“How is Brune?” I asked quickly.
“Recovering,” Syris answered. “Ethrisha has been by his side night and day. You look better than he does.”
I struggled to get out of the bed. “I’ll go to him now and help?—”
“No, you need to rest,” she said firmly, pushing me back. “He’s fine.”
I saw the determined set in her shoulders. Alaryk had probably told her to keep watch and to keep me here.
“And the eggs,” I said quietly. “They’re safe?”
“Yes,” she replied, her smile dying. “The eggs were recovered. Ryak and Nevin are dead.” I flinched, remembering the shock on Ryak’s face, though his eyes had been lifeless.What happened to Nevin?I wondered. “The other two…Sarkin collected his rider for trial. As for Dresnar…he was executed yesterday.”
I blew out a breath of disbelief.
I’m sorry,I thought again, though I knew she wouldn’t want to hear it.
“I—I…”
But I didn’t know what to say. How to explain it. That I had been sent to betray their trust, that I’d told Ryak how many eggs the hatchery had, that I’d promised I would tell him anything he’d wanted to know.
But Syris placed her hand on my arm and said, “Brune told us everything.”
“Everything?”
She nodded.
“About what theDothikkarwanted us to do?”
She took a deep breath. “Brune said Ryak and Nevin threatened him. That your king would throw his father into the dungeons and persecute his mother if he didn’t do what they wanted.”
So…he had been threatened too.
“I’m assuming they did the same to you?” Syris asked softly. Gently. Carefully.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Alaryk knows?”
She nodded.
“How long have I been asleep?”
“Nearly a week,” she answered. “You woke for the first time a couple nights ago and managed to start healing yourself with Alaryk’s help. But you’ve been asleep since then.”
I nodded.
“I must say,” Syris murmured, her yellow eyes tracking over me, “your magic truly is remarkable, Amaia. You’d never be able to tell…”
“What?”
Her brow furrowed. A flash of despair, so brief that I thought I imagined it, crossed her features. “I couldn’t even recognize you. When he brought you back that night.”
My belly tightened.
“I’d never seen anything like it before. How someone could do that to another person.”
My eyes filled with unushered tears, my throat tightening.
“Looking at you now…it’s like it never happened,” Syris finished, wiping at her cheek, sniffing. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I walked in here this morning.”
