Page 167 of Dark Night of the Soul

“You are the tether,” he continued.

Something in my chest cracked open at those words.

“The thing he’s reaching for even now. He pulled you back once. Now it’s your turn to call him home.”

When I looked up again, Cashiel was gone.

I was still sitting there waiting for him to come back to me when Ludwig wandered into the room. He paused in the doorway, leaning against the frame, arms crossed. But he wasn’t looking at Kincade, he was looking at me.

“You should get some sleep,” he said.

“No,” I said.

“You’re running on fumes.”

“I’m not leaving.”

He disappeared from the doorway for a moment, then returned, walking into the room. He handed me a bottled water. I took it, held it in my free hand. He crossed to the other side of the bed and sat in the empty chair. Filling in the same space Cashiel had stood. He regarded me with something like interest.

“I don’t need a babysitter,” I snapped.

“I know.”

“Then why are you here?” My gaze flicked up to him.

“You don’t want me here?” And for a moment, the flirty man was back. But he quickly masked it.

I didn’t answer. I didn’t know what I wanted.

Yes, I did. I wanted to be alone. I wanted him to wake up.

There was a long silence.

“He saved my life,” he said. “I owe him mine.”

I took that to mean Ludwig was as invested in his recovery as I was.

I released Kincade’s hand, leaned back in the chair, and cracked the lid on the water. Took a sip. The water was blissfully cold. I hadn’t realized how dry my throat was.

“How did he save your life?” I asked.

For a split second, Ludwig looked like he wasn’t going to answer. His gaze drifted away, fixed on some distant point only he could see, as if weighing how much truth I was owed.

“You don’t know much about us, do you?” he said.

“The Quiet Watch? No,” I said. “I was only recently introduced.”

All I knew was that it was a shadow organization Kincade led. And that I knew what it had taken from him to build it in secret.

“He was sent to retire me,” Ludwig said.

I took retire to mean death.

“But he didn’t,” I said.

Ludwig’s mouth curved—not a smile. Something closer to acknowledgment.

“No,” he said. “He decided I was still worth the trouble.”