Pale One.
Eha’s voice broke through his thoughts, and he paused his attack, his entire body trembling.
“Pale One, you need to breathe. You need to stop.”
His hands shook, and he looked down at the man beneath him. His face was nearly unrecognizable, and Fox couldn’t see if he was breathing. Blood trickled from the back of his head from where Fox had tackled him. Fox fell back, his back hitting the ground as he took in deep breaths. The darkness above him was smothering.
“Breathe,”Eha said again, coolness washing over him.“You are okay.”
“I killed him. I killed him.”The words chanted through his mind. How would he explain to Harlow why he’d killed the man? He’d made it a single week as a spy, and he’d fucked it up thoroughly in a single moment.
“You saved me,” the girl’s voice was thin. She was sitting up again, the cut along her cheek still bleeding from where Rogo had punched her.
Fox had saved her.
That didn’t solve his problems though. His breaths turned shallow, his chest ached with the lack of air. He wasn’t getting enough air.
“Pale One,”Eha said, voice cool.“Breathe. I need you.”
Those words had Fox’s spine going stiff. He swallowed back hispanic. He was needed, and he knew how to suppress his emotions when he needed to.
“Tell me what to do,”Fox said, face wiped of emotion.
“Get Dia out of here.”
“Dia?”Fox asked, looking over at the Dragonborn girl. Eha had clearly been communicating with the girl this entire time, too.
“Wipe away any evidence she was out here. And give me the body.”
Fox looked between Eha and the man—the body.
“You and Dia were not here. He slipped up and got too close to me. And I made him pay.”
Fox wasn’t sure dragons could smile, but she sure was close to it. Her mouth was open wide, teeth gleaming in the torchlight. Blue eyes sparkled with a cold joy.
He hesitated for only a breath, having no choice but to follow her instructions. He hooked his hands under Rogo’s arms, stumbling as he dragged him across the ground. His hands throbbed with pain, and he realized his knuckles would be swollen and bruised tomorrow morning. There was nothing he could do about that now, though.
Only when he could feel the cold radiating from Eha did he drop Rogo, his body hitting the ground with a thud.
“Pale One,”Eha said, as Fox went to step back.“Hold out your hands.”
He looked at her, blinking. Her gaze was steady, and it calmed something in him. He held out his hands, and she moved her head until it was level with his. She opened her mouth, and for an instant, he wondered if she’d eat him, fed up with waiting for him to save her. But she only blew out a cold, wet breath. Ice tingled along his skin, and he watched as the cuts along his knuckles closed and the swelling nearly disappeared.
Eha shuddered and swayed, and Fox moved forward, his hand landing on her nose, as if he had any chance of catching her.
“Are you okay?”
“The iron makes me weak. That is all I can do.”
Fox looked down at his hands, too exhausted to comprehend the lack of pain. Even the broken finger barely twinged as he clenched his fists.
“Now go,”she said. Without preamble, she reached out a claw and pulled Rogo’s body closer. Talons tore through flesh, and she snapped her jaw down across his body, any evidence of Fox’s fists vanishing in an instant.
He turned to see the Dragonborn girl staring with wide eyes, her mouth open.
Fox swallowed, moving before his brain could catch up to what he was about to do. He cleaned up any trace of Rogo’s attempts at interrogation and grabbed the set of keys along the wall. The iron was cold as he unlocked her ankles with shaking hands.
“Keep your head down. Do you know where the nearest resistance base is?”