Page 24 of The Infirmary for Dragon Burns and Midair Mishaps

“What were you making, by the way?” She inhaled. “Smells sweet.”

“That’s because it’s sweet bread.”

“Min loves sweet bread.”

“She wouldn’t like this one.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” I said, gritting my teeth at her persistence. “It’s⁠—”

“Yes?” Vaela’s eyes held mine, testing me.

Bah! I wasn’t going to stand here and let her toy with me like this. If she wanted to accuse me of something, then so be it. “It’s not for dragons,” I snapped and turned on my heel.

“Wait,” Vaela called, her hand shooting out, catching the crook of my arm. A shiver ran through me at the touch, goosebumps flushing across my body. “I really didn’t mean to be a nuisance.”

“Could have fooled me,” I murmured.

“Eden,” she said. My name was soft on her tongue. Pleading. And something flip-flopped in my stomach. “The smoke was just a coincidence. I mainly just wanted to stop by and see how you were feeling after last night.”

I looked back at her, studying the anxious expression on her face. “I’m fine,” I insisted. “Like I told you yesterday. I appreciate your help in the matter, but⁠—”

“But?” Her eyebrows knitted together. “Eden, you were frozen solid in the middle of that courtyard.”

I swallowed hard. “Yes, and?”

A startled laugh escaped her. “Why didn’t you flee with everyone else?”

What did I tell her? Because the terror had rooted me to the spot? Because all I could hear as those flames flickered around me was my mother’s wail? Because my father had been consumed by dragon fire, and now the sight of it left me paralyzed? Her concern sounded genuine, but I was no one to her, and it was none of her business anyway.

“Eden!” I turned to see Matty hurrying down the path from the infirmary, his curls dancing along his forehead. He waved to get my attention. “New burns are incoming,” he shouted. “Something about a wyrm attack.”

I turned back to Vaela, relieved to have an excuse to end this conversation.

“Duty calls?” she said.

I nodded. “Duty calls.”

9

EDEN

“I need more salve!” I called down the hallway, knowing Nisse would hear. She’d been crushing herbs and mixing up new batches of salves and creams since last night. I’d slathered so much of it onto burns in the last twelve hours, my palms now permanently smelled of calendula and honey.

Honestly, it was making me feel a little sick.

I ran the back of my hand along my brow, the exhaustion finally creeping up on me. A yawn itched at the back of my throat, and I fought it, determined to make my way through the rest of the patient exams. The moment I was finished, I was going to find the nearest horizontal surface and curl up for a nap. For now, that wish was far and away because a group of children had accidentally stumbled upon a nest of wyrms on their way to the schoolhouse.

Shaking off thoughts of slumber, I finished coating a small burn, then handed the child over to Matty to finish applying the bandages. I washed and dried my hands, then turned back to the crowded waiting room.

The fact that I could even consider sleep when the place was this noisy told me how underslept I really was. “Who’s next?” I called as loudly as I could.

“Over here!” A hand shot up and Seraphine appeared, leading a little girl with matching braids toward the exam table. Her eyes were red, the tip of her nose still twitching with sobs. She couldn’t have been more than six. Her mother trailed after them, handkerchief held to her face, eyes weepy.

“The children always play on the rock wall. It just happened so fast,” she blubbered to Seraphine. “Before I could even do anything, the bloody vermin were shooting sparks everywhere.”

“The influx of bigger dragons in the mountains is probably chasing them closer to town, looking for new nesting spots,” Seraphine said, patting her shoulder. “You couldn’t have known.”