“Coping,” she said softly. Her own eyes brimmed with tears. “He’s been quiet, relying on Isla.”
Deckard grimaced. He hadn’t considered Isla’s grief as well.
“She’s staying strong for him,” Evylin continued. “But I can see it’s hard on her. Ilain, though...”
Evylin glanced at the door, then turned to him again. “Ilain didn’t take it well.”
“I wouldn’t expect her to.”
“After Auden died, she took the Wind and Space Relics from Ethenn and me,” she explained. “She unleashed a storm of black fire that killed hundreds of remaining Shades. It was...terrifyingly impressive.”
Deckard gaped at her. “I left you to fight hundreds of them?”
Evylin leaned in at his desolate words. She took his face in her hands. “Stop,” she ordered. “They would have come whether you remained conscious or not.”
“But Auden wouldn’t have—”
“You don’t know that,” she insisted. “None of us can know what would have happened.”
Deckard’s jaw tensed, but he let the argument go. “Does Ilain blame me?”
Evylin released him and sat back, sighing. “No,” she said. “She blames Brea.”
She explained the rest of it then, how Brea left Auden to defend Thom and relegated the Mage to his death. She told him of Ilain’s accusation that Brea had feelings for Thom, which was why she’d chosen him over Auden.
Deckard’s brow furrowed. “I wondered,” he murmured.
Evylin cocked her head. “You did?”
He shrugged. “She’s paid more attention to him than is strictly platonic, in my opinion.”
“It could be cultural,” Evylin offered with a wry smile. “Isla is also rather friendly.”
He gave her a flat stare. “She gave him a pet name that’s blatantly affectionate.”
Evylin pressed her lips together as though she knew her amusement was ill-timed. “She denied it,” she said.
“And we both denied our feelings for months,” he reminded. “It doesn’t mean they weren’t real.”
Evylin accepted the point. “Ilain isn’t talking to Brea anymore,” she warned. “She said she also won’t work with her because she can’t trust her.”
Deckard drew in a long sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was understandable. Ilain was reactionary and passionate. Her anger as a result of her grief was to be expected. But they couldn’t have rifts that made their troop unstable. Not when they all depended on one another for survival.
“I’ll handle it,” he said.
“One other issue,” Evylin said with a grimace. “Brea won’t talk to Thom either.”
“What?”
Evylin shrugged. “Evidently, she doesn’t want him believing Ilain’s accusation, so now, she’s shut him out. Perhaps it will blow over, but in the last twenty-four hours, she’s hardly looked in his direction, let alone spoken to him. But it doesn’t bode well for our journey if she keeps it up.”
Deckard tried to focus on the matter at hand, but he couldn’t help latching onto the one fact she’d revealed. “I’ve been asleep for twenty-four hours?” he asked.
“Closer to twenty-six at this point,” she confirmed.
Deckard’s heart stuttered. They’d entered the Keep around seven the previous morning. They’d lost an entire day to his mistake. One full day, putting them even farther behind schedule.
Not wanting to face that particular consequence yet, Deckard asked, “How did you get back?”
