The Spirit Eater (Legend of Eli Monpress 3) by Rachel Aaron

Author:Rachel Aaron
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: FIC009020
Publisher: Hachette Book Group USA
Published: 2010-11-30T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

12

Josef woke up to horrible, blinding pain. His back felt like someone had removed his spine and replaced it with a hot iron rod, and the rest of him didn’t feel much better. On the off chance his lungs worked, he took an experimental breath. It hurt. Powers, did it hurt, but not more than anything else. That gave him hope, and, very slowly, he opened his eyes.

He was lying in a bed in a cabin. Dappled sunlight streamed in through the open window, bringing with it the smell of mountains and trees. Josef frowned. He dimly remembered Eli and Nico moving him. After that, things went blank. He could tell from the light that they were no longer high in the mountains, but where?

Taking another deep breath in an attempt to clear his foggy mind, Josef began the serious business of finding his sword. He unclenched his aching hands and began to feel along the bed frame, careful not to make a sound.

“It’s on top of you,” said a familiar voice.

Josef’s head shot up, sending waves of pain down his back, and he cursed loudly as Eli’s smug face appeared in the air above him.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Eli said. “Glad to see you up.”

Josef glared murder at the thief and moved his hands to his chest. Sure enough, the Heart was resting directly on top of him. At least that explained the feeling of having a boulder on his ribs. He relaxed down into the bed with a long breath. “How long have I been out?”

“About three days,” Eli answered, pulling his chair closer to the bed. “And I’ve got the crick in my neck to prove it. You’ve been hogging the only bed. I’ve had to make do with a spare cushion on the floor.”

Josef was not sympathetic. “What about Nico? Where is she?”

“Who knows,” Eli said. “Out.”

Josef was startled by the hostility in his voice. “What happened?”

Eli shrugged. “The usual. You went down, Nico went crazy, I got us out. We thought you were going to die on us for a while, but the Heart did an excellent job patching you up. You look like you usually do after one of your fights now, which is miles better than the bloody mess you were when we laid you down.”

“And what about Nico?”

“Powers, Josef!” Eli cried. “Can you think about something besides the girl for two seconds? I go out on a limb, not even a limb, a twig, to save your hide, and when you wake up all I hear is Nico this, Nico that. I don’t even get a thank-you.”

“Thank you,” Josef said. “Don’t get angry about it. You can take care of yourself, but Nico has a hard time with that right now. So when you say she’s ‘out,’ like you don’t even care—”

“Maybe I don’t,” Eli snapped. “Maybe you shouldn’t either.”

Josef stared at his friend. In the four years he’d known Eli, he’d never seen the thief this upset.

Eli looked away and took a deep breath.

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