As her fingers closed weakly around it, I wiped the sweat from her forehead with my thumb. Her skin was still too hot beneath my touch.
She frowned, as though she was trying to piece together where she was or how she’d gotten here. "How long was I out?"
"About fifteen minutes."
As she brought the root to her cracked lips, her gaze drifted to the horizon, then back to me. Even disoriented and half-conscious, I could see her mind working, assembling the pieces. Understanding what this meant.
We were in serious trouble, and she knew it.
"I'm so thirsty," she whispered.
"I know. Me, too."
I sat back on my heels, running a hand through my sweat-soaked hair. The decision I'd been wrestling with for the past fifteen minutes sat in my gut as inevitable and heavy as a stone.
"Charlie." I met her eyes. "I need to find Zeus. I've got water in the saddlebags."
Understanding flickered across her face, followed immediately by fear. She knew what I was saying. And what I wasn't saying.
I had to leave her here.
"You'll move faster alone," she said quietly. Not a question. A statement.
I nodded, hating that we were out of choices. "And with Zeus, we can ride out of here and get back to the ranch quicker."
"What if you don't find him?"
"I will."
"Don't." She clamped her jaw so hard it trembled. "Don't do that, Mitch. Tell me the truth."
The truth. Christ, she wanted the truth.
I took a breath. "If I don't find him, I'll come back here, and we'll figure this out together. But I will find him, Charlie."
She was quiet for a long moment, chest rising and falling with those too-shallow breaths. Then she pushed herself up on one elbow, wincing. "How long will you be gone?"
"Don't know. Two hours. Maybe three or four." I paused. I had to give her the worst case. "I could be longer."
"All day?"
I met her gaze, needing her to understand. I needed her to believe me. "I will come back for you, Charlie." I reached for her hand, and our palms slotted together as if we'd done this a hundred times before. "I promise you."
"Okay," she whispered.
That was all she said. Just okay.
No arguments. No panic. No begging me not to go.
The sheer bravery in that single word hit me harder than any punch ever had.
"Charlie—"
"I'm fine." But I saw the flash of terror in her eyes that she was fighting so hard to hide. Her free hand clutched at the hem of her grubby shorts, knuckles bone-white. "Just... find Zeus and get us out of here. Okay?"
My heart beat so hard it was a miracle my chest didn’t crack wide open.
I moved closer and cupped her face in my hand. Her skin was too hot, flushed, and slick with sweat, but her cheek fit perfectly against my palm like it belonged there. Those honey-gold eyes locked onto mine, wide and vulnerable and so goddamn trusting it made my heart ache.