Thia’s expression called him a complete idiot. “All I know about field medicine is to call Uncle Syn or my dad or look it up… none of which I can do here.”

“Then he should be left to bleed.”

Stunned, Sumi gaped at the little snot. He would really rather leave his uncle here, bleeding, than allow an unrelated woman to tend him?

Unbelievable.

When Darice moved to sit in front of Hauk, he bared his fangs at his nephew. “Do you really think so little of me that you have to document and observe my treatment? You are your father’s son.” He sucked his breath in sharply as Sumi poured antiseptic over the deep wound. His breathing ragged, he glared at Darice. “Get out of my sight before I hurt you.”

Darice looked as if Hauk had slapped him. Rising to his feet, he kicked dirt at Hauk in what she was beginning to suspect must be some kind of Andarion insult in and of itself. “You’re not my father!”

Hauk let out a ferocious growl that had to have come from the deepest, angriest part of his soul. “You’re damn right I’m not your father! If I were, I’d be so high right now I wouldn’t feel shit, and I’d have beat you and made you walk naked here last night, after you whined like a little bitch whelp.” His entire body trembling in rage and pain, he started to rise.

Darice shot off, back to camp.

Hauk collapsed to the ground with a groan.

Swallowing in fear for him, Thia stepped forward and knelt by his side. “Uncle Hauk?”

“I’m all right, baby,” he assured her in a much softer tone as he reached to touch her hand. “I just need a minute… please.”

In a loving gesture, Thia buried her hand in his braids and nodded before she left them and followed after Darice.

In that moment, Sumi felt for all of them. Thia, who was terrified at the thought of losing another person she loved. Darice, who wanted to protect his mother’s honor, and Hauk, who had obviously been hazed by his eldest brother. It made her wonder what nightmares had turned an innocent boy into a warrior so fierce that he could walk for miles in the dead of night with wounds this severe and not even flinch.

Aching at where her thoughts went, she returned to prepping his wound for sutures. “Did Keris ever do that to you?”

He didn’t even tense as she pierced his skin with the sterile needle. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay. Just hold still and I’ll be done in a minute.”

Hauk didn’t respond as he stared at the mountain range in front of them where he’d once climbed with his brother’s insults ringing in his ears. Memories surged with a brutal bite.