Gaia felt the bow drop from her limp hand. She had shot him in the chest, square in the heart. She could have hit him in the hand or arm instead, but she had instinctively aimed to kill. Her breath caught in her throat and she sank to her knees, ignoring how the damp grass soaked into her pants.

  She was only partially aware that her body was shaking and she hugged her arms around herself, though it did nothing to stop it. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were wide as she stared at the boy slumped against the doorstep. She couldn’t tell if his chest was rising or not, and even though she had been in danger, she desperately hoped that he was only injured. She didn’t want to be responsible for any more deaths. Her gaze flickered to the bow that was resting in front of her black, leather boots. She stared at it in disgust. How could she have loved something that’s sole purpose was to hurt and kill?

  She stared back at the door, pale-faced, as an older man ducked through the doorway. He rubbed at his short, white beard for a moment before his forehead furrowed and his icy blue eyes landed on Gaia. He stared at her for a moment before following her gaze to the limp body a few feet in front of him. He gasped and jumped back, startled, before spurring into action.

  A pocket knife came out of his pocket and he held it daringly in front of his face as stepped in front of the body protectively.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  Gaia swallowed and opened her mouth, but she found that she was unable to speak. The man's eyes narrowed and he took a step towards her. “Who are you and what do you want?”

  She swallowed, trying to act braver than she felt. “Are-are you Frank Bridges?”

  To Gaia’s dismay, her voice came out as a tiny squeak and the man’s forehead wrinkled further as he eyed her suspiciously. “Yes. Give me one reason I shouldn’t kill you where you stand.”

  Gaia flinched at the anger in his tone. “I-I mean no harm, sir. I’m part of the alliance and I was sent to help you on a mission.”

  Frank glared at her. “Well, you can turn tail and go back to your base.” He gestured angrily to the boy. “I think you’ve done enough. I don’t need any of your help.”

  “Please, sir,” Gaia whispered. “Isla sent me.”

  The man’s gaze softened and he shook his head, muttering something to himself. He looked up after a second and his eyebrows knitted together. “If you come in peace, why did you shoot?”

  “I-I didn’t think. I could not tell if he was a friend or an enemy. He was armed and I reacted.”

  The man sighed and though his azure eyes still held suspicion, he lowered his knife. Once he was certain that she didn’t pose a threat, his attention turned back to the boy. He slid his hands under the boy’s arms and hefted him up with a grunt. Gaia hesitantly ran forward and grabbed the boy’s legs. The man frowned but didn’t protest as she helped him.

  “I’m so sorry,” she apologized again.

  The man paused and studied her for a second. “You’re just like Isla. Always acting before thinking and never considering the consequences.”

  She felt her cheeks redden, and though she felt a little insulted, she knew that he was right. Gaia glanced up at him and then back down at the ground, finding that she was unable to make eye contact. “I didn’t mean to kill him.”

  “There are always two sides to a story,” the man replied. “I have a feeling that there was more going on than just cold blood from your side. Besides, you do realize that he isn’t-”

  “You are right. But, I’m the one with his blood on my hands and I will never be able to give his life back. I’m so sorry,” Gaia interrupted quickly.

  The man shook his head. “He isn’t dead.”

  Gaia stared at him. “He’s not?”

  The man smiled gently. “No. He’s badly injured, but he’ll heal.”

  She exhaled in relief. “Oh.”

  The man nodded. “Now stop apologizing, and make yourself useful. He’s not dead, but he will be if we don’t act soon.”

  Gaia nodded and assisted him in dragging the boy into the house. The cottage was bigger than she had thought from seeing the outside. A sitting room took up most of the space and blended into a small, tidy kitchen. There were a couple of doors in the short hallway that she guessed led to bedrooms.

  The man lifted the boy onto a circular, oak table that stood in the middle of the kitchen and pointed to one of the closed doors. “There should be some gauze and alcohol in the cabinet next to the mirror.”

  She dipped her head in acknowledgement and twisted the brass doorknob. The door opened with a slight creak and her eyes scanned the room. A neatly made bed was stationed in the middle, with a bedside table on the left side and a wooden desk on the right. A framed photo was tacked to the wall above the bed frame and she frowned as she studied it.

  The boy and the man were sitting on the same circular table she had seen before. The man was holding a cookie just out of the boy’s reach, a teasing smile plastered to his face. It looked like it had been taken a few years ago, but she could see the connection between the two in the photo. It was easy to tell that Frank loved the boy, so Gaia was a little confused on why the man was so forgiving. Now that she thought about it, though, she supposed mentioning Isla’s name had something to do with that.

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  “Did you find those bandages?”

  Gaia jumped and spun around towards the open doorway. Frank was bent over the boy, his face scrunched as he worked on cutting away the blood-soaked cloth from the boy’s wound. Gaia quickly opened the cabinet and pulled out the bottles and gauze, running out of the room to hand it to him.

  The man grunted in thanks as he accepted the materials. “You know how to bandage a wound?”

  Gaia bit her lip hesitantly. “I-I could try. I’m not very good at it, though.”

