What was the cause of this exhaustion? She’d used a lot of magic yesterday to resurrect her army. Was that it? Or did this go deeper than that?
Quiet footsteps of the non-hellspawn variety moved toward me. I didn’t need to look up to know it was Eliza. She moved with a graceful quality I suspected was part of her siren heritage. She stopped, then sat next to me, her legs stretched out and her palms bracing her weight behind her. For a moment, she studied me silently before finally turning her attention to Lily.
“She’s still out,” she said.
“Mm-hmm,” was all I said.
Eliza chewed her bottom lip, concern wrinkling her brow. Yeah, even the merc knew that was unusual for Lily. She was usually the first up and the one pushing us to get moving.
“Vol and Purrgy?” I asked.
“They’re around,” Eliza said. “Purrgy seems to understand how important it is that he stick close, so I haven’t been locking him in the carrier as much.”
A quick scan of our surroundings showed me the two in question mucking about, harassing a sleeping Calyx. I watched them for a moment, humour tugging at my lips when Purrgy jumped onto Calyx and began kneading his chest. The fallen didn’t look the least bit impressed by this decision. In fact, he looked about ready to knock the ginger fluffball off until Purrgy laid down and nooked his head beneath Calyx’s chin. His pale grey eyes briefly widened, then he tentatively laid a hand on Purrgy’s back, as though not really sure what to do with the animal. But for now, the two seemed content. Seemed Eliza was right. Purrgy didn’t seem inclined to run off at all. That was a relief. One less thing for Lily to worry about.
“So, what happened last night?” Eliza asked.
I sighed and drew a single knee up to my chest. “Lily had a nightmare.”
“I’m aware,” she said dryly. “Pretty sure half the camp heard her. Nightmares happen.”
They did, but…
“What about this one has you so worried?” she pressed.
“Who says I’m worried?”
“Me,” Eliza said without missing a beat. “Maybe the others wouldn’t notice, but I can see it. You’re concerned.”
I spared her a glance. She wasn’t wrong. Iwasconcerned. Normally, I wouldn’t discuss something this personal with anyone other than Lily, but she wasn’t exactly in a chatty mood lately.
“Something is going on,” I finally admitted. “And I don’t know what it is. I don’t like that.”
“Yeah,” Eliza murmured.
I wasn’t sure if her agreement reassured or concerned me, considering she’d clearly picked up on it too.
Eliza stole a quick glance around, and once she confirmed no one was listening to us, she continued. “I checked in with her last night, before the whole screaming bloody murder in the middle of the night thing. I asked her how she was feeling, and she assured me she was fine and not going dark.”
I stayed quiet.
“And since she’s not sprouting horns—does her father evenhavehorns?—or eating hellspawn babies for breakfast—are there hellspawn babies? Can they even procreate?” She waved a dismissive hand. “I digress—I’m inclined to believe her.”
What in the name of all things unholy was she rambling on about?
“This leads me to think there’s something else at play here.” She paused. “Have you noticed she hasn’t spent much time with Purrgy lately? Or doted on Vol like she normally does?”
My mouth flattened. “She’s been busy. And then with what happened to Sable?—”
“I know,” Eliza said, cutting me off. “No need to get defensive. I have a point, I promise. It’s just one of the changes I’ve noticed recently. And there are others too.”
Yeah, I’d also noticed things. Like how she’d pushed me away after Sable’s death. Lily always sought me out when she needed comfort, but lately, she’d been putting distance between us. Not to mention our fight after we’d buried Sable. We’d fought before—of course we had. We didn’t always agree on everything. But her choice to fly off with Calyx to scout the outpost had been incredibly unusual. She’d explained her logic, and it’d been sound, but the Lily I knew would never have chosen Calyx over me. We never went anywhere apart. Not after everything we’d endured. Not if we could avoid it.
“PTSD,” Eliza suddenly said, like I was supposed to know what that even meant.
I blinked at her. “Is that even a word?”
“It isn’t,” she agreed. “It’s an acronym used to describe a condition studied on Earth, one that’s caused by extremely stressful or terrifying events. I’ve seen it enough in my line of work to know it isn’t exclusively a human thing.”
