Such fierce joy takes over me, but then my stomach lurches.The smoke and ash take their toll, and I lean over an empty space of the wagon and vomit.
“Easy,” Ulla’s voice cuts through my thoughts. “You are all right.” She brings a rag to my mouth.
Another voice calls from the front of the wagon. I look up to see Liana through blurry eyes.
“You are weak. You need to rest more,” she says. “This wagon will take us back to Enduvida.”
“My baby is really alive?” I say, my breath still rushing in and out of my mouth.
“Yes. Teo saved you both,” she says.
I let out a sob. “I?—”
“Sleep, or I will make you sleep,” Liana grits out. I almost miss the fear in her voice.
The wise woman withdraws an enormous crystal, hands it to Ulla, and they begin to sing. My eyelids grow heavy. I clutch my brother to my chest.
And then I sleep once more, despite the cart’s jostling.
My consciousness comesin and out over the next few days. Gentle hands force-feed me water and soup.
In the end, that fades, too.
It isn’tuntil the warmth of Enduvida’s air hitting me that I wake once more.
My eyes blink open, and I feel like I’ve come back from death itself. Everything is stiff and… disgusting. I try to swallow, and my throat burns.
My eyes open, and I recognize the ceiling above me. Myarms are wrapped around an immense weight, and I look down at the filthy black hair.
“Mikal,” I say.
He stirs, then rolls over and lets one leg flop over the side of my old bed. I smooth his hair away and wince when I think of how they had him hanging in chains.
“Are you in pain?” my mate’s groggy voice rumbles next to me.
I look over to see Teo’s head peeking at me from his seated position on the floor of the room. From the looks of it, he’s just waking up, too.
We are all still stained with the remnants of the battle.
“I’m fine, but why are you on the floor?” I demand.
A ghost of a smile crosses his lips. “There wasn’t room on the bed, and you wouldn’t let him go.”
I look at Mikal and realize that he had grown since I’d seen him. I forgot how sixteen-year-olds grow like weeds.
I sit up to get a better look and find a basket on the ground next to my mate. In it is the giant child.
More emotion wells up. A part of me is shocked to see a giant in the under mountain.
They are synonymous with pain, but the baby is dirty and sleeping peacefully. It’s hard to believe this child is the heir to the giant throne.
“That’s… Keksej’s son,” I say weakly.
Our sound wakes the babe, and he immediately starts to cry.
Teo’s eyes snap open.
For a second, fear is stricken into my heart. He could be as much of a threat to us as that child was to Rholker. And yet…
