Her eyes still wouldn’t quite focus on him, and she chewed her lip as if self-conscious, though Cedric couldn’t possibly imagine why she’d be feeling that way. Was this about what just happened with Belien? Or was it about whatalmosthappened between the two of them?
“I recall you being rather stingy with sharing,” he said, his lips tilting up on one side. He shoveled a piece of bacon into his mouth, savoring the rich, salty flavor as it washed over his tongue.
She shrugged. “I took extra from breakfast, and you caught me in a generous mood. Don’t get used to it.”
“Right. Of course.” His grin widened.
“I mean, if you don’t want it?—”
“No, no,” he said hastily. “I want it.”
The silence that hung in the air felt incredibly heavy.
Zephyr stood, a grunt of self-approval piercing the tension as she looked over Cedric’s bandages one final time. “I’m not surebaconwould have been my first choice in recovery foods, but I suppose it’s a good sign that you have an appetite.”
Elyria sprang into motion. “Oops. Well, you heard her, Sir Knight. Healer’s orders, so sorry.” She bent down and snatched the remaining bacon from Cedric’s hand, ripping off a piece and popping it between her lips with a laugh before sauntering away.
“How about some water and crackers instead?” Zephyr had a knowing look in her forest-green eyes that Cedric promptly ignored.
“You have crackers?” he asked.
She pointed at a pouch on her belt and grinned. “Oh, I am alwayswell stocked when it comes to snacks.”
Cedric felt his lips curving up in a smile, though a new thought quickly wiped it from his face. What about the rest of them? They all had to be hungry, especially if they’d been waiting for Cedric to wake up all these hours. A wet trickle of guilt spread down his spine, worming its way into his stomach.
His concern must have shown on his face, because Zephyr went on to say, “Everyone else has already eaten.”
“Gotten full off your crackers, have they?” he asked skeptically.
Zephyr chuckled and jutted her chin toward Elyria and Kit, who were now speaking by the fire. “When you’ve a wildshaper and a tideweaver in your midst, one doesn’t need to worry too much about finding sustenance.”
As if she felt Cedric’s gaze fall on her, Elyria glanced over her shoulder. She wore a wry grin as she offered him a mock salute with two fingers, then crammed another piece of bacon into her mouth.
“You just focus on healing up,” Zephyr continued, “and we can be on our way. I think we are all quite eager to get to the end of this trial.”
Unease settled further in the pit of Cedric’s stomach as he nibbled on a cracker. The trial wasn’t even over. They were still in the thick of it—in the midst of this literal maze. So why were they all still here? Why had they lingered, delayed?
He knew the answer, yet he didn’t understand. They’d been waiting for him to wake up—hewas the reason.
Everyone was always waiting on him.
“You were supposed to be the one to save us.”
Belien’s words were a dark curse settling in Cedric’s mind. He clenched his fist, a flicker of something other than guilt—something hotter, wilder—stirring in his chest. He dared another glance at Elyria. If he was the one supposed to be doing the saving, why was he continually being saved? Why did she continue to bother?
Traitor. Betrayer.
He didn’t deserve it.
She should have left him to be burned into ash by the dragon in the first trial. Should have left him to be consumed by the flames of his memory in the second.
Cedric shook his head, anger and confusion and self-pity rattling around in his mind like dice in a cup. This line of thinking was pointless. Pathetic. This wasn’t over yet. He couldn’t lose sight of the reason he was here. And despite the Crucible being so damn insistent on them all working together, a sense of knowing sunk deep into the marrow of his bones that only one person would emerge as victor in the end. Only one of them would walk away with the crown—only one side would obtain its power.
And he was the only chance his people had left.
To the creditof whatever disgusting ingredients were in Zephyr’s balms and poultices, they did their job credibly. The ache at the back of Cedric’s head and the sting in his chest were already considerably lessened by the time the sylvan finished catching him up on everything that had happened after Belien’s near-death blow.
Zephyr detailed the interest on Elyria’s and Cyren’s faces when the enigmatic Tenebris Nox had demonstrated their shadowstepping ability, explaining how Gael, Thraigg, and Cedric were able to catch up. She recounted Kit’s demand for an explanation from Nox as to why they abandoned the group outside the labyrinth. Then, her begrudging acceptance of the answer—that they’d hidden in the shadows, followed Leona and Belien through the labyrinth, and returned when the fight in the cavern broke out.
