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Warrose nods, sighing. His head tilts away from me to look at Dessin.
“She wants me to tell you that she made it.”
Dessin’s cage is silent. No response. No good job. No faint laugh. Only utter quiet from his space within those bars.
I peel my eyes open despite how swollen and raw my face is. Through the tiny slits, I see Dessin is crouched in the corner of his cage, face in hands, shoulders quivering slightly.
Oh, Dessin. How it must kill him not to be able to hold me right now. It’s unlike him not to break every rule to come rescue me. But he can’t do that anymore, not in the way he used to. I must be given the freedom to stretch my wings and fly over men, just like Asena once told me.
“Why does this happen when she goes into the prison void?” Ruth breaks the silence.
Tingling is brought back to my toes, seeping its way up my feet. She massages my legs softly, then brings my hands to her lips, blowing hot air on them, dropping quick kisses on the knuckles. I smile into Warrose’s neck.
“I think it’s because she exerts too much energy into that place. It’s easy for her to go there alone now that she’s had time to explore it, but not for her to bring someone along.” Marilynn’s voice is like a smooth glass of wine. Refined and silky as it touches my ears.
“Skylenna, did you bring any of those monsters to the prison void?” Niles asks.
I nod. “All of them.”
The group makes an “oooh” sound.
“What did you do to them?” Warrose’s breath grazes the top of my head.
“Made them scared.”
“Huh. Not super creative, but I’ll take it!” Niles says.
I roll my eyes, but wince at how badly that hurts. Two heavy marbles pressing against my tender sockets. I can’t breathe through my nose, can’t wrinkle my brow, can’t even swallow right. As the adrenaline wears off, the aching sets in. My arms burn from where they scratched me. My stomach has its own pulse, a steady beat of poison running through each bruised organ.
It rushes over me like a tsunami.
“Fuckkkkkkkk,” I groan.
“What?”
“It hurts. Everything hurts.” I can barely speak. My jaw is hardened to one open position. I wonder if any bones are broken. I guess I have no way of finding out until the swelling goes down. God, I’d give anything for a drink with Aquarus in a hot bath.
“We have to get her cleaned up,” Ruth whispers to Warrose. “I don’t even know where most of this blood is coming from.”
Is there a lot of it? Is it bad that I don’t even care? Sleep is my only escape, my only way out of this constant throbbing. And I’m so damn tired. My eyes droop, my breath grows heavy, and I want to float away now.
“We will tomorrow. She’s been through too much to move her now.”
“Warrose?” I mutter sleepily.
“Hmm?”
“Will you—tell Dessin something else—before I fall asleep?”
A small movement tells me he nodded.
“Tell him I love him. Tell him I’m gonna dream of that castle he promised me.”
Warrose’s chest moves up and down. He places a soft kiss on my head.
“I’ll tell him.”
11. Surviving The Night
