Chapter 47
I’ve been reluctant to leave the comfort of unconsciousness.
Even unprepared to face reality, I peel my eyes open to find Chiyo lying on blankets on the cavern floor beside me.
Her head is angled toward me as I blink and rub my eyes.
I roll onto my side with a movement that makes my bones ache and my side sting.
Chiyo tries to muster a smile, but her eyes are weary and dull, her face paler than I’ve ever seen it before.
“You’re alive.” I’m certain that my voice croaks for how dry it is.
She rolls onto her side, propping her head up on a shaky hand and nodding. “You’re alive,” she signs one-handedly.
Slowly, I sit up and lean against the cave wall.
I lift my tunic to get a look at my wound, but there’s nothing there save for a thin white scar against the light brown of my skin.
Isobel brings me a waterskin, and when my head begins to clear, I spot Ava sitting a short distance away, whetting her sword with focused precision.
Anger rises up in me, rivaling the grief in my heart. But I don’t get the chance to dwell on it before Sloan crouches down in front of me. “How are you feeling?” they ask.
I watch the words on their lips and shrug an achy shoulder.
“Alys is sleeping to regain her energy. She lost quite a lot of blood herself. As did Chiyo. Then there’s you. We almost lost three of you.”
We lost one. My chest hurts as my heart constricts, and suddenly I cannot breathe. My pulse spikes as I think of Tiernan. Is he alive? Is he being tortured like Carys said she’d been months ago?
Sloan places their stump on my shoulder. “Deep breaths.”
I listen, but it’s easier said than done.
With another pat on my shoulder, they leave. I lean back and close my eyes, hoping that sleep takes me, because it’s easier than confronting reality right now.