“I think it will be healed by next week,” he said.
“Good.”
Corson strode over to the window and pulled back the curtain. I recoiled a little from the light and blinked to ease some of the discomfort in my eyes. Snow fell in lazy spirals from the sky until a gust of wind caught it and caused it to tick loudly against the glass as the wind plastered it to the window. When the wind stopped its attack, the snow resumed its leisurely pace.
This storm had rolled in yesterday and left another foot behind, but it looked to be ending. With the way the weather was acting, I didn’t think we’d leave this hotel until the spring. Caim was hunting food for Jolie, and the others had spent the past few days gathering wood.
Magnus and Amalia discovered a river nearby and were bringing water back to the hotel for Jolie and baths. They were concerned the river would freeze over, but there was plenty of snow to melt and use if it became necessary. I didn’t like the idea of being stuck anywhere, but at least we had shelter and heat.
Three days had passed since our battle with the horsemen, and while it should have been a time to celebrate, there weren’t any. None of us was in the mood to celebrate the fall of our enemies.
We gave Shax a demon’s sendoff and burned his body in front of the hotel. With the curtains open, I could still see some of the charred remains poking through the fresh layer of snow, so I always kept them closed.
Lowering my head, I breathed through the constriction in my chest. Raw and fresh, my grief was an ever-present, festering lesion that tore open almost hourly.
However, life continued, and though it would never be the same without Shax, we would always remember him. And one day, when we were out of here and things weren’t so precarious, we would sit together, drink some mjéod, and celebrate his life.
Until then, we had to remain focused on staying alive. The worst of our enemies were dead, but that didn’t mean the craetons weren’t still crawling all over the Wilds. We couldn’t let our guard down for one second, especially since our numbers were still so low.
The day after the battle, Raphael flew back to the wall to report what happened to Kobal and to bring back more troops. With the weather the way it was, there was no knowing how long it would take him to complete his task.
I hadn’t left Wrath’s side since we said goodbye to Shax. Corson came to see me every day. Yesterday he reported the two hounds from Eldorata had made their way to the hotel. He said all the hounds played, jumped, and ran around with them like they were a bunch of pups again.
I smiled at the image his words conjured and wished I’d seen it, but I would meet the new hounds when Wrath woke. My gaze fell to my Chosen, and I brushed a strand of black hair away from his forehead.
His hand was warm but limp in mine. The right side of his face was taking on some form again, and I recognized his features a little more, but he was still so bruised his face was almost entirely black.
I’d stripped his bloody clothes and cleaned him. He now lay naked in the bed with the blankets drawn up to his armpits. Earlier, I’d pulled the covers back to reveal the bruises covering his body and the wound in his chest.
Bone and muscle had knitted back together to hide his heart again, but a small hole remained, and the flesh around it was pink and swollen. After inspecting his body, I tried tickling his toes to see if his spine had healed, but either he wasn’t ticklish or he remained paralyzed.
I squeezed his hand as I struggled to keep my exhaustion and anxiety at bay. He was healing; it was taking a while, but hewasrecovering.
Soon, he would wake up and smile at me again. Soon, I would catch glimpses of his beautiful blue eyes once more. Until then, I would protect him from any threat that might arise.
Everyone here would protect him, but we didn’t know what lurked out there. Caim flew around the area for hours every day, and we patrolled the perimeter. No one had spotted any craetons or demons nearby, but that probably wouldn’t last.
My gaze returned to the window when another blast of wind caused the snow to pelt the glass again. The wind howling through the trees and across the clearing echoed the sadness inside me.
I ran my fingers across his brow and smoothed his hair, but he didn’t react to my touch. Sometimes, his eyes would flicker behind his lids, and it helped me believe he knew I was here. When I didn’t get that reaction now, it felt like someone took a knife to my heart.
Hehadto wake up! He had to know how much I loved him. I wasn’t sure exactly when it happened, but I’d fallen in love with the enemy, and I didn’t regret it. Lifting his hand to my mouth, I kissed his knuckles before leaning forward to kiss his lips.
When he didn’t respond, I settled onto my chair and clasped his hand in both of mine. At least I didn’t have any more dreams about the darkness. With the end of Mytaz and Eldorata, the nightmares ceased. I might have different visions in the future, but not about the darkness.
“Can you believe it’s almost over?” Corson asked. “That afterallthis time, it’s almost over.”
I didn’t have to ask what was almost over; I knew he meant the fighting, the pain, and the fear that every battle might be our last. I knew he meant the only way of life we’d ever experienced was coming to an end. I’d been fighting since I could hold a sword, but now it was all coming to an end.
“There could be something else out there,” I said, unwilling to get my hopes up too much. “We weren’t expecting the horsemen.”
“There’s nothing like the angels or horsemen left. The worst of the monsters are dead.Wedestroyed them.” He nodded toward Wrath. “With a little help from friends. There’s scattered demons and seal creatures left who might still be looking for trouble, but there’s no one to organize them, and nothing we can’t handle.”
“You’ll jinx us.”
He gave me a sad smile. “Some might say we’ve been jinxed our whole lives.”
“Or blessed. Somehow, we made it through all the battles when so many others didn’t.”
