“Oh, good. I was worried I’d have to poke you with something to wake you up.” She gestures to the liquid. “You need to drink more sugar water.”
“The Vandawolf,” I mutter, my voice hoarse. “He needs water, too.”
Gliss shakes her head. “There’s no way to safely give him any liquid without risking that he’ll choke on it. Don’t worry. Elowynn’s healing power is particularly strong and it will sustain him while he sleeps.”
Relieved to hear it, I take the glass and gulp the liquid down. Once again, it tastes like syrup, a little too sweet, but I feel better afterward.
Gliss gestures to the bedside table where the flask sits. At some point, she must have taken away the bucket and cloths because they’re now lying on the floor near the door. “Drink all of the sugar water and then sleep. You won’t be disturbed.”
She retrieves a clean tunic from the small pile of clothes and leaves it beside me on the bed where I can reach it.
Then she pauses, her focus on a spot to my right. It takes me a moment to remember that’s where I put my toolbox.
Damn. I should have been guarding it more closely?—
“Don’t be concerned. I didn’t touch your tools,” she says. “You can rest assured that no fae will lay a hand on that metal. Its darkness would only hurt us.”
She sounds so truthful that my instinct to protect the contents of my toolbox with my life feels a little silly, but even now, I can’t shake it.
She continues to hover. “My ability to commune with animals…”
Her gaze slides to the Vandawolf where he lies on the stretcher near the end of the bed, his head and shoulders visible.
I stiffen. “The wolf.”
I haven’t sought out its energy since I carried the Vandawolf through the wasteland. I couldn’t stand to see its pain.
“You were wrong about it,” she says quietly.
I consider her carefully. “How so?”
“The wolf wasn’t pushing and pulling against him. It was his friend. They trusted each other.” Her forehead creases, as if she’s trying to find the words. “They’re a pack. Or maybe more accurately… theywerea pack… when their families were alive.”
I try to process this information. Of course, she could be making it up, but somehow… I believe her. Mostly because I can’t see what she would gain by lying.
She gives me a sad smile that quickly disappears. “Youwereright about the Vandawolf’s family. I saw it in the wolf’s memories. The Vandawolf loved them and fought for them. When he lost them…” Gliss’s face is suddenly pale. “It broke him.”
She pulls the sheet to my chin as I consider what she told me.
I want to ask more, but she’s already stepping back.
“I’ve said more than I should have, since I listened to the wolf’s thoughts without permission.” She swallows and hurries on. “I should explain… Normally, I need to seek permission from an animal before it will share its thoughts with me. But the Vandawolf was dying and his wolf was vulnerable. I took advantage. I shouldn’t have done that.”
I remember the way she looked at me back in the cave and said she was sorry the Vandawolf was dying. I wasn’t completely sure of her expression at the time, but now I’m certain it was sadness.
She takes a deep breath. “I won’t listen again unless the Vandawolf gives me permission.”
With that, she leaves me, her footsteps heavy, and I imagine she’ll drag herself to bed now.
I’m left to drink the sweet water, swallowing the syrup even as I contemplate the bitterness of the future that lies ahead of me.
* * *
I wake to a heavy silence.
I’m facing the back wall, curled up with my knees bent and the sheet tucked around me, its smooth surface like silk against my skin, an unfamiliar luxury. The tunic I managed to pull on before I fell asleep is softer than any I’ve ever worn.
For a moment, I can believe that everything is okay.
