This thirst is brutal, though. I close my eyes and drink.
As soon as I’m done, he sets it aside. His voice is still low. “Do you want me to stay? Or should I let you go?”
I put a hand over his as if I could trap him here. Then I turn my head to look at him, my eyes taking in the bloodstains scattered along his face and clothing.Mybloodstains.
He saved my life.
I can’t believe I ever wondered if he would be a liability on this journey.
“Stay,” I murmur.
“All right.” He shifts a little, settling against me, and silence falls between us. Outside the window, thunder rumbles somewhere in thedistance. All the pressing heat and humidity were sure to lead to a storm, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.
I’m sure there are things I should bedoing, and I have so many questions, but just now, my thoughts are content to drift as I feel the warm weight of Jax’s body against mine.
Though I’d enjoy it a lot more if my shoulder weren’t insisting that a hot coal must be buried in the joint. I think I have an old kit full of tinctures and powders from Noah in my pack, but I’ve never used any of them. Thanks to magic, I’ve never had to.
I shift my weight, trying to get more comfortable, but that only makes it worse. When I utter a little sound without meaning to, Jax moves again, setting me a bit more upright, then taking a pillow to wedge under my arm. I don’t expect it to make a difference, but it does.
“You’re a rather good nurse,” I say.
“I got a lot of practice from taking care of Da when he drank himself sick.” That nearly makes me frown, but then he adds, “At least you didn’t wet the bed.”
“You’re welcome.”
He laughs— but he sobers quickly. “Why didn’t your magic heal your shoulder like your head?”
I lift a hand to my temple. “I don’t know if it healed my head all the way. It’s still pounding.”
He grimaces. “That might be the sleeping ether. When we dug the bolt out of your shoulder— it was bad. You were barely yourself. You were fighting Malin, Leo was trying to hold you down . . . luckily Seph had a bottle in his pack.”
Sleeping ether.No wonder my head is pounding.
But then I realize what he said. “When youdugthe bolt out of my shoulder?” I echo.
He nods. “It was a steel bolt with spikes along the sides. Malin saysthey must have shot it from a crossbow.” Another grimace. “It was hell getting it out.”
I’m fascinated— and a little disgusted. My stomach rolls, and those sparks flicker in my blood again. I have to close my eyes for a moment. “Was the arrow tipped in Iishellasan steel?” I say.
“I don’t know. Here.” He pulls away from me, and my eyes snap open, but Jax only reaches down beside the bed, coming back up with a long steel rod that’s vaguely shaped like an arrow— but definitely isn’t. The bolt is easily two feet long, with a barbed point, plus a dozen angled “thorns” along the shaft. It’s clearly designed to do a lot of damage to whatever it finds. I’m shocked they got it out of my shoulder atall.
The entire length is stained with my blood.
“Silver hell,” I say.
“Yeah.”
I take it from him, and I’m surprised at the weight. It’s more vicious than any weapon I’ve ever seen— and considering my time in the Syhl Shallow army, that’s saying something.
But it’s definitely Iishellasan steel. I wonder where the Truthbringers got it— and how many they have left.
Last spring, Jax’s father had similar weapons. He shot me and the king— but it wasn’t anything like this. If I’d taken this bolt to the heart or the head, all the magic in the world wouldn’t have helped me survive.
My thoughts are suddenly a bit clearer. Maybe it’s the awareness that we’re still in danger, and more than I expected if they have weapons like this.
And then I think of another reason the Truthbringers might have let us go.
I’m not the primary target.
