Read Broken Aro (The Broken Ones) for Free Online Page B

black and blue from his
wrist almost to his elbow. She looked up at him. "Shield arm?"
    "Yes," he said in surprise.
    She gently moved her fingers over his arm, testing the
swelling, feeling for the break, or breaks. "How much does it hurt?"
    "Enough," he replied curtly.
    "Did you hear a snap?"
    He didn't answer and she looked up at him to see him
glaring at her again. She wished people would stop doing that. It was really
starting to unnerve her.
    His lips pressed tightly together for a moment before
he finally answered. "Why all the questions?"
    Anger rose within her again. Men were impossible.
Truly they were. Here she was trying to help and he was not appreciating the
fact at all. "Well. I'm trying to discover if you've a clean break or a
shattered arm. If it's shattered, it will have to come off. If it's just a
break I can actually do something about it." Hopefully . If she
could find something to set it with, and even then, if he was really unlucky it
could still go bad. If it did he wouldn't make it to port before the fevers
came and killed him.
    He stared at her intently, his lips a fine angry line
before suddenly letting out an exasperated sigh and jerking his head away to
stare at the far wall. "Yes, it snapped."
    She still had her hands on his arm and let out a sigh
of her own. So then, time to find the break . It didn't take her long,
even though she worked slowly, trying not to cause him more pain. She'd seen
what pain could do to people. Sometimes it made them crazy. She eyed the prince
again. He was big, a lot bigger than she was. It surprised her that his arm was
in no way soft. Under all the expensive clothes he was in incredibly good
shape. Especially for a prince, considering they just sat around all day
doing princey things . She felt around the area, trying to feel for
splinters but it seemed to be a truly clean break.
    She let go of his arm and sat back, thinking. She
could set it, but it wouldn't do much good if he moved and the bones shifted.
She looked around the cell, trying to find a small board or anything else she
could use as a brace.
    Nothing, nothing, nothing. Rot it, how could she fix
him? She frowned, trying to think.
    "Well?"
    She shifted uncomfortably, knowing he was glaring at
her again without even looking. She sat up straighter suddenly and looked up at
him, raising a finger. "Wait, let me think."
    Her greaves. They might work, if they weren't too
wide. She looked at his arm. Hers was scrawny in comparison. His, while being
well-muscled, wasn't bulky either. Maybe if she wrapped the arm in something…
    She shifted position from her knees onto her bottom,
bringing her legs forward. She undid the buckles on one of her greaves and then
pulled the piece of hardened leather armor off. It wasn't like she needed her
shins projected now. Thinking, she stared at the other men a moment and doubted
they'd help. He was a rotting prince after all.
    "Whatever are you doing?" He sounded both
angry and irritated.
    She risked a look at him as she held up the old piece
of armor. "Something to brace your arm with."
    He stared at her incredulously and shook his head. A
faint and beautiful smile came to his lips. "Clever."
    She smiled slightly at the praise, and of course was
immensely happy he stopped glaring. She pulled at her shirt, un-tucking it from
her pants.
    "And what are you doing now?"
    She looked up. "It will need to be wrapped in
something."
    He frowned and his good arm reached out, his hand
resting on her arm. "No."
    Her brows drew together in confusion. "No?"
    He tugged at his own shirt, easily pulling it free
from the waist of his pants. With a jerk he started a rip and then abruptly
stopped.
    She looked from the rip to his face and saw it had
paled. Of course, he'd forgotten about the chains and the sudden motion had
jerked his broken arm as well. Her hands moved to touch him, to try to sooth
him...and froze when his body tensed. She yanked her hands away. "Sorry."
    He jerked once again and a