Gray perks her ears at the mention of being right, and Vilder gives her a rub.
“You were burning up with fever when we found you,” Seniia says. “I’ve never been so scared in my life. We thought we had lost you again, and...” She grabs ahold of me and pulls me in for a tight embrace.
“For the good of all, Seniia, let the poor woman get a breath in before you throw yourself at her,” Vilder says, but I can tell he’s relieved as well.
She turns toward him. “Oh, shut up already, will you? How is it that you barely talk, but when you do, it makes me want to chop your head off?”
“Yes, how is that?” His small smile grows wider when she glares at him.
“You know how worried I was,” she says to him. “And my healing—myhealing—was barely enough. If we had found her just one bell later...” She trails off, but it’s clear from the context what she’s saying: I would have been dead.
“And the gods forbid that I die,” I grumble, releasing myself from her embrace, “because then you would have failed your mission to bring me back to the Arc.” I don’t bother hiding my disdain.
They both stare at me in bewilderment.
“Why would you say that?” Seniia says, genuine confusion etched on her face. Then understanding seems to dawn on her, and her expression turns from confusion to hurt in a heartbeat. “You think we are here tobetrayyou?”
Vilder studies my face, his brows knitting together.
“He said you were going to Anam’gate,” she says, looking toward Vilder, then at me. “And that he was a fool for letting you go alone.”
My heart leaps at the opportunity to trust them, while my mind screams for me to be more careful. How many have I trusted only to be betrayed by them? Em, Llyr, Reü... Shouldn’t I have learnedmy lesson by now? Still, the tears running down Seniia’s cheeks are undeniably real.
“I was,” Vilder says. “I felt like I had sent my little sister off on her own. It never should have happened.” He gives me an apologetic smile.
I scrub my eyes with the back of my hand, wiping away tears I hadn’t even noticed were there. My gaze catches on my left hand—the pinkie finger whole and unmarred. “Hey, you’re not that much older than me,” I say, smiling through my tears. “I’ll be twenty-one as well in just a couple weeks. I don’t know the exact date. Humans don’t keep track like that, but it’s in the early fall.”
“You will?” The smile is instantly back on Seniia’s face. “That’s wonderful! We’ll have to celebrate you”—she searches our surroundings—“with a piece of grilled flutterhare and some fresh mountain water.”
We all laugh, and just like that, things are as they have always been between us. Then I notice the horses. All three of them.
“Maeve!” I cry, scrambling to my feet. “Where did you find her?”
“I would rather say that she found us,” Vilder says. “She was running full speed when we first saw her but stopped once she recognized our horses.”
“If it hadn’t been such a rural area, I doubt she would still have been roaming free,” Seniia adds. “But please tell us, What happened?” She sits back, crossing her legs. “I mean, you were nearlydead, Laïna.” Her eyes are wide as she looks at me. “I didn’t lie when I said I barely”—she holds up her hand, her pointer finger almost touching her thumb, showing how close I was to dying—“managed to save you. Thank Briah the moons were back in the sky, or I wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
Vilder throws a glance at me over his shoulder as he stokes the fire. “That wound was vicious,” he says. “It almost looked like godsbane...” He studies my face closely as he comes to sit next to us. “Butonly Casimir has access to godsbane, that I’m aware of, and he hasn’t been seen in centuries.”
Seniia nods her agreement. “That is true. I’ve only ever seen drawings of godsbane wounds, but it fits the description perfectly.” She bites her bottom lip. “For a god, a knife dipped in godsbane is only fatal through the heart, but for a human... It should have killed you almost instantly.” She looks at me. “Did it happen right before we found you?”
They both stare at me now, awaiting my explanation, and I have no idea where to start. A million different thoughts run through my mind. Why am I still alive? If it’s as fatal as she says, it must have something to do with the wound being inflicted upon me while in a dream state. Before I can sort through my thoughts enough to say anything remotely useful, however, Seniia interrupts me.
“And Void! Why did you place a brace onyourself,Laïna?” Seniia’s voice is incredulous.
At the mention of the brace, I touch my left forearm, only now realizing that it’s gone.
Vilder pulls the brace and mother piece out of his pocket, and I scramble away, nearly landing in the fire.
He raises his hands, palms toward me in a peaceful gesture. “Relax. We will not put it on you.” He places the two pieces on the ground in front of me, then backs away. “I must admit it was clever though,” Vilder says once I hold both pieces safely in my own hands.
“Clever? It almost cost Laïna her life!”
“True. But in addition to blocking anyone from using magic on you, it also hides your energetic imprint from anyone searching for you.”
“Well, we experienced that firsthand.” The frustration is evident in Seniia’s voice.
I click the brace back on. Hopefully no more healing will be needed for a while. I trace the cold metal with my finger. How longwas I without it? If the umbra find me, kill them... I push the chilling thought away before it can take root.
