“Why do you care?” she says. “It means nothing.”
“What do you want for yourself, Kassandra? If you did not hold yourself back, as others have done to you, what would you choose if you could?”
She lowers the papers, biting her lip. “To never be a wife. To be powerful enough to never be harmed. To…to be untouchable.”
To be untouchable.
I flip the sentence around in my mind, examine it from all angles. It fits neatly into my image of Kassandra—the silver fae who rode the silver mare. The female who forged a diamond dagger. Her spitefulness, her regrowth after every breaking.
“Untouchable would look good on you,” I tell her.
I wonder how it would feel on me.
“So,” she says, cutting into my thoughts. A half smile tugs at her lips. “It seems House of Illusion isn’t the only House made of mirages.”
Chapter Thirty-nine
For the next few days,I am the opposite of untouchable. When the Healer visits—a short fae with curly black hair—he places cold hands on my bruised stomach and closes his eyes. A ticklish warmth flows through me, spreading to my limbs. After each Healing session, he and I are both drained. He informs me that I had internal bleeding, numerous cuts, and a depleted genius. It is nothing compared to Lila.
She clings to life. Eli and his team slowly rewarm her, monitoring her heart and fluids. The few times she’s awoken, she cannot comprehend what she hears.
Kassandra refuses to take her bed back, opting for a servant’s cot rolled into the bedroom. Briar does not comment, though I know she wants to. The day servants leave supplies and meals in the dining room but do not venture further. Once, I wake to see Benji by my bedside, pale and tired, but it feels like a dream.
After four days, Eli visits, scrubbing a hand over his face as he enters. Briar closes the door behind him, while Kassandra rises from her desk chair to the left of the bed where I lay.
“Lord Eli,” she acknowledges. “How does Lila fare?”
“She is stable now, but there will be some long-term damage. He laced near-frozen water, most likely from the Arctic River north of Cont in the mountains.”
“What type of damage?” I manage.
He and Kass share a look.
Tell me,I could demand, but do not. There have already been so many lines crossed between High Fae and faeries these past few days.
“Her heart failed because of the cold,” Kassandra replies. “But they were able to revive her.”
“There is long-term scarring around the heart and lungs,” Eli adds.
“She died?”
“Temporarily.”
“She died and you didn’t think to tell me?”
“You were busy dying, too,” Kassandra spits. “For all we know, you two waved at each other during your stint in the celestial plane!”
Quiet settles around us for a moment. Eli takes a breath. “We couldn’t save her left hand.”
My mind stutters to a stop. “But…you’re the best Healing fae…”
“I can only Heal what is still alive.”
“But she’s an artist! She needs her hand.”
“Our first priority was her heart.”
“And you didn’t seem to do that, either,” I whisper.
