"What happened?" Corbin asked, recovering first.
"Infi," she said shortly. "Come on. I can tell you on the way. I need help dragging him." She pushed past the pair and started up the trail. Dorian and Corbin exchanged a look, and then they both ran to catch up with her.
"You have the heart?" Dorian asked.
Reverie held up the bag over her shoulder in response.
"This one was wandering the trail outside the gates," she said. "All their sentries are gone. Their walls are unchecked. It is nothing more than a..." She paused to take a moment, and Dorian grabbed her arm.
The gaze she looked up at him with made him still.
As though it were suddenly hitting her what she'd seen.
"It's Infi," she breathed, clutching him back. "It's all...Infi."
He had never seen such a fear in anyone's eyes before. "How far ahead is the body?"
"Half a mile," she said. "It was heavy. I couldn't drag it--"
"I can get it," Corbin said, seeming to know what Dorian was thinking.
Dorian nodded. "I'm taking Reverie back to the cavern. We'll meet you back there, and we can dispose of it."
"No. It's heavy. We—“
"Corbin can handle it," Dorian said firmly. He grasped Reverie's hand then and pulled her backward. "Watch your back," he said to Corbin.
Within the warmth of the cavern, Reverie continued to stare at the floor. She pushed the cloak off her arms before she sat at the fire. Dorian hardly had the chance to speak to her. She was in such a zone that it was almost like she wasn't there.
Dorian crouched down to his knees in front of her when she settled.
"Reverie, what happened?"
He wanted to wipe her face clean of the blood, hold her while she told him, but he didn't know yet how to react with her in such a state.
"I climbed up the wall to see inside. They were everywhere. The entire town—“ Her entire body trembled, and Dorian decided he would chance her wrath. He pushed his arms around her and held her against him, feeling her body shake against his.
Something didn't feel right about her as she cried on his shoulder. The way her hands dug into his back. The way she was breaking in front of him. The fact that she'd admitted she couldn't come all the way with the beast...
His heart turned numb, and he tensed.
He recognized the smell in her hair.
He recognized the manipulation in her tone.
Breaths quickening, Dorian's ears began to ring.
Infi.
She pulled back and held her hands to his cheeks. "I didn't know if I would make it back to you," she whispered.
Dorian grasped her right wrist in his hand, eyes searching over her face. He turned her hand to kiss her palm, but never lost that gaze. "You're safe now," he promised.
His hand curled around the knife at his side.
"You never have to be afraid," he continued. "I've got you."
"I know," she managed. "I know you will always have me. Dorian, I..."
