Chapter 45
CHAPTER
CHARLEY
Please let Talla’s fever break tonight.
I’d never thought about what it would be like to be sick on Nil, and Talla was worse than ever. Floating in and out of consciousness, her skin burned hotter than a gate.
The past two days had been awful. Jillian packed Talla’s wound with deadleaf, but her fevered sleep stayed restless, and none of us knew how to brew Sabine’s deadsleep tea to help ease Talla’s pain.
Too strong and it would kill rather than soothe; it was a risk no one was willing to take.
Sabine’s loss had never been more apparent.
Without the tea, both Rives and Jillian worked in shifts to keep Talla cool and comfortable, but Rives’s frustration was evident.
We need a doctor, Rives vented to Thad after dinner tonight. A real doctor, with real meds.
Thad had gripped Rives’s shoulder. We’re doing all we can. And she has you, and our prayers. The rest is up to her. Talla’s strong, Rives. Don’t count her out.
Thad’s words made me feel better. If anyone could beat the fever, it was Talla. After all, she’d survived Rory, she’d fought the wolf, and she’d saved Miya.
Now she had to save herself.