She took his hands in her own, glaring at the reddened skin along each of his wrists. His right bled freely.
Curse the Giver.
She glanced around Cosmos toward the two goons attempting and failing to retrieve the slumlord from the river. He floated closer to the mountains where the river would soon be swallowed by the earth.
I hope he drowns.
Fear threatened to freeze her in place when Asteran soldiers approached the southern side of the Roan. They needed to leave.
Now.
A heavy cloak settled over her shoulders. Lia angrily swiped at the tears still leaking from her eyes. Cosmos hiccupped, trying to suppress a sob. Numbness was slowly creeping through her body.
Stay present.
Dispassionately, she watched as Loshika pulled the large horse from the post by the porch. The healer mounted and nodded to them. “Let’s get away from this place. Archers are approaching.”
Archers? She whistled for Serenity, praying the avian would flee.
Cosmos angrily wiped at his cheeks and woodenly helped Lia onto her own horse. Her fingers were stiff as they curled around the reins. Where had her mittens gone?
Her brother swung up onto his own horse, eyes desolate as theastrylleswooped above them.
Lia twisted around, catching a glimpse of the Recurrence trying to help their master escape, the enemy lining the river, the drums echoing in her ears.
The river that had swallowed her mum.
“Forgive me,” she whispered.
With that, they fled.
Chapter Eleven
Neve
Like most things,consciousness attacked Neve.
He gasped, bolting upright in bed.
His hearts raced as he scanned his half-moon shaped bedroom, sweat dripping down his temples. Healers and friends alike slept in chairs, divans, or on floor pallets. Remiche jerked to his feet and shuffled toward the bed. Neve flinched as the old gray royal healer placed a cool palm on his forehead.
“The fever has truly broken, thank the ice.”
Neve shivered and pulled the covers farther up his bare chest. His head pounded with each of his hearts.
“It’s good to see you,Reillov,” Flyka murmured from his left. She sat on a low divan resting in front of the roaring fireplace. She wore only linen, not white leather, which was her custom.
Neve’s brows slashed together. Odd. Was this another dream? He flexed the fingers of his right hand. It didn’t feel like one, but neither had the other ones.
He shivered as the vision of his deceased mother flashed through his mind.
“I need you to look at me,lae reillov,” the royal healer said firmly.
Neve tore his eyes from Flyka and turned to thenonnae,who placed a gentle hand beneath his chin and held a candle close to his face. Remiche grunted, studying Neve’s face.
“His pupils are responding to the light. Do you have any head pain?”
He tried to answer but his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. Neve swallowed hard and wet his mouth. “Pulses but not agony,” he rasped.
