CHAPTER FORTY-SIX ISI #3
“When you wake up.” I kissed his forehead. “I’m going to tell you all of this again. And you’re going to wake up because I haven’t given you permission to die.”
The ghost of a smile touched his lips.
Silence crept in around us, almost eerie after what we’d been through.
Derren’s gaze met mine. “How is he?”
“Alive.” It was all I could say with certainty.
Lexie, who’d stepped outside to look around, appeared in the entrance, sheathing her blades. “The dragons formed a perimeter. Nothing’s getting close without us knowing.”
Pherin and Gavelle soared back into the cave.
Nothing for very far. She landed on my shoulder, trembling with exhaustion.
Gavelle curled up against Trew’s side, his small cinderhawk body pressed to his bonded’s chest.
I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Trew’s blood pouring from his wounds. Saw the creature’s claws tearing through his flesh.
The silence of the wasteland outside was unlike any I’d ever known.
It wasn’t a peaceful quiet; it was a heavy, thrumming absence, as if the very air was waiting for the rest of our world to stop breathing.
It pressed against the cave entrance, trying to snuff out the small, flickering life of the man in my arms.
I gripped Trew’s hand, my fingers already stiff and beginning to cramp from hours of holding on.
Pain shot up my forearm, but I didn’t loosen my hold.
I sensed my grip was the only thing tethering him to this realm.
If I let go, even for a second, he would slip into the gray nothingness that had claimed so much of this land.
For sixteen years, I had been the Lady of Mercy, a woman who stood masked and on a platform, watching others cross the threshold of death. I’d practiced the art of being a witness to endings. But here, in the dirt and the dark, the mask was gone, and I was just a woman terrified of the silence.
Please, I whispered, a desperate, quiet plea aimed at the Fates, at my mother’s memory, and even at the ghost of Velacross. Take the magic. Take my blood. Stitch the weave with whatever threads of mine you need, but don't take him. Don't leave me alone in this place.
A stray drop of sweat beaded on his temple.
The dying firelight caught the dark silk of his hair.
I counted his heartbeats against my own pulse, mooring my soul to the steady proof that he was still fighting.
I sat in that heavy, airless stillness until the world narrowed down to the space between our joined palms, until I wasn't just watching him live.
I was willing it with every breath I drew.
His fever broke sometime before sunrise. I felt it the moment his skin cooled beneath my palm.
Kerralyn and I checked his wounds.
She nodded, satisfied. “The herbs and magic are working. The poison’s retreating.”
I wanted to collapse with relief. Instead, I kept my vigil, my hand wrapped around his. Whispering how much I loved him. How much I needed him by my side.
First light touched the cave entrance, pale and gray but growing stronger. It crept across the stone floor, illuminating the dried blood on my tunic and the bandages wrapped around Trew’s torso and plastering his shoulder.
His eyes opened, and I found him clear. Lucid.
“Isi.” He spoke my name in that rough voice I’d thought I might never hear again. “Come give me…a kiss.”
A sound escaped me, half-sob and half-laugh. I wanted to throw myself at him, to feel his arms wrap around me and confirm that he was really, truly alive.
When he tried to sit up, I pressed my hand to his chest, holding him down. “Don’t you dare.”
His hand came up to cup my face, his fingertips brushing away tears. “You look terrible.”
“You nearly died.” My voice shook. “You don’t get to critique.”
That devastating smile spread across his face, the one that made my heart stutter and my knees weaken. “Didn’t die. Still here… Followed your voice. Always do.”
The tenderness in his gaze made my breath catch.
He pulled me down until our foreheads touched. “I adore how fierce you are, Minx. But what did I tell you about protecting me?”
“What did I tell you?” I shot back.
We smiled through our tears.
His gaze dropped to my tunic, to his blood dried to brown. Something primitive flickered in his eyes. “Marked you.” The satisfaction in his voice made heat pool low in my belly.
I showed him where I was still gripping his hand, my fingers cramped from holding on all night. “I didn’t let go. Not once.”
He brought my knuckles to his lips, kissing them. “Not done loving you. Not even close.”
He rested some more, waking some time later.
Behind us, someone cleared their throat. I’d forgotten we weren’t alone.
Derren stood at the cave entrance, his arms crossed on his chest but his eyes warm. “Glad to have you back, Your Majesty.”
“Glad…to be back.” Trew’s voice sounded scratchy, but it was stronger than it had been. “I bet I owe you all my life.”
“Kerralyn in particular for bringing healing supplies,” I said.
She shot me a grin.
“You can pay us back by not almost dying again,” Lexie said, appearing behind Derren. “It was very inconvenient of you.”
Exhaustion cratered Kerralyn’s features, but relief shone in her eyes. “You survived mortal wounding. They’re going to tell stories about you. You’ll be legendary.”
Trew’s laugh turned into a wince. “Legendary sounds better than dead.”
“Much better.” I helped him settle back against the cave wall. “Now rest. We’re not moving until you can walk without bleeding everywhere.”
“Bossy.” But he didn’t argue, his hand still wrapped around mine.
Outside the cave, dawn painted the wasteland in shades of gray-tinged gold. The wasteland looked almost beautiful in the light, almost like it could be healed.
Almost like we might actually survive this.