I glanced at the door, knowing his mother was inside grasping his hand, watching over him. Even if I was his savior, I still felt like an intruder, so I returned to my seat on the ground outside the cabin and waited.
An hour later, Allegra ran up the path to his cabin, her eyes wet with emotion that was about to drip down her cheeks. So overwhelmed by the news she must have received from Caius, she didn’t even notice me on the ground before she went inside.
An indescribable rush of anger hit me when she let herself in. She’d been there many times before, spent numerous nights there, and even though that had happened before I got here, it still made me feel sick. I struggled to describe the emotion because I’d never felt it before, lacked enough experience with boys to know all these things.
I swallowed it back and ignored it, knowing it didn’t matter if Allegra was there holding his hand next to his mother. All that mattered was Morco pulling through.
Hours passed before Allegra left the cabin, her body broken and defeated by what she had witnessed inside. She didn’t notice me, her mind preoccupied with Morco.
I wasn’t in the mood for small talk, so I didn’t mind.
She gave a sniff then wiped away new tears.
It made me worry what she’d seen. If it was just the shock of his sickness, or if his condition had worsened over the course of the day.
A pain burned in my chest, and a fear lit my heart on fire.
She finally walked off, probably back to her cabin.
I stayed in my spot on the ground and looked at the cabin across the path, trying not to think about how sickly he had looked in that bed, a strong and powerful man fighting for his life without a sword or a shield.
“I hope I wasn’t too late.”
11
MORCO
The heat across my forehead waned, and I felt my mind pierce the clouds that fogged my head. I felt the damage and debris of the war that had passed through, the burned trees and collapsed buildings. Now, I wore scars because my wounds had healed. I took the first breath that made my chest rise, and I opened my eyes to a ceiling I looked at every morning.
My mother gasped, and then she squeezed my hand like the hilt of a sword. “My son prevails.”
I felt the headache behind my eyes, felt the weakness of my body, but somehow, I felt better even as I also felt worse. The sweat was thick, like oil poured on my skin. My body felt too heavy to lift. My mind remained in a daze, but I felt it sharpen, from a dull blade to a sword. If I was alive…that meant she had succeeded. “Hanne…” I turned my head to see my mother’s eyeless stare at my bedside. My eyes flicked to the next person, seeing Caius draw close to the bed.
But Hanne wasn’t there.
The fear gripped me when I realized he might have returned without her. “Where is she?”
“She’s outside,” he said quickly. “She felt like an intruder.”
Once I knew she was safe, my heart started to slow once again. I tried to lift my right arm to check the wound, but my body didn’t respond. It took several attempts before I succeeded, bringing my arm over my head to examine it. It was covered in gauze so I couldn’t see the details of the flesh, but it didn’t hurt. “What happened?”
“Hanne and I traveled to theapricum. She found the medicine, and we made it back.”
That meant she’d exposed herself to the Knives—in the light of day. She’d risked more than her neck with the foolish errand. I was furious. But no amount of anger or ferocity could change the fact that I was impressed. That I was proud. That I respected her like a motherfucker. “I told you not to let her go.”
“Well, you’re alive, and we’re alive. So I’m not sorry.” His words sounded rehearsed, like he’d been thinking about this conversation once my condition improved. Tried to douse my fire before it had a chance to burn. “I’ll let you guys talk.”
“Send Hanne.”
Caius nodded before he headed for the door.
“Send her in ten minutes,” my mother said. “I want a moment with my son.”
Caius responded verbally, knowing she couldn’t see him the way I could. “Yes, Elder.” He walked out and shut the door.
Not that I wasn’t happy to see my mother, the person who’d been at my bedside for who knew how long. But I wanted to address the woman who had brought me back to life. I pulled my hand away from my mother’s grasp and sat up in bed, grimacing from the ache in every muscle in my body as I moved and made it to the edge of the mattress. Dizziness hit me for a second, the room spinning as the blood flowed from my head to my feet. I took several breaths, feeling the air move across my back and evaporate the sweat that had formed there.
I ran my fingers through my damp hair. “I feel like I’ve returned from a war I don’t recall fighting.”
