When I next woke, it was no longer day. Navy sky peered down at me from the gaps in the thatch. My skin itched furiously, and I reached for the leaves, grateful to find that my fingers no longer felt like someone was slow-roasting them.
“Don’t touch it,” my nameless savior called. I rose on my elbows, much slower this time to avoid the dizziness. He sat near the entrance of the hut on a small wooden bench, studying something in front of him.
“It’s itchy.”
“It’s supposed to be. Your skin is regrowing.”
I slid against the bedframe, dropping my head against the backboard as I peeled the top layer of one of the leaves away from my arm. The skin was indeed healing, but not well. It was mottled and patchy, raw in some places and plasticky in others. I stuck the leaf back down.
“How long has it been now?”
“Since I found you? Three nights.”
The words clanged hollowly in my chest. Kilian had thought me dead for three nights.
“You have a scry,” I said. “Send me back to Valhan House. I have to participate in the Rite.”
It would be happening any day now. Lana and Moric… I lifted my hand to my mouth. I hadn’t even thought about them. I didn’t even know if they had survived the Trial.
They had to have, I decided. There was no way I would allow myself to think otherwise. Not stuck here with nothing to do but consider the worst possible outcome.
“It doesn’t work like that,” he said calmly, like I wasn’t a second away from hyperventilating. “For a scry to open, it needs to have a beacon point on the other side. I’ve never been to Valhan House, so I’ve never set one up there.”
“That’s fucking helpful,” I muttered.
He shot me an annoyed look. “I literally saved your life. I think I’ve been plenty helpful. So much so that one mightexpect a thank you. When you’re strong enough to walk, by all means, leave. But for now, the only place it looks like you’ll be going is back to dreamland.”
“Thank you.”
He grunted in response and jerked his head to the chair beside me. “There’s soup. It might have gone cold.”
I reached for it, suddenly ravenous. It was cold, but I didn’t care. I ate so quickly I felt sick. As I ate, the elven shifted in his seat, revealing my dagger and the one from Cosanus on the table before him. He seemed to be evaluating the pair. Curiosity burned through me just as it had when I’d noticed the similarities for myself.
Setting the empty bowl back on the chair, I asked, “What are you doing with those?”
He looked at the blades. “I’m trying to figure out what magic they contain. It doesn’t look like upper or lower magic.”
That didn’t make sense. “If it isn’t upper or lower magic, then what is it?”
He gave a low chuckle. “That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
I settled back on the bed, careful not to disrupt the mud leaves as I rolled to my side to keep an eye on the elven. I watched him until my eyes grew heavy again. I yawned as I said, “I don’t know your name.”
Right before I fell asleep again, he murmured, “It’s Aaron.”
A loud clattering jerked me awake and my eyes flew open, then immediately shut again as a ray of sunlight pierced them. I blinked quickly, pushing up onto my elbows. I had to be dreaming, or the leaves were making me hallucinate, because Kilian stood in the doorway. He looked so out of place amidst the thatch and wood that I almost dismissed it as a delusion.
Until Aaron toppled from his bench.
Kilian did not give the elven so much as a glance before striding toward me, fingers outstretched to cup my face. His touch was featherlight, and I knew I was not imagining the cold steel flashing in his eyes. I felt like sobbing. I had never been so relieved to see Kilian Valhan in my entire life.
“Are you okay?” he asked in that soft voice he used only when he spoke to me.
My chin dipped in a nod. I looked at Aaron, who was rising shakily, fingers gripping the bench tightly.
Kilian’s lips curled menacingly as he stared at the other elven. “Did he hurt you?”
“No,” I choked out. “No. He saved my life.”
