I hug myself. “And this happens at the same time I feel Sophia being hurt.”
“It’s a trap designed to separate you from me. Stay in the inner corridor of the fortress. Do not leave until I return. Drenz will guard you.”
“What if it was real?”
“It does not matter. Elena. Do not risk yourself.”
If I stay, I betray Sophia. If I leave, I betray Rythar.
There is no version of this where I am not betraying someone. I nod, knowing Rythar will not agree to me leaving. And knowing that I must help Sophia, somehow.
He goes.
I sit on the edge of the bed and close my eyes, reaching for that thin, strange current.
Sophia.
I follow the memory of her mind the way I would follow the faintest scent in a crowded room. There was a hard edge beneath the fear. She had not been broken. Not yet.
Sophia.
I press into the space where the bride mark sits beneath my skin, feeling for the thread that ran from me to her.
For a moment there is something.
Movement. A taste of cinnamon in the back of my mouth.
Then nothing. The connection doesn’t snap. It simply isn’t there. I open my eyes, breath shuddering.
I try again and again, until my head pounds, but I can’t reach Sophia. I count my own heartbeats. Then breaths. Then the slow slide of light across the far wall.
There's no word from Rythar. He hasn't returned.
A tray arrives. Warm bread, roasted meat, fruit split open and glistening. My favorites. All of them. Rythar must have given the order before he left. The warrior who delivers it does not meet my eyes. He sets it down and bows.
I stare at the food. It smells rich and nourishing. Meant to keep me strong. Meant to keep the future alive.
When was the last time Sophia ate?
I manage a few bites before I’m brought back to the first meal I shared with Rythar. I close my eyes, tentatively reaching for the bond between us. But all I feel from him is the cold anger of war. He’s out there with serpent-panthers while I sit here.
I shove the tray aside and stand. Walk to the door. It opens at my touch.
Drenz is posted there.
"Don't you have other things to do?" I ask him.
"No." He doesn't even blink. "Rythar ordered me to stay with you."
"Did he bring antivenom?"
Drenz's mouth pulls flat. "He does not want it outside the fortress."
My stomach drops. If he's bitten again, the antivenom is here. And he’s far away.
Drenz is watching my face.
“There’s something wrong,” I say, stepping closer. “I can’t feel him the way I should. It’s muted.”
