"I packed clothes for you, but I did not know what you would want. Tell me if this works." He started pulling things out. "If it doesn't, I can go home and get whatever you want."
He pulled out gray cotton yoga pants and one of the long, soft T-shirts she liked to wear around the house. He had also packed ahairbrush and her toothbrush, and the small jar of moisturizer she used at night. He had packed two pairs of socks, one thin and one thick, because he had not known which she would prefer.
She looked at all of it, and she felt her eyes prickle.
"What?" he said. "Did I do so badly that you're crying?"
"No. You did everything perfectly. You even packed my socks."
"In case you were cold."
"You packed two pairs, and you packed my night moisturizer."
"Julian told me to. It wouldn't have occurred to me otherwise. This one was on the dresser, so I assumed that's what you used."
"I love you so much."
"I love you too, sweetheart. I didn't know that a face cream would make you so emotional."
"It's not the face cream." She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand. "It's how thoughtful you are. The yoga pants and the T-shirt are perfect. Can you help me get to the bathroom?"
"Of course."
He gathered the clothes and laid them on the chair, and then he came around to the side of the bed and helped her sit up.
The world tilted for a moment. She had not been upright in two days, and her body had forgotten the standard relationship between vertical and horizontal. She steadied herself with both hands on the mattress and waited for the brief spinning to settle.
"I've just noticed that all the wires and tubes are gone. When did that happen?"
"Early this morning." He helped her swing her legs over the edge of the bed. "Hildegard did it. You don't remember?"
"I don't." She maneuvered herself closer to the edge, and when her feet found the cold floor, she sat there for a long moment with her bare feet on the tile and her hands pressed to the mattress.
Then she stood.
Her legs held her, and as Ruvon's arm went around her waist, she leaned into him, and they walked together across the room to the bathroom door.
He helped her onto the toilet and then ran the shower and tested the water.
As steam began to rise above the curtain, she thought about her future. She was going to live for a very long time, and the small, fragile body she had been inhabiting for the last nineteen years was on its way to becoming indestructible. She was going to be stronger, faster, and so much less afraid.
Arezoo had spent the months since her rescue learning how to walk through the village without flinching at footsteps behind her, and she thought she had mostly succeeded, but she had been afraid to go into the city. She'd gone because there had been wedding dress fittings and other obligations, but she never went alone and had never stayed longer than absolutely necessary.
The village was the only place she'd felt safe.
Now she was going to be immortal, stronger, and not as vulnerable, but immortal females were still not as strong asimmortal males, and immortal males would still have the advantage of mass and reach.
She needed to learn how to fight.
As a human it would have been futile, so she hadn't bothered, but now she had a fighting chance.
"Ruvon."
He turned. "Yes?"
"I want you to teach me how to fight."
He frowned. "Why?"
