“But you do.” His hand brushed over hers. “If you want.”
Yvette blushed, about to deny him, but she couldn’t form the words. In truth, having someone she could trust would mean more to her now than ever. But she didn’t have the courage for so much honesty, at least not yet. So instead she asked, “How are you feeling?”
Florian rolled his shoulder with a smile. “Never better.”
Yvette raised a skeptical brow.
“I will be just fine,” he relented. “Gareth is in worse shape, though he’d never admit it.”
“What about her? Is she awake?”
Florian sighed looking down at his hand, still resting on hers. “I don’t think so. It might take some time. I saw how much that place affected you after only a second. I can’t imagine what days there would have done.”
Familiar shame heated uncomfortably beneath her skin.
Florian’s hand tightened around hers, somehow drawing the awareness of her whole being to that central point. “She’d still be there if it weren’t for you,” he said softly.
Part of her, instinct perhaps, or habit, shied from his assurances. Keira wouldn’t have been there at all if not for her. But the other wanted to wrap herself up in his words, to see herself as he did, redeemable.
“What the hell are you two doing in here?” Lilith’s voice cut through Yvette’s reeling thoughts, sharp as one of her knives.
She slid her hand quickly from Florian’s grip.
Lilith shook her head. “Nevermind. I just came to say that it’s your turn to watch Keira. Rhea and I need a break.”
“Of course,” Florian said, standing.
“I’ll wait with you,” Yvette said. Already she was regretting pulling away so hastily. She’d appreciated his gesture, and she really was growing to trust him, to find comfort in that. But given the way Florian could be… She just didn’t want Lilith to get the idea that it was anything more.
Keira
Light flickered beyond her eyelids. Fresh, gentle air entered her lungs that didn’t stink of damp and filth. Her first instinct was to deny that this reprieve was anything more than a fantasy conjured by her unconscious, but even her dreams of late had been nothing but blackness. In fact, Keira felt more awake than she had in ages.
Still, hope was an uneasy thing to hold on to. As Keira opened her eyes, part of her worried she had finally lost her mind, the other feared she had been ushered into some fresh nightmare. Maybe they wanted to torture her. Was it possible that the year had passed and the Golden Compass had returned to extend their offer? What would they do if she refused them twice?
Instead, she was met by the familiar fireplace of Grimlocke’s library. It was unmistakable from where she lay on the plush sofa that had served as her bed throughout her time with the Blades. Though she could not explain how she had come to be there, Keira recognised it at once. The bookshelves ran from floor to ceiling on either wall, a dull assortment that she had augmented over the years to create a more vibrant and varied collection. The mantle was carved with the same sinister characters, bathed in shifting shadows. As grotesque as the scene had always been, there was such comfort in the familiarity that she could have cried at the sight.
In a fluttering of feathers, Thaddeus came to perch on her hip, cawing at her tentatively and pecking at her arm. She regarded him, still not entirely certain she was conscious, or sane for that matter.
There was a stiffness in her whole body, which Keira fought against as she shifted upright. She was wearing someone else’s clothes, a simple underdress. Beneath it felt as if every inch of her was swollen with bruises, especially her face. She was afraid to touch it or to open her mouth, which ached worst of all. Her hair was damp and smelled like fish for some unfathomable reason. But at least those were weighty arguments toward this all being real. She’d gotten out… Somehow, the blades must have found her.
Realization struck her suddenly. They hadn’t given her that wretched poison since they’d arrived at Deepgate. The ward they’d laid into her cell had drained her power well enough on its own. At her call, magic churned freely through her blood like a salve, and Keira took hold of it desperately. If she could heal her hurts, if she could restore her strength, then she could get back to Northall, see Caspian again. She had to make sure he was safe, to figure out what had happened to her and why.
First, Keira laid a gentle touch on her swollen cheek. She’d worked this magic a hundred times, yet her power wobbled clumsily. Keira forced it to focus like light through a lense. Dizziness stirred in her head as she finally felt the bruising begin to fade. A cool sweat covered her skin as she panted from the effort.
She was falling before she realized it. Thaddeus’s startled sound seemed distant to her ears. She didn’t feel a thing as her body collapsed into a heap on the ground.
“Keira!” a familiar voice called to her, pulling her from her stupor.
She groaned, feeling a hand on her cheek. When she opened her eyes, she was looking up into Florian’s familiar gaze.
“You with me?”
Keira nodded, groaning against the headache swelling like a stone in her skull. She was tangled in blankets, which had only half followed her to the floor.
“Do you remember falling?” Florian asked.
“I tried to do some magic,” Keira grumbled. The words tumbled clumsily from her swollen mouth.
