My words were slurred and tired. Nicolas pulled up a stool next to me. “How can I help?”
“Oh, Nicolas…”
“Quinn saved you.” I nodded. “He’s a brother to me. Tell me what you need.”
“I’m all but done,” I replied, wiping my eyes and reclining. “I may sleep through the day, after everything. Gods, did you eat?”
“No. There’s food, but I haven’t. And neither have you.” Nicolas frowned, his hand settling on top of mine. “I’ll get you something.”
I nodded, moving to follow him, but he held up a hand to stop me. Darkness settled in his eyes.
“Alana, why did he do that for you?”
“The viscount was my guardsman,” I replied, swallowing and hoping he wouldn’t notice the nervous tic. “And he remains my friend.”
“I’ve seen Quinn collapse at the sight of a border terrier.” The memory brought the briefest of smiles to his lips. It faded as he covered his mouth with a fist, murmuring the rest to himself. “Why would he brave wolves for you?”
“Are you unhappy with him?” I asked. “If he hadn’t come to help, I’m not sure I would have survived.”
“I’m unhappy withyoufor putting your life at risk. Our child’s. These people are hungry, and I understand you want to help them, Alana, but your life is worth the lot of them to me. If I’d lost you—” He caught himself, pinching his brow. “I would trade everyone in Gallae to keep you safe.”
I had no answer for him. Only fear that he would rescind my freedoms as punishment for my folly, that he would go back on his vow to let me lead an uncaged life.
His hand found my chin, tilting my face to meet his eyes. “Promise me you won’t take that sort of risk again.”
I nodded, knowing even as I did that it was a lie. We both knew it; I couldn’t resist the calling to help where I thought I could. Maybe it was in my blood. Perhaps I’d have been perfectly contented as an apothecary, after all.
We hadn’t spoken of it again—of the risks, or of Quinn.
Now, days later, I crested another hill in my aimless wandering. The sun beat down from its noon position and I wondered what the Lady might think of me, watching the world from up there.
I was just thinking of turning back when I saw a familiar figure sprawled in the grass of a lower valley.
Quinn lay with one arm flung over his eyes and the other, freshly bandaged and healing, tucked against his chest. The grass around him was flattened in an outline, as though he’d collapsed there and had barely moved since.
He seemed peaceful, at first. Then I noticed the tension in his jaw, his fingers twitching and clenching. His breathing was fast and shallow, and as I neared him, he made a sound that fell somewhere near a whimper.
I kneeled in the grass beside him. His face contorted, and he whispered again, this time a series of Hadrian words. Still, I knew the fear in them. Slowly, I reached out, my fingers grazing his shoulder.
His eyes flew open and he sat straight up, his skull smacking mine. We both recoiled, him falling into the grass while I massaged my forehead.
For a moment, he didn’t really see me. He just sat there, sweat caking his hair to his face as he made the return to reality. Then he blinked, and recognition dawned. His pupils constricted and he squinted, raising his hand to shield his eyes from the sun behind me.
“Alana?”
I shifted to block out more of the sun, but he caught my wrist.
“No, stay there,” he said. “You’re an eclipse. Just…let me look at you a while longer.”
Heat crept into my cheeks. I freed my hand to sign.“Bad dreams?”
He laughed shakily, pushing himself up onto his good elbow with a wince. “Yeah. Is everything okay? Is it time to get moving?”
“I was walking. Found you here.”I paused, deciding to press the issue.“Your dreams…”
Quinn frowned. “Not letting me off the hook? Fine. I keep dreaming about those creatures.I feel the bite burning, spreading…and we haven’t seen the Banewights since, so how do I know the danger is over?”
“Those men were cursed for a reason,”I replied, rising to my feet.“You’re not like them.”
