Page 54 of Forged in Fading

“We can’t just leave you here to fade,” Kat said. “You’re worth so much more than that, Alvara. We need all the help we can get in defending…andthat’sa bat…wemigh…”

Kat’s words blended together, slow and murky, and Alvara’s eyes couldn’t focus on her face. It was all so fuzzy. She lifted an arm to rub her eyes, but her limbs weighed more than a herd of reindeer. Warm liquid splashed down Alvara’s shirt, and she collapsed to the bed, unable to move.

Boden leaned over her and pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. He spoke, but she could barely hear him as everything slowed to a crawl.

Something was wrong. Terribly⁠—

Alvara’s head throbbed, and her mouth felt like someone had stuffed it with cotton. Water. She needed water.

She pulled her head up, expecting the familiar walls of the inn, but snow stretched out in the distance from every side. Towering trees lined the perimeter, swathed in darkness.

No.

“Oh gods, she’s up. Scatter.”

Kat. The tea she had given her.

Alvara thrust herself forward, but her torso met with a tangle of rope. Another unconscious body lay strapped to the sleigh next to her. What in Dalviri’s name had they done?

Pointed ears peeked out of the male’s long, wheat-colored hair. Pyry. No, no, no. She most certainly did not have the energy to handle him right now.

Binds pulled tight around Alvara’s waist as she sat up. “You. Drugged. Me!” She hurled everything she had at Kat—ice, snow, hail. Her fury dug a shallow but potent well for her magic, but every flurry slammed into an earthen wall.

Kat poked her head out around her shield. “Don’t make me shove more of that tea down your throat. Calm down.”

“Calm down?” Alvara’s people were going to be slaughtered, and she wasn’t there to help them.

“I’m sorry, Alvara.” Boden lifted his hands up, palms out. “I didn’t know⁠—”

“My people will fade.” Alvara twisted and writhed, but the rope held fast. Her head spun, and she slumped back down on the sleigh, where the cold wood bit her already frigid skin. She flung a blunted shard of ice at Boden’s head. “I am mad at Kat, but I am furious with you.”

“I’m not the one who drugged you⁠—”

“Were you going to let me stay?”

“We saved your life,” Boden said slowly as he kicked her projectile to the side.

Her life? What was her life worth compared to an entire city’s? “Damn your noble intentions, Boden! I didn’t ask you to save me. It was my choice to stay and fight for my people, not yours. Not Kat’s. You speak down to Pyry about not allowing me to make my own choices, and yet here you are. I’m not some pawn in your twisted game, like your demi-elves. At least some of them had a choice in the matter.”

He flinched like she had slapped him, and part of her wished she had. “I’m not the one you should be upset with. I was perfectly content reasoning with you before Kat here decided insanity was the best course and fed you sleeping powder.”

Gods, if he had a cup of his precious tea, she would absolutely freeze it to bits right now. “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll deal with her later. But you? You saw, Boden. You saw what my city meant to me. And yet you thought saving one more life would erase another sin you’ve committed. And why in Dalviri’s name is Pyry here?”

“We had an unfortunate encounter when we were attempting to leave the city.” Boden avoided her eyes.

“What is that even supposed to mean?”

“He saw us at the gates.” Kat pulled one of her long curls straight and released it, letting it bounce as she spoke. “We convinced the guards you had just had too much to drink, but Pyry apparently knew you had given up alcohol. He tried to stop us from leaving, so we might have had to knock him unconscious.” She dug her teeth into her bottom lip. “And well, since he means something to you, I thought we should save him too. Does that make up for anything?”

Gods, no. They could have at least saved the baker next door, so Alvara had better food to eat in Malva. “In what world did bringing along the male I used to share a bed with sound like a good idea?”

“If that’s the definition we’re going with, then you and Boden shared a bed…” Kat trailed off.

“Oh, good gods.” Boden spoke into his hand over his face.

Pyry groaned next to Alvara, and she thumped her head on the wood of the sleigh. Beneath her blistering anger at the circumstances, she knew she was grateful that he would be safe from the invasion, but it also meant she would be saddled with keeping an eye on him. Pyry, who hadn’t even thanked her once for putting her life on the line to rescue him from King Einar’s palace. She would rather pull her own hair out than be in charge of his well-being in Ilmanir. “Do you have more sleeping powder?”

“Yes, but⁠—”