Free Aria and Will by Kallysten Page B

that fact.
They needed to train better replacements, build failsafe people into the system
so that if either of them was incapacitated—or both—the Guard and Newhaven
would keep running and remain safe. The chain of command, as it stood, would
never hold. Wilhelm didn’t know why he had never realized as much before.
    He didn’t know either why he had never realized that
Ariadne was too much of a distraction.
    He focused his attention on her again, blinking to
adjust his vision. She had fallen silent and her lips were pinched into a thin
line.
    “Did you even listen to a word of what I said?”
    There was no reason to lie. “No.”
    She shook her head, but strangely enough her features
softened, almost to the point of a smile. “Of course you didn’t listen. That’s
just like you.”
    Annoyance flashed through Wilhelm. It was the first
time in all the years he had known her that he had blocked out her words rather
than listened to her, because he was tired and because he didn’t know what she
wanted to hear.
    “You know nothing of me. And I know nothing of you.
We’ll both be better off if we keep it that way.”
    He stood from the bed, ready to show her out, but
couldn’t help groaning as the movement jostled his arm. Immediately, her eyes
widened and she looked him over, her gaze stopping at his arm where blood made
his jacket and shirt adhere to his wound. On the black leather, the blood
barely showed.
    “You’re hurt.” Her hand rose toward his arm,
hesitating before she reached it. “What happened?”
    “It’s nothing. You need to go now.”
    He blinked, taken aback, when she turned away and left
the room. He wouldn’t have thought it would be that easy. And indeed, it
wasn’t. When he followed her out, he found her in the small bathroom, rummaging
beneath the sink for the standard-issue first aid kit.
    “Ariadne,” he started, but she interrupted him before
he could say anything more.
    “Take off your shirt and jacket.”
    His protests that he was fine didn’t help in the
slightest. When he didn’t do as she asked, she simply stepped forward and took
matters into her own hands, pushing at the collar of his jacket. He tried to
evade her, but the wall behind him stopped him. He caught her wrist.
    “Stop that. I don’t need your help.”
    “Maybe not, but you want me out of here. Let me look
at that wound and I’ll leave.”
    Too tired to argue anymore, Wilhelm gave up. The
sooner she left, the easier it would be. He shrugged out of his jacket, then
pulled off his shirt, wincing when the fabric pulled at the edges of his wound
where the blood had started to dry. When he looked at her, Ariadne’s gaze was
not directed at his wound, but at his chest instead. He watched, a little
bemused, as she bit down on her bottom lip. When she noticed he was watching
her, she blushed, her cheeks suddenly bright red, and cleared her throat before
turning away to grab a wet washcloth.
    Trying to ignore the way her heart was beating faster
suddenly, Wilhelm let her do as she pleased. She cleaned the bloody slash,
muttering the whole while that stitches would have been a good idea, then
disinfected it before starting to wrap a bandage around his arm. Wilhelm was
aware that soldiers of the Guard were trained into giving first aid; he had never
known until that moment that gentleness was part of the curriculum.
    Her touch was careful, almost delicate. It had been a
long time since anyone had touched him like this. It had been a long time since
anyone had touched him at all. With each of her movements, the urge to touch
back rose in him, to brush his fingers to her hand or cheek.
    He remembered a child whose hand he had held, and
suddenly wondered when he had stopped seeing that lost child when he looked at
Ariadne, and when he had started seeing this strong woman instead. Years
earlier, her teenager’s antics had amused him, but even then they had announced
her future strength. A strength that would have