The healer’s hands are glowing with a deep amber light, but the frown lines on her forehead only deepen. It’s not working.
‘What did she drink?’ the healer asks.
As Caroline struggles to draw breath, let alone reply, a hollowness spreads through me. There’s only one reason why the healer would ask that question.
‘She’s been poisoned?’ I ask tightly, but the question is rhetorical. I already know the answer. ‘She’s been poisoned.’
Llinos meets my eyes, and I see the resignation there, the acceptance. And it slays me.
‘Help her!’ I bark at the healer.
The foam at Llin’s mouth is no longer green. It has taken on a pinkish hue. Blood is filling her lungs, but the healer has moved her hands away from her chest. As she starts to stand, I grab hold of her.
‘Please. There must be something you can do.’
She shakes her head, eyes sympathetic. ‘It’s in her system. If it was just in her stomach, maybe … but no, I’m sorry. It’s too late. It’s just too late.’
My whole body trembles as I stumble back.
‘No. No, she can’t. It can’t be. You have to do something. You have to.’
The healer presses her lips together but moves her hands back to Llinos’s chest. They pulse with magic for just a moment before she takes them away, visibly tired. ‘I’ve eased her pain and her breathing as best I can. It’ll give you a few moments to say goodbye.’
‘Rose …’ Llinos’s voice is barely a breath, yet it burns through my entire body, causing more tears to stream down my cheeks. ‘It’s okay. It’s … okay.’
‘No. No.’ I drop down next to Llin and wipe my hand across her brow. It’s nearly impossible to see through the blur of tears filling my eyes.
‘You or Benny better win.’ She tries to smile, only for a drop of blood to slip from the corner of her lips. With the slightest movement of her eyes, she looks from me to Caroline, and her smile is true. ‘We found each other again.I knew we would.’
‘Stop speaking like that.’ Caroline’s voice is firm, even as it trembles. ‘You’re okay, okay?’
‘You’re a terrible liar.’ Llin’s smile widens. ‘I love that about you. I love everything about you. I always will.’
‘Stop it. I’m not losing you now.’ Caroline gulps in air between her sobs. ‘Not when we just found each other again. I refuse to lose you, Llin. You hear me? I refuse to. So you’d better sort this out, because I don’t care how tough you think you are, I’m gonna kick your arse if you don’t stop this and get up now. You hear me? You need to get up.’ She tugs at Llinos’s still form, and her voice breaks as she sobs while shudders wrack her body.
‘Llinos! You need to be okay. Get up! Llin!’ Caroline screams, but even as she buries her head in Llin’s chest, my friend’s expression remains fixed. Her smile unchanged. Unmoving. Not even a tremor. Not even a breath.
Kyor’s voice is low. ‘We need to move her somewhere private. You don’t want to do this here. Trust me.’
He’s standing right behind me. I didn’t even realise he’d followed me.
‘Do something.’ Tears stream down my cheeks as I turn to him. ‘Do something. You have magic. You have healers. Do something!’
‘You know I can’t.’ His voice is hollow with pain. ‘We both know that all too well. She’s gone, Rose. I’m so sorry.’
He folds me into his arms in a much too public show of support, and I don’t have the strength to refuse him.
I don’t understand. When I left them, they were laughing. Ready to dance.
The healer’s earlier question resurfaces in my mind.What did she drink?
The wine. I feel sick. I push myself away from Kyor and turn to Caroline. ‘What did Llin drink? Caroline! You need to answer me! Did Llin drink the wine in the glass I gave her?’
Tears stream down her cheeks, and her skin is so pale it’s translucent. When she lifts her head, her eyes are glazed, nothing but hollow pain behind them. ‘She was just drinking wine,’ she says. ‘Just … wine.’
‘The glass I gave her? She drank that too?’
‘I … I … I think so.’
