She pulled the blanket aside and made a motion to get off the bed. However, a wave of dizziness passed over her. “Oh gods…”
Maldenis let out a long-drawn sigh. “You’re much too weak. When was the last time you had some food?”
“Breakfast?” She eased back against the pillows with a slow and deliberate motion.
“Yesterday,” he snorted, then replaced the blanket back over her. “Will you be still and rest? Gods, I’ve been going out of my mind with worry.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m never letting you out of my sight ever again. This must be how Hektor feels.”
He was worried? For me?
The thought of it made something warm pool in her belly.
But she also reminded herself that this was all temporary. And maybe what he said about “never letting you out of my sight” was just a result of his sleep deprivation.
“I just need some food,” she told him. “And I really need to check on the girl.”
“She’s fine,” he assured her. “No, don’t try to get up. I swear, she’s good. Resting, like you. Maybe she’s already up and about.”
“Are you sure?”
“We would have heard something.” He jerked his thumb behind him toward the door. “She’s in the room next door.”
She grabbed for the blankets once more. “Then I can still check?—”
“For the gods’ sake, Liora, stop being stubborn.” Though he made no move to stop her, the seriousness in his tone made her freeze.
She could only stare at him, puzzled by his strange behavior.
Perhaps sensing the tension in the air, he rolled his eyes. “I should use my hypno-powers on you.” He waved his fingers at her face.
“Pffft. Won’t work on me. Hecate nearly fried my brain with her training, but now I’m hypno-proof.”
“Aww, really?”
“Yes, really. Maybe you should learn some of it.”
“Maybe.”
“You win, I’ll stay and rest.” She sank back into the soft pillows. “Now tell me what happened. All of it.”
So, he told her everything from the moment she blacked out. The final blast destroying the hunters, but rendering her and the girl unconscious. Her siblings calling on Hecate. And the titan arriving with her protégé Ariadne, who had taken one look at both of them and set to work on healing them.
“And then we brought you here, so you could rest.”
“And Hecate?”
“She left once she was satisfied Ariadne had it under control.”
She wasn’t surprised at all. Hecate was a busy goddess, after all. Plus, she wasn’t exactly the mothering type, not even to her former students.
He shifted in his chair. “Which brings me to the part where I have to tell you something you’re not going to love.”
She tsked. “Just say it.”
“The poison is still in you. And in Korinnae.” He held up a hand before she could speak. “You’re healed, mostly. But not completely. Ariadne explained it—magic stuff, I didn’t followall of it—but basically the treatment has to be administered regularly.”
“Until when?”
“Until they find a permanent cure. She and Hecate are working on it.”
