Thorns between us

Thirteen: Help

Author’s POV

Morning came gray.

No sun. Just cold light through the trees and the smell of wet dirt.

Drayk was already awake. He hadn’t slept. He sat with his back to a tree, arms around his knees, watching the fire burn down to nothing.

She was awake too. Sitting a few feet away. Not looking at him. Braiding grass between her fingers.

The silence between them was different today. Not fragile. Just... careful.

“you’re gonna scare her off if you keep staring like that,” Draygon muttered.

“shut up,” Drayk thought back.

He wanted to say something. Anything. Sorry. It won’t happen again. I’m not like that.

All of it was a lie.

She beat him to it.

“I don’t think you’re a monster,” she said.

Drayk blinked. “What?”

She still wasn’t looking at him. “Yesterday. What I saw. I don’t think that makes you a monster.”

Drayk laughed. It came out bitter. “You saw me with blood on my face.”

“I’ve seen blood on mine too.” She finally looked up. Her eyes were tired. “In the camps. They’d make us do things. Or they’d do things to us. And we’d have to just... sit there after. And wash. And pretend we were fine.”

Drayk’s throat felt tight. “That’s not the same.”

“Isn’t it?” She set the grass down. “Hunger makes people do things. Fear makes people do things. Deals make people do things.”

“Draygon makes me do things,” Drayk said quietly.

“Then let me help.”

Drayk stared at her. “What?”

“Let me help you,” she repeated. Like she was afraid he hadn’t heard. “With the hunger. With... him.”

Draygon went very still in his head.

“you can’t be serious,” Draygon said. “she’s offering to help the thing that eats deer?”

Drayk ignored him. “Why would you do that?”

“Because you came back,” she said simply. “Because you told me not to follow you and then you still came back to me. Because you’re shaking right now and pretending you’re not.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not.” She shifted closer. Not touching. Just closer. “I know what it’s like to have something inside you that you didn’t ask for. That tells you to do things. That makes you scared of yourself.”

Drayk swallowed. “It’s different.”

“How?”

“Because what’s inside me wants to kill.”

She didn’t flinch. “Then we’ll figure out how to make it not want to.”

Drayk looked at her like she’d grown a second head. “You can’t just— people don’t just help monsters.”

“I’m not helping the monster,” she said. “I’m helping Drayk. The prince from the ball. The one who put a crown of roses on his head and looked embarrassed about it.”

A small, broken sound escaped him. “That was stupid.”

“It was human.”

The word hit him harder than the hunger ever did.

Drayk rubbed his face with both hands. His palms were clean now. She’d made sure of that. “You don’t understand. If you help me and I slip, I could—”

“You won’t,” she said. Firm.

“How do you know?”

“Because you’re trying not to.” She shrugged. “That’s more than most people do.”

Drayk didn’t know what to do with that. So he did nothing. He just sat there while she watched him.

“Okay,” he said finally. Quiet.

“Okay?”

“Okay. You can help.” He looked at her. Really looked. “But the second I tell you to run, you run. No questions.”

She nodded. “Deal.”

“Don’t say deal,” Draygon snapped in his head. “you know what happens with deals.”

Drayk pressed his lips together. “Shut up, Keth.”

She heard him. A small smile pulled at her mouth. “Keth?”

“Draygon,” Drayk corrected quickly. “His name is Draygon.”

“Hi Draygon,” she said to the air.

“she’s talking to me,” Draygon said, surprised. “she’s not scared of me.”

“no,” Drayk agreed silently. “she’s not.”

“this is gonna get us killed,” Draygon said. But he didn’t sound mad. He sounded... curious.

“probably,” Drayk thought back.

She stood and brushed dirt off her dress. “Come on. We should move. And we should figure out rules.”

“Rules?”

“For the hunger,” she said. “Like... you tell me when it’s bad. Before it’s bad. And we stay away from deer. And rabbits. And... anything with a pulse, I guess.”

Drayk almost smiled. “That’s gonna be hard.”

“I know.” She held out her hand again. “But we’ll try.”

He took it.

Her fingers were warm.

They walked.

It wasn’t easy. He could feel Draygon testing him all day. Little nudges. Little whispers. _there’s a rabbit. there’s a bird. she’s close. you could._

Every time, Drayk said it out loud. “It’s bad.”

And every time, she’d stop. Put a hand on his arm. Breathe with him until it passed.

By nightfall they were both exhausted.

They made camp. No fire again.

She sat next to him this time. Shoulder almost brushing his.

“You did good today,” she said quietly.

“I almost didn’t.”

“But you did.” She leaned her head back against the tree and closed her eyes. “We’ll get better at it.”

Drayk looked at her. At the smudge of dirt on her cheek. At the way her hands were still in her lap, open. Like she wasn’t afraid he’d take them.

“Why?” he asked.

She opened one eye. “Why what?”

“Why help me? You don’t owe me anything.”

She was quiet for a long time.

“Because someone should have helped me,” she said finally. “In the camps. And no one did.”

Drayk didn’t say anything. He just reached over and, very carefully, took her hand.

She didn’t pull away.

“you’re screwed,” Draygon said softly in his head. Not mean. Just true.

“I know,” Drayk thought back.

And if it was, then he didn’t deserve her.

Either way, he wasn’t letting go.

Not yet.

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