Incognito

19

She had enough energy to change out of my soaked clothes before the mia collapsed on Zac's cot. It smelled amazingly masculine and the mia cursed her stupid girlishness as she snuggled in. She scooped Prosper up and held her tight, water dripping down the mia's cheek. Her foolishness had almost killed Prosper. She had been a forgetful mia and forgotten her treasure. Her reason for living had almost been taken by the river. All because she had not gotten rid of a man. Men ruin lives. She should have listened to Rita; she should have left him in that cave. Why did she have to be so caring and have taken him in the first place?

Try as she may, Mia could do nothing but blame Zac. She had pent up all this blame and she needed someone else to rage on. Her anger needed fruit. So she cursed him. Cursed him for being foolish enough to walk alone on the road at night, for getting injured near her route, for looking so dashingly handsome that she had to help him. All of this was Zacary Holden's fault. She found rest in blaming the duke's son and fell asleep with Prosper resting precariously on her stomach.

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Zac felt incredibly ludicrous as he grappled back to the mia's hut. He found no game, much less any that he could kill for their supper later. All he had accomplished all afternoon was to get his body lost in the woods. He wished he had left the thoughts that plagued him amid the barren trees.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and wished the pain out of his body. He was not well enough for this exertion. His abdomen burned and his arm throbbed. He stumbled a little in his weary state and his broken foot hit a root. In anguish, Zac cried out. Clutching a bough to keep out of gravity's hands, he silently screams out his pain, physical and emotional. Vision blurred, he stumbles on. He prays that he can find the mia's in this state. Even though he has trained for years to be a knight, Zac realizes his life is in the mia's hands in this situation. He cannot survive without her. He cannot get home without her. Zac relies on her so much that he is startled to realize, he cannot live without her and he would not be living if it was not for her. He is so frightened that he does not realize he is outside the mia's hut until he feels Prosper on his leg. The smell of food hits his stomach and he cramps and doubles over. Prosper screams.

Within seconds, the mia is kneeling at his side. Pushing a hand to his forehead she asks, "Can you stand?"

He nods and tries to politely refuse her assistance. Her body still was not treating her well. It was cold but not chilly enough for her visible quaking. Still, she persists, cupping a hand under his elbow and fitting her shoulder into the crook of his arm snugly. She releases him when they reach the fire and he sits just inside the doorway, carelessly tossing the mia's hunting knife. Mia quickly patters to the fire and the stick of food precariously balanced over it. Zac is so content watching her that he barely catches Prosper before she handled the knife. 

As he scoops her away and she screams a chorus of giggles out, Mia turns around in alarm. She sits and hands him a tin. He reluctantly takes it. Astounded Zac inhales a myriad of food he has not beheld in months. Greedily he eats.

"It is all from Darcy. I am not bothering to ask him how he came by it." She relieves Zac of Prosper and sets the baby in her chest with a bowl of colorful mush.

When his mouth is no longer full, he subtly questions, "Darcy?"

Sighing the mia pulls a chunk of bread away from the fire and takes a bite out of it. Swallowing, she explains, "My brother."

Realization dawned on Zac's handsome countenance. His eyes hit hers with a sorrowful impact. "I thought...assumed...oh, Mia I am truly sorry. I was..."

"Mistaken?" she smiles. "Many are. I assure you that your blunder is home among many."

Curiously that killed the cat threatened Zac. "Is he part of Richard's gang?" He said it so calmly and quietly he wondered if the mia had not heard him. He waited before venturing to speak again. The mia cut him off.