My body burned and shook with exhaustion by the time I burst back into the apartment. Nikella jumped to her feet, spear in hand, then relaxed when she saw me. She must’ve just gotten back.
Ruru knelt by Maz’s head, holding his hand, while Aiden sponged blood away from Maz’s back and spread a thin jelly on his skin.
I shoved past Nikella and thrust the tin of silver powder toward him. “All I could find.”
“It will be enough,” Aiden said, quickly shaking the powder over Maz’s back.
It has to be.
Maz shivered and groaned. Wisps of steam rose from his skin as the powder seemed to crawl into his wounds and harden like a shell, turning iron-gray with his blood.
“What do we do now?” Ruru asked, his cheeks stained with dirt and tears.
Aiden sighed, sitting back. “We wait.”
We sat silently around Maz for hours while his body trembled, and he occasionally cried out. At some point, sleep came for me, and I woke in my dark room on my cot—my bloodied shirt gone with a blanket pulled up to my chin.
My heart tripped.Mother’s knife.But my pants and boots hadn’t been touched, the knife hilt digging into my ankle.
Ruru’s soft breathing soothed my racing heart. Until I heard something else.
I crawled to the door and pressed my ear against it. Someone was singing in a deep, beautifully rich voice. That voice reached into my chest and snared my heart.
Aiden.
I released a painful sigh. The melody was slow and mournful, the words gut-wrenching. A song for a fallen warrior. A prayer for his life. A plea to see the light once more, to feel the touch of a loved one again. A promise to never leave a soul alone.
“Brother?”
I smothered a gasp. Maz! He spoke! I reached for the door handle, then hesitated.
“I’m here, Maz,” Aiden said.
Maz coughed a bit, then groaned. “Are they... are they all gone? My stories.” His voice broke, and my heart broke with it. “Tell me the truth.”
A heavy silence filled the room.
“Everything on your shoulders is gone,” Aiden said softly. “But the rest are intact.”
“Gods,” Maz croaked. “Gods, I have lost my honor. Again. My family?—”
“Will be proud of your sacrifice,” Aiden snarled. “Those tattoos were just ink on skin. The stories they represent, thestrengththey bind, is etched into your very soul, Mazkull. No blade can destroy that.”
Maz began to weep, a sound that tore something deep inside me. I finally released the tears I’d been holding back. Silently, wretchedly alone in the dark.
Until Aiden sang once more.
Chapter 38
Aiden
Dawn filledthe room with crimson light.
My eyes felt filled with sand every time I blinked, but I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t leave Maz alone as he suffered through the night. My singing had soothed him somewhat when he woke for a few brief moments. My voice had been rough and out of practice, but strangely, the song had brought me a small measure of peace as well.
Perhaps because I’d been tempted to sing for the first time in a long time earlier that day. But such simple happiness never lasted.
I’d had to carry both Ruru and Kiera to bed as they’d fallen asleep at his side. I’d taken Kiera’s stained shirt off her, trying not to think about how different things were the last time I’d removed her clothes merely one night before.
