Chapter 17
EDEN
I stood shivering and dripping water onto the floorboards as Matty and Reo wrestled Vaela onto the exam table in the infirmary. Each time she opened her mouth it felt like someone had driven a stake between my ribs.
Tears gathered behind my eyes, my cold fingers curling against my palms.
She screamed and my heart stuttered unevenly, my pulse rushing in my ears. This couldn’t be real. It had to be another dream—a nightmare.
“What happened?” Matty asked, lighting candles and lanterns, filling the space with warm yellow light. Despite that, all I felt was dread.
“Eden!” Reo snapped, pulling me from my shock.
“I—I don’t know.” I clutched at my wet hair, my icy fingers getting tangled.
“The Wretch came and the kingsguard fired arrows into the herd. Vaela and Min took off to try and fend some of the smaller dragons off, but there was a collision and…” I gestured helplessly at her.
“Vaela was injured somehow. But I couldn’t see properly.
Everything was so dark. Then she was falling and the next thing I knew, I was running—”
I felt like I was going to be sick.
“Min did well to drop her in the lake,” Reo said. He took a pair of scissors to Vaela’s tunic, cutting her free as she writhed. Her eyes were wide, her brow creased with lines of pain. I tasted bile on the back of my tongue as snot poured from Vaela’s nose.
“Where is Min?” Matty asked, bringing a light closer.
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “She wasn’t there when I found Vaela.” When I’d dragged her out of the water by her arm, hauling her onto the bank.
“Stars!” Reo hissed, stumbling back from the exam table. He brushed at his bare arms as he revealed a wound along Vaela’s side.
There was something yellow mixed with the blood. Something that bubbled like a hot spring. I reached for her.
Matty snatched my hand back before I could touch the wound, and I realized at once what it was. Venom.
Vaela released a haggard scream as it dripped down the unmarred skin covering her ribs. I resisted the urge to slam my hands over my ears. I wanted to burst into tears.
Matty looked horrified, his massive frame seeming to shrink with fear. “The Wretch was traveling with Banes.”
I swallowed hard. I’d never dealt with a Bane before, but I’d heard about them.
They were fireless dragons. Instead of a raging inferno of heat, their bite and their claws were laced with venom.
Now it bubbled against Vaela’s skin, burning without fire.
If enough of it was absorbed into the bloodstream, it was lethal, burning from the inside.
“Gloves,” Matty said. “We need leather gloves before we touch her.” He and Reo wrenched open drawers. “Eden, you didn’t get any on you?”
I stared down at my hands. “No, I… I pulled her out by her arm.” I never touched her side. “It didn’t get on me.” Another ragged scream rattled around the room, and I snapped into action. “We need to clear the venom. Someone get me a bucket of water. Nisse!”
Vaela needed something for the pain.
“Water won’t remove the venom,” Nisse said, walking into the infirmary, shawls slipping off her shoulders as she carried an armful of jars.
Her eyes were heavy, like she’d been hauled out of deep sleep.
Talani walked in right behind her, looking more alert.
“It needs an oil-based cleanser.” She uncorked a jar. “Use this.”
She passed me a concoction of castor oil. Matty handed me a pair of leather gloves. I donned them quickly.
“Eden!” Vaela hissed between her teeth.
“I know,” I said, voice trembling. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Nisse!” I stared at her pleadingly. “Something for the pain. Please.”
“On it,” she said, racing out of the room.
“Quickly,” I croaked as I rinsed the yellow venom from the wound with the oil, catching it with fresh linens to save her unmarred skin. The more I washed away, the more I could see how the venom burned her flesh. Vaela screamed.
“Hold her still,” I said, feeling ill at the sight of her in so much pain. Tears sprang to my eyes as she moaned and writhed.
Reo clamped down on her shoulders. Nisse returned with a cloth soaked in something sour and pungent. She held it to Vaela’s mouth and nose. Vaela inhaled sharply, breaths coming far too quickly.
Matty dropped the used linens in a metal waste bucket. “We’ll need to bury this,” he said.
Talani nodded. “I’ll start digging a hole out back.”
