Dorian nodded. "And you, Reverie?"
Her eyes darted back and forth, mind seeming to grasp for anything, and then she said, "Keep your hands around your drink and laugh when they do.”
The greatest exhale Dorian had ever felt left his lungs.
His hands pressed to his hips, and he cursed the sky. He didn't say another word before he rushed to the pair and threw his arms around them both. Relief swept him to the point of sweat, eyes closing, and they hugged him back.
"Fuck, I thought—“ Dorian's heart pounded in his ears. "I thought I had lost you both," he admitted. He pulled back then, and Corbin caught his arm.
"You're hurt," he noted.
"I'm fine," Dorian insisted.
Corbin looked like he wanted to argue, but he let Dorian go. "When I found her on the slope, I realized what had happened," he said. "Did you realize it was one?"
Dorian nodded, hands pushing behind his neck as he turned to glance back at the creature lying on the ground. "I knew it wasn't her," he said softly. He looked back at Reverie then, finally getting a good glimpse of her, and he saw the same scratches on her face and through her shirt as he had.
His body shook with rage at the sight of it. "Are you okay?"
"It's just scratches," she insisted.
But the red puffs around her swollen eyes and the clench in her jaw told him she was covering it up.
“No, you’re—“
“I said I’m fine,” Reverie snapped.
Dorian exchanged a look with Corbin and decided not to push it any further.
The three of them turned then to the two Infis now lying in the cavern.
"Suppose we have two chances of trying now," Dorian said.
"Tell us what you need," Corbin said.
"Snow," Dorian replied. "In case the fire gets out of control. We should put the bodies at the back of the cave to make sure no light penetrates outside. If the rest of them see it, it could be like a beacon."
Reverie loaded snow from outside into one of her cloaks while Corbin and Dorian took the bodies to the back. The hearts were still beating, and as Dorian crouched down, he stared at the one in his hand.
"What are you thinking?" Corbin asked.
"I'm thinking since Duarb can't reach here, do I even need to put it back in," Dorian replied. "Or if I can burn them separately."
"We have two," Corbin said. "Worth trying both ways. Though I hope it will burn with the heart. Otherwise, we're fucked."
"We'll put this one back in,” Dorian determined.
"We should put rocks on the legs to hold it down," Corbin suggested. "There's nothing to tie it to."
Corbin gathered a few rocks from around the cavern and placed them on the Infi's legs, while Reverie seemed to keep her distance from them, pacing in an almost trance-like state, the hilt of her knife tapping nervously against her palm. Dorian wanted to ask her if she was okay again, to truly get a response from her, but he knew they needed to get rid of the Infi before opening such wounds.
As Dorian settled before the creatures and stared down at their mangled forms—the grey-white skin, pink slashings on great starved bodies, he was reminded of his first dealings with them, and not at his kingdom, but when he'd traveled to the villages to help Draven execute them. He could still see Draven standing in front of him with the first he'd let him kill on his own.
"You remember what you're doing?" Draven asked him.
Dorian’s weight shifting before the creature. Heart throbbing. This one was different from the others they'd found. This one looked as though someone used it for whipping practice. Scratches and burns all over its body.
Dorian could only manage a nod in response to Draven's question.
