Midnight by Ellen Connor Read Free Book Online

before admitting as much. Her silent, stoic determination tightened a band around his chest; he couldn’t inhale deeply enough.
    Maybe he could make a difference here before moving on. She deserved that much help.
    “So . . . do I stay? Long enough to trade, Jefa ?”
    “You say my title so mockingly.”
    “No disrespect.”
    Again she searched his face, looking for reason to dispatch him as dispassionately as one of those beasts. But he meant it. She held a corner of society together by the strength of her will. For that, she had his admiration. So he endured her scrutiny, as stone-faced as one of her bravos.
    Rosa slung the sharpshooter’s rifle over her shoulder, securing it with one hand on the strap. The message was clear. Her trust only stretched so far.
    “Tonight you can bunk in with the smallest company of bravos, above the taberna . You cause any trouble, they get to shoot you. Comprendes? ”
    “Yup. And tomorrow?”
    “Tomorrow you swear allegiance to me.”

FIVE
     
    Rosa had seen the look in Chris Welsh’s eyes before, in a dying wolf that had chewed off its own leg to escape a trap. It was a sick combination of desperate and feral, compounded by complete lack of hope. Recognizing that, she should have made him move on right away. Such a man didn’t add to a community; he only soaked it in his own bitterness and set it on fire.
    “I’m not swearing anything,” he said. “I don’t want to join your elite few.”
    There had been travelers over the years. Not many. If the desert didn’t get them, then skinwalkers, hellhounds, dust pirates, snakes, or scorpions did. Most chose to stay, but committed wanderers preferred to go on in search of some far-off El Dorado. Rarely, traders came and went, rarely to be seen again. She had no problem letting them fill up their bottles and canteens, barter if Wicker was interested, and then head out.
    Mostly she had just been baiting him to see how he’d respond—and predictably, his hackles went up, like the wounded animal she’d compared him to. His reaction provided insight into his otherwise opaque character.
    She flashed her teeth in a smile that was anything but friendly. “We don’t look for crazy in our bravos anyway.” That was the only way to describe how he’d charged beyond the safety of the town perimeter to kill hellhounds hand to hand. “As I said, Wicker in the general store handles all our goods. Not now, though. Everyone will be on high alert tonight.”
    “Old time general store, eh? Looks ancient.”
    “No shit.” Rosa laughed. “We weren’t the first ones here.”
    It had been a miracle to find structures in place in a defensible valley, nourished by underground rivers. Even in the dry season, they could survive here—most of their citizens, anyway. Rosa had long ago accepted that people died, and sometimes you couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it. Though she was suspicious of him, she wouldn’t deny Valle any potential for medical care, even if he had not been trained for people. She didn’t like doctors anyway. They never wanted to give it to you straight, so they wrapped the ugly truth up in tests and treatments, offered chances, and refused to deliver on what they promised. Unless you could pay more.
    “I won’t bother you long,” he said.
    “No, you won’t. But later I’ll want to talk to you about what you said underground.”
    “About the ineffective nature of your test?”
    “Not so loud, estúpido .” She stepped away from the gate without looking back. He’d follow her, because all men did, because they feared her or they liked watching the sway of her hips. Either way, she got the same result.
    To Rosa’s surprise, he stood where she’d left him, a frown pulling his brows together. “I’m not used to being called that.”
    “Then quit acting like it. Come on.”
    His sigh carried in the silence, but he did follow. She didn’t speak again until they reached the privacy of her casita. The walls were