"So, I jumped." The memory was clearer now, crystallizing as he spoke. "I jumped after you, and I remember falling, and then—" He frowned. "I don't remember the impact. My brain must have blocked it. Then I woke up here, and you were not by my side, only the doctor with the red hair. She told me you wereunharmed, but I didn't believe her. I had to see you with my own eyes."
"You hit the rocks." She shuddered. "The sound alone?—"
"But you didn't." He watched her face carefully. "You went over the same cliff, and yet you're standing here without a scratch. How?"
She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she busied herself with the ice cup again, bringing another spoonful to his lips even though he hadn't asked for it.
Areana was stalling.
Navuh accepted the ice, let it melt on his tongue, and waited. Sometimes, silence was the best way to get people to talk.
But the silence stretched, and Areana made no move to fill it. She fussed with his blankets, his pillows, and still didn't speak.
"Areana."
"You should rest." She feathered her fingers over his cheek, and he could actually feel her touch, which was incredible, but he knew she was evading answering him. "The doctor said you need to conserve your energy for healing."
He would need to pry it out of her, one piece of information at a time.
"How long was I unconscious?"
"Three days."
It had seemed like much longer, and he had to admit that the progress his body was making in healing itself was impressiveconsidering the short time it had to do so. The realization cooled the simmering rage a fraction.
"I'm well rested." He tried to move something again, his fingers, but his body remained stubbornly unresponsive. The frustration was maddening. "I need to know what happened. How could you have survived that fall? Was there some dark magic involved, and what I saw wasn't what really happened?"
He'd said it as a tease to get her talking, but the look that passed across her eyes made him think that his shot in the dark had actually hit something.
"It's complicated," she murmured.
"Then explain it to me one thing at a time."
She looked away, and he saw her throat work as she swallowed. "I don't know where to start."
"Start at the beginning. I remember that you went out to comfort Tula, and you were taking so long that I was starting to worry. Did Tula try to kill herself, and you tried to save her?"
"Please." Her voice cracked. "Can we talk about this when you are a little stronger? You've only just woken up. You're still healing. The doctor said?—"
"I don't care what the doctor said. I need information."
The flash of temper felt good, a reminder that he was still himself beneath the wreckage of his body. He was still Navuh. He was still in command, even if the only thing he could currently command was this conversation.
"You said somewhere safe. Safe for whom? Clearly not for me, if they're all wearing compulsion filters." His mind was racingnow, putting pieces together despite the throbbing in his skull. "I know that we are in the hands of Annani's clan. But where are they keeping us?"
"I'll explain." She swallowed. "I'll tell you everything, but you need to promise me that you'll listen to the whole story before you react."
"I cannot exactly storm off in a rage, can I?" The bitter humor was all he had left. "You have a captive audience, my love."
She didn't smile at the joke. If anything, she looked more distressed.
"I never meant for any of this to happen," she said. "You have to believe that. I never wanted you to get hurt. I never imagined?—"
She stopped, pressing her free hand to her mouth.
Navuh watched her struggle with what she was trying to say, and something cold settled in his chest.
Areana was afraid ofhim.
