The Keepers of Azera ( Book 1 of the Keepers Trilogy)

Chapter 33

"A little. I need for you to prop Callie up."

I groan as Amacus gently puts me in a sitting position. I rest my head on his shoulder and note how badly he's shaking. Strong Amacus, the trainer sent from another planet, who could speak with more authority than I could muster, and he can't handle the sight of blood. You would think that someone like him would be more used to dealing with injuries, but I guess everyone has their weaknesses. And he's incredibly brave for sitting here, holding my hand while watching me bleed all over the couch.

I'm completely delirious right now. 

"You're very warm," I tell him.

All he says is, "Shush."

James drapes a blanket over me and says, "I can't wrap the bandage around you with the dress on."

Amacus had his arms under the blanket, but now he pulls them out. "This doesn't seem right, James."

"I'm not trying to be perverted, I'm just trying to bandage her," James says. "Don't move her head from your shoulder and you don't have to do anything."

I think I found the new definition of 'awkward'-wearing only underwear under a blanket with my head on the guy who just kissed me twenty minutes ago and my guardian wrapping a bandage around me. James is very careful not to touch me or remove the blanket. When he finishes, he picks me up (still swaddle in the blanket like a baby) and tells Amacus, "You can go back to your dorm now. I can tell you didn't like having to be there while I stitched her up."

I hear Amacus's footsteps, then the door opens and closes. James carries me to my room, places me on my bed, kisses my forehead, and then leaves.

***

I wake up, feeling extremely sore. It takes me a few moments (and accidentally rolling onto my back) to remember what happened last night. One second I was having my first kiss, the next an Euravic sliced me open. It also doesn't take me long to realize that I'm wearing nothing but undies and bandages under this blanket, and James had to pull my dress of me. It makes my face flush, even though it was necessary to bandage me up, and besides, it's not like James hasn't seen me naked-he use to change my diapers, for Gods' sakes. And I was wrapped up in a blanket.

I climb out of bed, wincing as pain shoots down my back, and find a loose fitting shirt and a pair of pants to pull on. I finger my hair, trying to find the hair tie before realizing it was cut off last night. I sigh. I need a haircut anyways.

James is in the living room reading when I enter. "Hey," I say hoarsely.

He looks up. "Hey, how's your back?"

"Painful," I reply, sinking into an armchair next to James. "I need to sit."

"That was a nasty gash you took last night," he says gently.

I nod, then yawn. "We shouldn't have come out at night."

His shoulders slump. "I know," he agrees glumly. "I should've thought of it before you left."

"It's not your fault," I say. "We should've known better. We got... distracted. And it's weird, because the desert was entirely empty except for a few plants..."

My voice falters. The doorway was set into a small metal box above the ground. The Euravic could've been behind that. "We screwed up badly, James."

"It doesn't matter now," he says.

I scoff. "I have stitches in my back, my hair needs to be chopped off-" I hold up a chunk of it- "and you say it doesn't matter? James-"

"I'm going to go talk to Matilda-" he begins, but I cut him off.

"You're going to go talk to her about this?! You complain about her having power, then you tell her everything? In one week you've accused her of betrayal, then you-"

"I don't have a choice in this matter, Callie. I know what I'm doing," he says.

"Do you?"

"Yeah, actually, I do. Do you not trust me?"

I open my mouth, then shut it. I do trust my Guardian, but I don't trust Matilda, and I don't think she should know. It only gives her more power. James takes my silence as an answer. "This isn't my choice, Callie, it's actually Alex's. And you know I wouldn't dare disobey the Chief Keeper himself. And I don't tell her everything, Callie. Only what I'm suppose to. And that BS about secret training- I know for a fact that Alex and I told her about it."

"Why did Alex tell you to do that?" I ask.

"To tell her everything? To avoid suspicion, mostly."

"What suspicion? She doesn't like us, yeah, but-"

"She thinks she might get thrown out," James says. "Since your father is the Chief-and has more power over training than she thinks-she dislikes you especially and goes out of her way to make things difficult for you."

"No der," I mutter. James stands up, touches my shoulder, and opens the door-and immediately runs into Amacus with  a loud "Oomph!"

"Hi, Amacus!" James says a little breathlessly. "What're you doing here?"

"I came to check on Callie," he replies, looking over James's shoulder (which isn't hard for him; he and James are about the same height).

"I was gonna go talk to Matilda, if you two wanna hang out here, that's fine by me," James says. I guess he thinks that I clearly didn't finish talking to him about the other dimension, so he's giving us time.

"Uh, okay," Amacus says, stepping past James. He nods at Amacus and closes the door.

Amacus counts ten seconds on his fingers, then looks at me. "You did not tell James what...happened, did you?" It's not a question.

I shake my head. "As far as he's concerned, we got distracted by discussing parallel universes. We're good."

He stands by my chair, his hand on the arm rest. "I am...sorry...for what happened last night. That shouldn't have happened."

I place my hand over his. "Hey, it's not your fault. The stupid bug creeped up on us."

He smiles at the "stupid bug" comment and shakes his head. "I was talking about before that."

"Oh. Still don't understand what you're apologizing for, sorry," I say with a little grin.

Amacus stares at me blankly. "The kiss?"

"Oh, for the love of- Amacus, I know what you were talking about."

"Oh." Then, as what I meant sinks in, "Ohhh. So you are not upset?"

"You're clueless," I say.

"I'm really not that good at picking up hints," Amacus says.

"I can tell," I say dryly, standing up. Immediately, I feel dizzy and grab Amacus for support. "Are you okay?" he asks.

"I've been better," I reply, leaning my head on his chest. "I lost a lot of blood last night."

"That you did," Amacus replies, helping me back in the chair. He kneels in front of me, leaning his arms on my knees. I lean forward and he kisses me again, only this time it's much softer and lasts longer.

And then the door slams open and we jump and look at it. James stops in the doorway, looks at Amacus and I, and asks, "What the hell did I just witness?"

"So what did Matilda say?" I ask him, trying to evade the subject.

"Words," he replies curtly. He grabs Amacus by the back of his shirt and yanks him towards the doorway. Amacus nearly loses his balance. Then James pretty much throws him out of the room. Amacus falls on his butt just as James closes the door.

"Really unnecessary, James," I say.

James looks at the shut door, then back at me. "Doubt it."