“Come on. You saw her, and Slade’s right. She needs to rest.” Lu starts to pull him away. He only resists for a second, looking down at Auren one more time. Then he turns, letting her lead him toward the corridor that goes to the back of the house where it branches off into several bedrooms. “Let’s go raid Osrik’s room. I’m sure we can find something for you to wear.”
When their footsteps fade, I watch Auren again, but she only lies there, still as a corpse. The one thing that keeps the wild fear from exploding out of me is the fact that I can see her golden aura hovering around her silhouette. It’s still weak. Lackluster. But it’s there, so I hold onto that scrap like a single thread holding up a boulder.
She just needs to rest.
It’s a mantra playing in my head.
She used too much power. It drained her, almost to the point of death. Yet what concerns me even more is that she used an entirely different facet of her power that she’s never even tapped into before. Who knows what kind of toll that took on her?
“Here.”
I look to my right as Ryatt walks up, holding out a steaming mug. Taking it, I peer inside to find some watery broth with a few bits of onion and celery roots tossed in. “It’s all I could scrounge up this quickly,” he says with a shrug. “We’ll need to go to the Cellar tomorrow.”
I toss the drink back, not tasting it save for the heat that burns my tongue and swims into my hollow stomach.
Ryatt drinks his own much slower, and I can feel his dark green eyes watching me. “What?” I ask.
“This hasn’t ever happened before.”
I look down at Auren’s face. “No. It hasn’t.”
“Not to sound like a jackass, since I’m sure you’ve already done this, but you can’t just...get the rest of the rot out of her?”
“Unfortunately, you do sound like a jackass, becauseI fucking tried.”
“What’s different?”
Setting the empty cup on the wooden mantel, I brace a hand against the dark wood, head hanging as I look at the flames. “I don’t know. Maybe I was too forceful when I used my power on her in the first place. Or maybe I left it too long inside of her.”
“Is it...I mean, have you ever left rot inside someone before?”
I shoot him a look. “Obviously I have. When I wanted tokillthem.”
He waves me off. “I mean someone you weren’t trying to kill?”
“No,” I spit out, grip squeezing the mantel hard enough to make the wood creak in protest. “My rot follows my direction. It’s never fucking done this.”
I don’t understand it. Even now, I can sense that it’s there, but I can’t grip it. I can’t call it back to me. It’s not answering to me.
“Will she wake up?”
Rage has me spinning with a snarl on my face. “Of course she’s going to wake up!” I shout, the skin along my arms bulging, spikes threatening to break out. “Fuck you for even asking that.”
“Well, fuckyoutoo. It’s a valid question.”
My hand curls and I’m about ready to slam a fist into his face when Lu comes back in. “Already not playing nice, boys?” She’s changed out of her wet clothes and is wearing massive fur slippers bigger than bear paws. They’re her favorite fucking thing whenever she’s here, even though they look ridiculous on her. Digby is nowhere in sight.
“He’s resting. He tries to pretend otherwise, but he’s in pretty bad shape. Gave him Osrik’s bed,” she says without me having to ask. She comes to stand next to us with her hands on her hips. “So? What’s the problem?”
“I’m just trying to have a fucking conversation,” Ryatt grumbles.
“About Gildy?” Lu guesses, then snorts and strides over to Auren. “How about you don’t poke the rotten beast?”
My brother rolls his eyes.
“What are you doing?” I ask when she strips off Auren’s blankets.
She shows me a bundle of clothes in her hand. “Is it safe to touch her?”
