are no workers, no carts of stone, and no ropes or ladders or signposts either." Laura nodded. "And you see the road on either side?"

"Huh-uh."

"It’s not blocked... There are ruts in the dirt where wagons have crossed it in the last few days."

"No fucking way... The Council lied?!"

"The Council wrote that the bridge is closed... I can’t prove it was a lie."

"But I can prove that it’s false." She lowered the glass and took out her field notebook, a small leather book that she carried everywhere. "Date, hour, weather, and the condition of the structure."

"I’ll put it in the official report... If this ever goes before a tribunal, it’s the sort of detail that wins a case."

I watched her write. Her handwriting was cramped and precise, with each letter a perfect little soldier.

She added a quick sketch of the bridge, labeling the lions, and then drew an arrow and wrote ’No obstruction observed’ beside it and even underlined it twice.

"Damn... You’re thorough about this, aren’t you?" I said.

"Paranoid" is one of the few traits that I have as a knight."

"Welp, same thing... in the right job."

She almost smiled. "That’s also what Sharon says."

She closed the notebook and slipped it back into her belt.

For a while, we stood in silence, looking at the bridge, and then she turned and studied me with her pale eyes. "Take off your jacket."

"W-what?" I looked around. "We’re going to do it here?"

"No!" Laura blushed. "You and your dirty mind..."

"I mean, your bandage is loose! I can see it from here, idiot..."

"Oh!" I noticed that too. "It’s fine."

"It’s not fine! Sit down."

I sat on a flat rock at the edge of the hill, and she knelt in front of me and began to unwind the old linen with quick, practiced hands.

She always did it the same way, from the outside in, so that the last layer came away from the wound without tugging. I looked down at the top of her head, at the short blue hair that stuck up at the crown, and I felt a rush of warmth that had nothing to do with the sun.

"You hate sitting still, huh?" she said, without looking up.

"Yeah... I really do."

"I know. I could see it at the dinner table when you couldn’t stop tapping your foot." Laura looked at me for a second. You’ve been pretending to be calm for three days."

"What can I say? I am a very good pretender."

"To me... You’re a terrible one." She sighed. "You’re just stubborn enough that nobody wants to argue."

She tucked the new bandage under my ribs and pulled it tight, and I clenched my teeth. "I’m not asking you to stop being yourself..."

"I’m only asking you to try... for at least a week, to let other people carry something."

"It’s hard, but... I’m trying."

"I know you are." She tied the knot and sat back on her heels, and her expression was gentle. "I think that’s what makes it hard."

I put my hand over hers. "Thank you, Laura..."

"Don’t thank me... Just don’t fall off your horse."

"Can I get a kiss on top of that too?" I smiled with that flirtatious smile.

Laura just sighed and then gave me a quick peck on the cheek, and yes... I still see her face all red when she does that. "You’re only getting on the cheek when we’re on duty."

"Hehehe... it’s still worth it, though. Thanks again." I smiled at her.

She stood up, brushed the dust off her knees, and walked back toward the others, with her spine straight and her ears the faintest shade of pink.

I watched her go, and I thought, ’Damnnnnn... I’m a very lucky bastard to really have her.’