“—as long as that way allows me to prove my allegiance to Ilia in less than a handful of hours, sure.” Caelena retorted. Audrey glared at her before giving me a pained expression. I waved my best friend off.
“I’m okay. I can do this,” I laughed humorlessly. “If you could make sure that I’m completely under before you start beating me up, I’d appreciate it.”
Caelena, all seriousness, nodded her head. “The story I’ll give Ilia is that I found you and Audrey at a location far from here. Audrey and I engaged in a fight, and you were injured. During our fight, I ended up pushing you down a canyon, and your weak human body failed you.”
“Wow,” I deadpanned. “I was hoping my death would be less embarrassing.”
“Audrey became too distressed with your death to fight back, so she ran—feeding into Ilia’s assumption that you’re her weakness,” Caelena continued. “And I brought your body back for him to see for himself.”
“And hopefully Leon’s sister will get off your dicks,” I finished. “Sounds good. Let’s do this.”
I looked everyone in the eye, trying to memorize all their faces. Their eyes. Their expressions. Their features. Caelena’s military uniform, Fergus’s gold rings on his fingers and dreadlocks, Audrey’s hoodie, and Liam’s hand squeezing her shoulder in comfort.
“Well…” I lifted my mug of tea in the air. “Bottoms up.” Then I tossed the entire drink back in one go. It had a sweetness that made chugging the entire thing easy. I let the last drop rush past my lips before I lowered the mug and grinned at my audience.
And then the heaviness in my body started to settle in.
I remembered uttering the words, “I think it’s working.” Then my vision became hazy and a darkness tunneled my vision.
The sleep I succumbed to was warm. Not as warm as I was used to, though. I felt alone in this sleep. There were no dreams for me to recall. One moment, I was holding hands with Audrey while waiting for the herbs I had consumed to kick in, the next everything was dark. All I heard was beeping. I tried to roll over and hide from it, but warm hands were gently stirring me back to the surface.
“Van!” Audrey’s voice was raspy, as if she had been sobbing recently.
“Her vitals are good,” Caelen’s voice draped over me. “She’s made a full recovery.”
“Gods, that was brutal.” Liam’s voice sounded next.
“It had to be.” Sergei was back, apparently. “It needed to be convincing.”
“Hello?” I finally asked. My mouth was dry, and I tried to smack my lips to moisten it.
“Van!” Audrey’s body was draped over me, making me gasp from the sudden weight, “You did it. You’re safe. It’s done. Ilia thinks you’re dead.”
“Cool, cool,” I croaked. “Get off me.”
“Oh!” Audrey immediately removed herself, and I was finally able to open my eyes. Everyone was standing around me, curiously studying me. I felt like a science experiment.
“You will be back to normal within a few hours,” Caelena explained, staring at the nearby monitors. She walked over and tapped a sticker on my hand. “Keep this one for the rest of the day, and these.” She tapped another sticker on my chest, and another on the back of my head, at the base of my hairline. “These are your vitals. They’re good.”
“Thanks,” I yawned. “I feel exhausted.”
“Your body went through a lot.” Caelena squeezed my arm. “But it worked. Ilia didn’t spend more than thirty seconds glancing over you before telling us to dispose of you. When we snuck you back here, Audrey healed you. It took her about half a day or so, but she did it. You’ll be okay.”
I gagged because the thought of my unconscious body being anywhere near that man made me want to throw up. I only took comfort in the knowledge that Caelena was there, too. Protecting me during my vulnerable state.
“Awesome.” I rubbed my neck, careful of my vitals sticker. “Did you do anything fun with me while I was out? Puppeteer me around? Pose me likeWeekend at Bernie’s?”
Caelena and Sergei gave me horrified expressions before Sergei bit out, “Absolutely not. I don’t know what the last thing is, but we did notplaywith your unconscious body, Vanessa.”
“Sorry, sorry.” I waved him off. “I was just making a stupid joke. Bad timing. My bad. I’m glad it went well.”
Everyone was quiet, letting me adjust, but I took the silence as an opportunity to stretch my muscles out. I wasn’t in my own clothes. Caelena must have gotten me similar clothes to mine that were made in Hyvenmere. The fabric was higher quality and breathable. Linen pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt.
“How long was I out?” I asked.
“Two days,” Caelena responded.
That made a spike of adrenaline course down my spine as I asked, “Any update on if Fergus’s men can get the sirens out?”
