“I eat!” Lunara said, waving her hands. “We all eat, I swear. I just… The Demon King Lyriathimselfactually carried a tray into my room?”
“Of course he did. Why wouldn’t he?”
Lunara propped her head in her hands and spoke to the tabletop. “Where I come from, those in charge do not serve lowly healers.”
“Well, where I come from—which is here, obviously—it doesn’t matter whether you’re the king or the cook. Bringing food to the person healing your cousin is the least you can do.”
She didnotjust say cousin.
“You and Baldrir are?—”
“The most favored and exalted of Lyriat’s extended family members.” She sketched another curtsy, her eyes alight. “Well, aside from Hedda and Faldir—also cousins, other side, but there’s only the four of us. Brand and the other Sons sort of are, but that’s complicated. How else do you think I got Dendir to agree to letting me take his place so fast? It wasn’t the gold and my batting eyelashes, that’s for sure.”
Sweet baby Sisters in a cradle.
It’s a good thing you didn’t let him die, then.
No shite.
“Forgive me, Nyri, but I really am exhausted.”And needed to get out of here. “If you could just point me towards whichever appropriate individual is the closest, I can?—”
It was already no surprise at all that Nyri didn’t let Lunara finish her sentence. “Curse my blabbering mouth,” she muttered, backing away. “I’ll go fetch them and find some food. Not raw meat. Unless youareinto that sort of thing?”
Lunara tried and failed to stifle a yawn. “Many Sorcerit do actually enjoy raw meat between gifts, to take the edge off. I’m indifferent, though not opposed. I’ll eat pretty much anything, but I don’t suppose you have strawberries in Straelon?”
“Strawberries it is! You just relax.”
Nyri was off like a streak of lightning, through the doors before Lunara could blink.
What a heavy blink it was. She’d thought she was tired before coming face-to-face with the single most enthusiastic person she’d ever met in her life. Now, she was eyeing the table and wondering whether she had enough power left to turn it into a mattress.
Of course, the thought of a bed brought that gorgeous Demon to mind again. Maybe she could usehimas a pillow.
Don’t be an eejit. Tell them Baldrir is fine, ask for a room, and get out of here as fast as you can.
When her lids drooped again, she started to lose hope.
“Snap out of it, Lunara.” Maybe talking to herself out loud would work better. “You cannot fall asleep here. They’ll cast you into one of the chasms for offensively poor manners, and then where would you be?”
“I suppose we’ll know for sure soon enough, one way or another,”the Voice chimed in.
Lunara swallowed a blooming panic as she felt the color leach from her cheeks. Never, in all her life, had the Voice spoken to her twice in the same day.
“Not the same day, silly. It’s been three and a half days, remember? At least, I think that’s when we are.”A giggle bounced through her mind.“Although,nowit’s been twice. Thrice. But who’s counting, anyway?”
No, no, no. This is not happening.
“It really is,”the Voice whispered.
“It’s fine, Lunara. You’re fine.” She pressed her hands to the side of her head and squeezed. “It’s just a voice. A real voice, belonging to a real person who likes to laugh at you. Not madness. Please, not madness.”
Some Sorcerit lost it when they didn’t get enough blood. Others, from too much. And she absolutely refused to dwell on the ones who went mad for entirely different reasons.
“It’s really not. Madness, that is. Trust me, I would know.”
The words hit Lunara in the center of her chest and she latched on to the speck of hope the Voice offered, even as her heart constricted at its heavy, melancholy tone.
Until it giggle again, and all she wanted to do was scream.
