I'd tried to resist that. I'd done my best to remember she was a Mole, but tonight had destroyed all of it. Kanik and I had left her in the storage area under the stairs with nothing but a child's toy crossbow and bolts meant to poke holes in a target - not kill anything. I'd expected to chase the Moles out of Lorsa and come back to find her and Tamin still hiding.
Instead, she'd killed to protect the child. I didn't know what had happened out of my sight, but I'd watched her use a gun as a club to smash a man's head. I'd been confused when she'd offered a Mole the antidote for our venom, only to find out she'd lied to him to get the information I really needed.
She. Had. Helped.
Not only that, but she'd done it without trembling or shedding a tear. The meek and timid little woman we'd been trying to bring out of her shell had slaughtered men she must've known. She'd been as vicious as any Dragon defending our home - but she'd done it all to save a little boy who looked nothing like her. A boy with a tail and bright teal skin covered in black speckles. A boy who had to look like a monster to her, the same way I did.
And yet when I reached our house to find Kanik and Rymar had not only beaten me, but were carrying out a body? I wasn't surprised. If the Moles had come in, that would explain why Ayla had left the safety of the building. That they were dead actually fit everything else I'd seen tonight - which didn't fit the girl who'd been in my house at all.
"Ayla?" I asked as I slipped into the still-open door and aimed for the couch. "Did you kill people in the house?"
"I'm sorry. They were going to shoot Tamin," she mumbled, making it sound like an apology. "The one in the kitchen did, but I'll clean it. I promise!"
Easing her down onto the couch, I couldn't stop myself from leaning back to glance into the kitchen. Sure enough, there was a large bloodstain in the middle of the floor. Things in the house had been jostled and knocked over. None of that mattered, though.
"It's okay," I said as I shifted to look at her wound. "You did the right thing."
"I didn't shoot the second man fast enough," she explained. "He's the one who shot Tamin. I think the boy dodged, which is why the bullet only hit his leg, but Tamin did that. I wasn't fast enough!"
"You still killed the Mole so he couldn't shoot again," I soothed, pushing her hair back on her head the same way I had with Tamin. "Now I need to look at your side, okay?"
"Okay," she mumbled.
Which was when Kanik came back in. "Ayla?" he asked.
Rymar was right behind him. "Did she get shot?"
"Cut," I told them. "By a Dragon."
"I'll get your things," Rymar offered, heading for the weapons closet.
Kanik simply reached down and tore her dress more, making it easier to see the wound. I'd planned on lifting it up, but when he glanced over and met my eyes, I realized he was right. Ayla was too modest to be okay with that. This would probably be much easier.
"Grab Ayla's medical bag for me?" I asked Kanik.
He did, so I pulled out the numbing agent Mom had given her and quickly dripped it across her side. "Ayla, this is going to make it feel strange, but it won't hurt when I sew your side closed, okay?"
She nodded, those blue eyes of hers locked on me. "Like with my feet. Don't worry, I won't move."
Yeah, I didn't want to think too hard about that either. This woman talked about pain and death as if they were no big deal. She elevated friends to an almost godlike status, though. And children? Clearly she held them as worth protecting, even though she'd shoved a fork into a man's arm to prevent having any of her own.
She was an enigma, but also a very good patient. When Rymar returned with my own clean medical supplies, I did my best to close her wound in a way that would leave the smallest scar possible. Her pale, nearly translucent skin was so soft and delicate. Sheltered was a better word, but one that was making me realize just how strong this woman must really be.
Her demure nature wasn't natural. It was a defense. Her politeness was another. She pulled into herself not because she was unable to fight back, but because she had learned - and I hated to think of how - that it was safer than daring to speak her mind.
"Okay," I said when I was done. "Now I'm going to carry you to the bed you've been using."
She tensed.
Kanik just smoothed down her hair the way I had earlier. "So you don't pull those stitches," he explained. "But we need to take the bandages off her feet first."
That made me look down to find the only things covering her feet were disgusting. The layers of cloth weren't close to real shoes, and yet she'd run outside without hesitation. She'd been in the forest and back out. Never mind the bloodstains!
"I'm not going to wrap them again," I told her even as I peeled off the bandages. "That means they'll be tender."
"I'll be okay," she promised.
Yeah, I had a feeling she would, but once that was done, it was Kanik who shoved his arms under her and picked her up. The man was smaller than me, but Ayla still looked tiny in his arms, and as he headed into my room, I felt a surge of something.
I didn't want to think about that either.
Thankfully, Rymar tossed himself down into the chair nearest to me. "So, the house is trashed," he said.
"Saw the blood in the kitchen," I assured him.
"More in the hall," he said. "Looks like a Mole found their hiding spot and she shot him point blank. The one in the kitchen had a bolt through his jaw and into his brain. I don't even want to know how she got that shot off."
Gathering up the mess I'd made, I tossed it on the coffee table, then claimed the other chair. "She saved Tamin."
"Mm." Rymar nodded as if that made sense.
"He got shot in the leg, and I haven't heard the whole story yet, but she got him into the forest to hide, then came back with a gun. I know Tamin stung a man for her, but when I saw Ayla running at me with a gun raised?"
"About shit yourself?" Rymar teased.
"I certainly did not expect her to shoot one of the men attacking me and then use the end of the thing to beat another unconscious."
"Nice," he purred just as the bedroom door clicked closed.
