Chapter Forty-Four
Dietan
“What in Albion did you put on me?” I mutter, holding the cloak hood to my nose. The stench is unbearable. “This thing reeks.”
“You reek. Have you smelled yourself? You spent a day in the morgue,” Aren snaps.
I don’t bother to answer. She’s right, I must smell like death itself. Hell, I probably look like it, too.
Maybe this beggar’s costume is an upgrade.
I tug the hood back over my head, but my thoughts are spinning again, my head buzzing from the lingering effects of the poison.
My eyes flutter open and closed. For a brief moment, I recall the poisoned biscuit and the long, dark sleep that followed.
How long was I out? Hours? Days? I feel like I died and was dragged back to life—though that could well be the lingering effects of Namreth’s torments.
Every step I take sends sharp spikes of pain through my legs and into my back. My ribs protest with every breath. Each movement reminds me that since our arrival, I’ve spent more time broken than whole.
Aren walks beside me, my arm slung over her shoulders, keeping me upright.
Her grip on my waist is tight, steady. I lean against her as we move, step by glacial step, but I can barely keep my feet under me.
If not for her, I’d have already collapsed face-first onto the street.
I can feel her struggling under my weight, trying to keep me from swaying too much, from drawing attention.
She tries to be gentle—I can tell—but the effort costs her. I steal a glance at her, admiring the glow of her face in the moonlight. Even now, even after everything, she’s still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
It must be a dream. That’s the only explanation.
Maybe I never woke up at all. Maybe I’m still in that dark place between life and death, and my mind has conjured her here to give me peace before the end.
Then, without warning, Aren smacks me in the ear.
Pain explodes in my skull, my vision whites out for half a second, and my knees buckle. I stagger, too slow to catch myself, and land flat on my back in the gutter. Filthy water splatters everywhere—up my arms, across my chest, into my already filthy hair.
Definitely not a dream.
What the hell did she do that for?
“I told you, no more taverns,” Aren scolds. “Just look at you. You can’t even walk.”
I am thoroughly confused—until I see the pair of guards hurrying toward us, spears in hand.
“You there—what are you doing?” one of the guards asks.
“I found my drunkard husband in the street. I’m taking him home,” Aren says, still glaring at me.
I’ve had a lifetime to perfect the part of the drunkard, and now is my time to make a virtuoso performance. I sway, teetering as I struggle to sit upright. “It was just a few drinks, my love. Don’t be like that,” I say, voice slurring.
Aren wags a finger at me and opens her mouth, no doubt to chastise her drunken husband. But she’s cut off when a group of five or six guards rushes past. “Come now! We’re needed at the castle!”
The two guards standing over us acknowledge the urgency. Without giving us another look, they sprint off toward Castle Engel.
I track the guards from the corner of my eye, waiting for them to disappear. Aren watches them, too, fists clenched at her sides, breathing heavily.
I nod when they vanish from sight. The way ahead is once again clear, and she helps me to my feet.
“You’re incredible,” I tell her. “Quick as a fox.”
She doesn’t answer. There’s no need to speak. We are alive and desperate to get the hell out of this terrible place. I don’t know where she’s taking us, and I don’t care.
She leads me into a darkened alleyway, where I stumble over cobblestones.
An alley cat hisses from the shadows. Aren catches me before I fall, pinning me to the side of a building.
My head spins as the last effects of the drug work through my body.
I want to kiss her but think better of it as my world starts to spin again.
“I can’t… I can’t…” I say.
“Can’t what?”
“Walk. Or form a sentence. I can’t think,” I admit, leaning hard on the wall. “I have to rest.”
I can tell from her expression that this is a terrible idea, but there’s no choice. It’s taken everything for me to get this far, and my legs give out. She catches me before I fall onto the dirty road. For a moment, we’re both still, catching our breaths.
“We’ll find a place to stop,” she says, “but only for a minute.”
I nod, and we hobble in the dark, stumbling down another alley behind some shops until we finally find an open door.
The stink of horse shit hits my nose.
“Hello?” Aren calls into the stable in a light voice. When no one answers, we slip inside and close the door behind us.
Aren kneels in the soft hay, helping me sit down, my back pressed against the wall. Moonlight melts through the windows, and a horse looks curiously at me, probably wondering why I’m sitting on his breakfast. I extend an open hand, and the horse sniffs at it.
“What are you doing?” Aren asks.
“Making a friend.”
She snorts, rolling her eyes. “Of course.”
I scratch the horse’s comfortingly warm neck, which takes energy I should be conserving, until it wanders to a water barrel in the corner.
Aren reaches over to brush some hair out of my eyes and gasps, then places a hand on my forehead.
“You’re burning up with fever.” She clucks her tongue. “Albion’s sake, how did I miss that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe you were distracted because we’ve been running for our lives…with you carrying me most of the way, might I add.”
She shrugs. “A good enough excuse, I suppose.”
“I’ll forgive you this one. I’ll expect better care in the future,” I say.
“Will you now?” It looks like she’s contemplating if there will be a future.
Gods, I’ve missed this woman. After a moment, I ask, “We’re free?”
“Not quite yet,” Aren says, “and that fever you’ve got is going to make things more complicated.”
“Sorry about that,” I mumble, my thoughts fuzzy as the fever takes hold.
I reach for the softness of her cheek, but my arms won’t cooperate. They scream with pain when I try to lift them. Maybe they’re truly broken this time.
I can’t help but steal another glance at her. She’s beautiful, a vision from the dreams that kept me sane in the dungeon. With thick, dark hair, smooth skin, and shining eyes… I would do anything for that smile.
I’m still grinning as the world fades to black.