I steeled myself, looking at her more closely. “Are you? How do you feel? How is your … you know?”
“My mind?” She asked, pursing her lips together when I nodded. “So far … so good? I don’t feel normal, but the nightmares are gone. I think.”
I shuddered. We’d all heard the screams. They had come at random times without rhyme or reason. Sometimes they were over in a second or two. Twice they had gone on for an hour while I held her and whispered that she was safe.
“What about physically?”
Ella shrugged. “Let’s find out.”
With my help, she got up and moved around. Dirk appeared with another plate of munchable food. Apple slices, some cheese and bread, and a mug of warm tea. Ella offered some to me, and we dug in. With every bite, she seemed to regain some of her vigor.
Eventually, she said she had enough energy for a shower. I waited to make sure she wasn’t going to faint, and we talked some more.
“So you reallyaremated to the ice tyrant?” she asked.
“I am, yes. Dirk is his younger brother. He’s the one who was here when you woke up. The one with the braids and the eyes like ice is Florian. That’s his warlord. His second. Durion and Kolar are around here somewhere, but they’ve generally kept out of sight, patrolling and giving us space.”
Ella glanced at me, wiping away fog on the glass to better see. “You seem awfully comfortable with all this.”
“You’re joking. Right?” I said with nervous laughter. “I’m fucking terrified.”
“You aren’t acting like it.”
“I suppose I’ve just had more time to think about it,” I admitted. “It’s been a few weeks since the market. Almost a month.”
“Not that long,” Ella pointed out.
“No, it’s not.” I frowned. “But it also is. The bond, Ella, it’s irresistible.”
“It is, or him?”
“Both,” I said, my cheeks heating as I thought of how I’d spent much of my time since we rescued Ella. I’d barely left Caz’s bed the first day.
The water shut off, sparing me any further incrimination as to my activities.
“So what now?” Ella asked, toweling off as I tossed her the only clothes that might have a hope in hell of fitting her.
She held up the shirt against her, its hem falling halfway to her knees.
“Now we get you some more food, shrimp,” I teased, leaving her to dress. “Then we go from there. I don’t really know. There’s a lot going on, and I don’t know Caz’s plan for you in all of that. My only focus was on finding you. I didn’t really thinkbeyond that.”
“Okay. If part of it could involve proper-fitting clothes, that would be great.”
I turned to see Ella shuffle out of the bathroom. The sweatshirt was a blanket, and the lower quarter of the pant legs was just a pile on the floor, her feet nowhere to be seen.
“What are you talking about? You look great, kiddo. Now stay here and play in your room while the grownups talk. Okay?”
Ella tried to glare at me as I walked closer. So I grabbed the hood and folded it over her head. In response, she gently tackled me onto the bed, where we dissolved into a fit of laughter.
“It isdamngood to have you back,” I said after as we lay there.
Ella was breathing hard. She would need time to recover her energy, but her spirit wasn’t broken. That was the important thing. Food and a good sleep would rejuvenate her body. If the mind broke, that was trickier to put back together.
“It’s so good to be out of there.” She sighed. “I never want to go back to that life. I’d die first.”
“Hey, hey,” I said, sitting upright. “Stop that talk.”
“I’m serious, Anna. I can’t do that again.” She shuddered.