  "I thought you were in the rebel force, do they not teach basic first-aid?”

  Gaia shrugged. “I did take some training a couple of years ago, but I just couldn’t do it.”

  “Too hard?” The man inquired jokingly.

  She shook her head. “The sight of blood just makes me feel ill to my stomach.”

  The girl jumped as Frank began to laugh. “You’re a rebel. I would have thought you’ve developed a taste for it.”

  “Only when I have to,” Gaia whispered. “I don’t like seeing the aftermath.”

  The man nodded slowly. “I guess that makes sense. Would you like to learn a little though? I’ve cleaned most of it and the wound is barely bleeding anymore.”

  “I wouldn’t want to hurt him more than I already have,” Gaia admitted sheepishly.

  “You won’t,” the man replied. “Just do exactly as I say.”

***

  Triton groaned and shifted on the cold surface, blinking wearily as he slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he became aware of was the raw agony licking down his chest. He groaned again and barely bit back a cry of shock as he noticed a girl leaning towards him, her head tilted so her ear was centimeters away from his mouth.

  He jerked in surprise and the girl drew back instantly, gasping softly as she realized he was awake. Her hazel eyes stared intently into his own and she flicked back a flyaway strand of her auburn hair, biting her lip.

  It took him longer than it should have to make the connection and once he did, he raised his arms, ignoring the searing pain up his sides, and pushed her back.“You! You tried to kill me with your arrow!”

  The girl arched an eyebrow. “I told you not to move. It wasn’t all my fault.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Where’s Frank? Did you shoot him too?”

  The girl reeled back, her eyes shining with shock. “No! Of course not. He went outside to get some herbs that will help with your pain.”

  He didn’t believe her for a second. Frank wouldn’t let the girl who had tried to kill him into their house. His breath caught in his throat as his heart stopped. Was Frank dead? Was his body lying outside somewhere?

  With a slight grimace, Triton twisted his arm, putting his weight on his elbow so he could sit up. The girl placed a cold hand on his collarbone and pushed him back down, shaking her head. “You can’t get up. You’ll just aggravate your injury further and start bleeding again. We’ve already had to change your bandages twice because you were tossing around in your sleep.”

  He frowned and then blushed as he became aware of his bare chest. Ignoring the pain, he wrapped his arms around himself, trying to shield as much as he could from the girl. She stared at him for a moment before breaking into laughter. “You realize I don’t care, right? The gauze is covering half of it anyway.”

  Triton looked back down. Bandages were tightly wrapped around his body, starting midway up his stomach and tapering off under his armpits. He slowly put his arms back down and glared at the girl. If she wanted Frank and him dead, why did she bother healing him? He considered the possibility she was telling the truth. But then why did she come here, armed, and prepared to shoot him?

  The door banged open suddenly and Triton craned his head with a pained whimper, trying to catch sight of the owner of the heavy footfalls coming towards the kitchen.

  He sighed in relief as Frank made his way towards him. The man set something down on the table and smiled warmly. “Good to see you're finally awake, Triton.”

  The boy shrugged and jerked his head towards the girl. “What’s she doing here? Why did you let her in here? She tried to kill me!”

  “I didn't mean to,” The girl protested.

  “It seems like introductions are in order,” Frank sighed. “This is Gaia. She’s from the alliance.”

  Triton’s brow furrowed with confusion. “A rebel? Why is she here?”

  Gaia glanced at him. “My orders were to help with one of your missions. A Unique rescue.”

  He briefly recalled the mission Frank and him had been arguing about. Though he was relieved that Frank would have someone to help him out, he still didn’t trust the girl. “I don’t understand...that was a fatal shot.”

  She looked down at her feet, a steady blush forming on her cheeks. “I missed.”

  “Oh,” he muttered. “So, it was just a warm-up then?”

  Frank turned his head to glare at him. “Enough, Triton. She made a mistake and she’s sorry.”

  “She doesn’t look sorry.”

  Gaia sighed. “I really am sorry. I regret it now. I’m grateful that I missed that shot, I don’t know what I would have done if I had actually killed you.”

  “You aimed to kill,” he argued. “Your intentions aren’t pure.”

  “I didn’t know if you were a friend or foe and I panicked. Surely you could understand that?”

  “I understand being confused between who to trust,” Triton replied evenly. “But I wouldn’t have tried to kill a stranger.”

  “I didn’t think before I acted,” Gaia acknowledged. “I ran into some trouble before, and I barely got away. I just didn’t want a repeat of that scenario. I’m sorry.”

  Triton opened his mouth to shoot something back, but Frank held up a hand to stop him, giving him a long look. Triton rolled his eyes and reluctantly looked back at the girl. “Fine, whatever.”

  Frank glanced carefully between the two of them and shook his head wearily. “I’m going to go out to the front to get some more herbs. I trust that the two of you can be here alone without murdering each other?”

  Triton glared at Gaia and rolled his eyes, grumbling to himself. “We’ll be perfectly fine.”