Page 15 of Zenith Tower

Astra’s hands tightened in the fabric of her skirt. “How much faster?”

“I don’t know. That’s the point.”

Water moved behind the wall, throwing a wavering band of light across her hands.

“What if I have less time than I thought?” I asked. “What if I have been wrong for months?”

She did not tell me I wasn’t. She stared at the closed door, jaw tight, as if Marrow might be standing on the other side of it.

“Then we know,” she said at last.

“And if knowing is all we get?”

Her gaze came back to mine. “I don’t know.”

I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, and waited for the dizziness to pass. Astra stayed beside me without touching me, her hands still twisted in her skirt.

“I’ve been afraid since I was fifteen,” I said. “Since the Oracle finished my Verse and wouldn’t look at me. Once the decline started, at least there were things I could do. I could hide the symptoms. I could get answers from healers whothought they weren’t giving me any. I could write it all down.”

“And Marrow sat there and talked about you as if you weren’t in the room.”

“Something like that.”

She looked at me.

I let the smile go.

“I knew what my Verse said when I let myself get close to you,” I said. “I knew I might not have long. But knowing I would die young is not the same as waiting for Marrow to tell me how soon.”

My breath caught halfway in. Astra’s hand lifted from her lap, then stopped. I reached for it before she could draw back.

“I’m scared too,” she said.

Her fingers were cold. I held them tighter.

“I don’t know what Marrow will find,” she continued. “I don’t know whether this place can help you. I’m trying not to think about what happens if it can’t.”

She put her arms around me. She was careful of my shoulder without holding herself away from me. I rested my forehead against her hair and breathed through the bitterness of the draught still coating my tongue.

The pain did not ease. The green-gold line continued its slow burn beneath my shirt. When the bell sounded in the distance, Astra was still holding me.

Astra

The pitcher in Kieran’s room was empty. He had finally fallen asleep with Hale in the chair beside him and Caspian sitting against the wall. I eased myself from the bed without waking him and reached for the pitcher.

Hale looked up. “Where are you going?”

“To find water.”

“I’ll go.”

“Stay with him.”

His gaze dropped to Kieran. Even asleep, Kieran’s breathing had a rough edge to it.

Caspian rose. “Then I’ll come with you.”

“I can carry a pitcher by myself.”