Chapter Fifteen: The Salve
Jace
She was in more pain than she was letting on. But she never complained. She clamped her teeth over that soft, full lower lip and pushed on like a soldier. That was… unexpected.
I had noticed it the moment she dismounted — the white knuckled grip on the stirrup leather, the careful way she placed her feet, the slight catch in her breath when her knees tried to give. She had recovered quickly and lifted her chin and walked away like nothing had happened, which told me everything I needed to know about Kaida Hawkins.
She would rather suffer in silence than ask for help.
I recognized the type. I had been the type, for most of my adult life.
I watched her across the fire now, the way she shifted her weight with studied casualness, the small tightening aroun
