“You’re bleeding through your coat.”
I looked down.
The silver-green light at my shoulder had darkened the fabric around it and was seeping through my sleeve. Not blood, then.
Worse.
“Ah,” I said. “That.”
“Can you walk?”
“I can request to be carried, if you would like to make theevening even more memorable. Although it would wound my pride.”
Ashford scoffed at me.
“Do not make her worry more.”
I sighed.
There was the Caspian Ashford I had never guessed existed. The one I was increasingly irritated to find I could not simply despise.
“I will try to suffer less theatrically,” I offered.
“You’re doing a terrible job,” Astra said, and I wanted to kiss her even more for it.
Then the stewards opened the west door.
Cold air rushed through first.
Stone cold. Underground cold.
Delphine had gone through this door.
The thought took the humor out of me so cleanly I nearly missed a step.
Astra did miss one.
Ashford caught her elbow.
Hale turned and looked back over his shoulder.
I reached for her and stopped myself because Ashford already had her and because my right arm had become a poor negotiator.
Astra recovered before any of us could make the mistake of helping too much.
“I’m fine.”
No one believed her.
But no one said so either.
Behind us, the hall watched.
Rev stood with both hands balled into fists at her sides, very still now. Cosima’s breathing was less maintained than her usual composure. Juno remained beside the witness basin. Aldric stood with his shoulders squared toward Quill, as if he had decided the next person to move would have to go through him first.
Leave allies in the room.
Take the liabilities into the corridor.