She disappeared, and I shrugged off the leather gloves, already feeling them wear away at the fingertips.
Matty had a replacement ready. “Thanks,” I said. I pushed my hair back with my forearm, then I got back to work.
I sniffed softly as I cleaned and dressed the wound, fighting tears as Vaela’s writhing eased to the occasional flinch, her moans quieting.
It was the most meticulous I’d ever been, taking my time to remove every bit of venom.
I only realized how long I’d been working when sunrise cut across the room, setting the space on fire with pinks and oranges.
Matty gently laid his hand on my shoulder. “I think you’ve got it all. You scrub any more and you’re going to wear her skin down to the bone.”
I swallowed hard and nodded, dropping the used linen into the metal bucket before bandaging the wound as carefully as I could.
When I was done, Matty and Reo moved Vaela from the exam table to one of the recovery rooms. Talani placed a chair by her bedside. She glanced at me briefly, flicked her head toward it, and I drifted into the room, sinking down by Vaela’s side.
I reached for her hand, entwining our fingers. Her skin was hot. So hot it almost hurt to hold her. She twitched in her half-medicated sleep, a groan escaping.
“Nisse,” I called.
She appeared in the doorway.
“Something for the pain, again. Please.”
Nisse returned with a bottle of analgesic liquid and a new cloth, leaving it at the bedside table.
I tipped the concoction onto the cloth and held it to Vaela’s nose, waiting until her breathing evened out.
Sometimes the pain broke through suddenly, and she would cry out, and I would hush her gently, stroking her brow as I offered more pain relief.
She flitted in and out of consciousness, sinking into stretches of fitful sleep, and all the while I watched her.
I watched her until my eyes started to ache.
Part of me worried that if I looked away, I might miss some silent plea for help.
Clutching her hand in mine made it easier.
I could feel that horrible heat ebb away, knowing the venom was being burnt from her system.
When she was perfectly still, I stroked my fingers down her jaw or across a sharp cheekbone, tracing patterns into her skin. And when I couldn’t resist it anymore, I leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, inhaling the scent of lake water and leather.
I pulled away, silently cursing myself. I knew better than to let myself develop these kinds of feelings. I knew better than to fall for someone like her. Talani’s words from that night at the pub still echoed in my ears. The good ones die young.
The good ones ended up in situations exactly like this, crying out in pain, with some poor healer trying to patch the holes.
My jaw trembled. I couldn’t do this to myself.
I wouldn’t.
Not after everything I’d watched my mother go through. Not after the pain of losing my father.
Not again.
A hand curled over my shoulder, and I startled with a gasp.
“Just me, sweet girl,” Seraphine whispered. Her presence was a comfort, and I leaned into her touch. “I heard what happened. I would have come earlier if someone had woken me.”
I rubbed at my face. “No, we need someone here today with a measure of sense,” I said. “It’s best that at least one of us is well-rested.”
Seraphine shook her head and tutted. She ran her hand along Vaela’s bed, adjusting the sheet, smoothing away wrinkles. “It’s awful. But she’ll be okay now. Nisse said as much.”
I nodded, finding that I still trembled. Vaela was stable, and that was as much as we could hope for. “I wish Gunther would return already.”
I missed him. I needed him.
I wanted his guidance and reassurance and a dose of that unyielding optimism. I needed him to clutch my face between his hands, look me in the eyes, and promise me everything would be okay.
Seraphine caught my chin with her fingers. “You did wonderfully. Don’t doubt your skills.”
“What if I hadn’t been able to help her?” I said. “What if I hadn’t known what to do?”
“She has an entire team looking out for her,” Seraphine reminded me. “And you have an entire team behind you. You’re not in this alone, Eden.”
I told myself the same thing as Vaela twitched, her hand reaching out in search of something.
I curled my fingers against hers and she settled.
“Let me get you some breakfast.”
“I’m not hungry,” I said.
“A bit of tea, then,” Seraphine said, and she left us alone.
I lifted Vaela’s hand to my lips, pressing small kisses to her knuckles, praying to the stars for a quick recovery. Praying to them to untangle my heart.
But it was already a mess, and I leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.