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Long minutes passed. How many, he didn’t know. It could have been ten minutes; it could have been an hour. His world had narrowed to holding her hand as he held her and himself together.

At last, one of the orderlies, a different one than the man who had hustled Merrik into the room, touched his shoulder. “Sir, the healers are finished, and the nurses would like to prepare her for transport to her accommodations. Please come with me to give them space.”

He didn’t budge. He couldn’t bring himself to release Adry’s hand or leave her side. “Adry?”

“Go.” She waggled her fingers in his grip. “Just wanna ssslheep.”

“Go ahead and sleep, Laesornysh.” One of the healers reached over and rested a hand on Adry’s forehead, her fingers glowing green. Within moments, Adry’s fingers went limp in Merrik’s, her breathing smoothing out.

The orderly grew more insistent, and Merrik finally set Adry’s hand down and let himself be ushered out of the hospital.

Outside, his aeroplane was still parked in the middle of the road, blocking traffic. The various horsedrawn carts and army vehicles edged around it as best they could, causing a traffic jam on either side.

He managed the few steps to his aeroplane before the shakes overtook him. He braced himself against the side of his aeroplane, gasping and heaving for breath. His hands and legs shook so violently that his teeth chattered.

There had been so much blood. She’d been in so much pain, even dosed up on healing magic and morphine.

A truck halted in front of the aeroplane, and Dacha leapt out, his chestnut hair straggling and muddy down his back. He ran to Merrik’s side. “How is she? What happened?”

“She…she is fine.” Merrik struggled to speak past his chattering teeth. “Just fi…finished removing the bullets. They are moving her now.”

Dacha released a long breath, his shoulders slumping. Then he gripped Merrik’s shoulder. “Breathe, sason. It will be all right. She is all right.”

Merrik struggled to drag in deep breaths, forcing himself to inhale and exhale slowly. Adry was fine. She would be fine.

Chapter

Thirty-Six

Merrik had just managed to stop the shaking when two orderlies carried a stretcher out the manor’s double doors, Adry’s red-gold hair glinting in the sunlight.

Merrik began to push away from his aeroplane, but Dacha’s hold tightened on his shoulder.

At Merrik’s look, Dacha shook his head. “I will go with her to see her settled. You should check in with your squadron.”

He should, though Adry’s injury had driven any thought of his squadron clean from his head. How horrible of a commanding officer did that make him?

All he could manage was a nod. While Dacha followed Adry’s stretcher, Merrik worked up the strength to pull himself onto the side of his aeroplane. He reached for his discarded flight cap, holding one of the speakers sewn into the cap against his ear.

Since he had not bothered to shut off the overall power, even if he had turned off the engine, the chattering of his squadron burst in a chaotic jumble his brain couldn’t immediately sort out. At least the tone was generally jubilant.

Merrik leaned over the side of the aeroplane to press the talk button on the control column. “Half-Breed. What is the status of the battle?”

“Merrik!” several voices shouted at the same time as others yelled, “Capt. Loiatir!”

“How is Adry?” Lije’s voice cut through the others.

“Alive.” Merrik steadied as the truth of that word settled more firmly in his chest. “She came through the surgery to remove the bullets all right.” No need to go into details. Not that he had many, given he’d avoided looking. “They are moving her to her quarters to rest.”

“Then stay with her, Captain.” Sticky’s words weren’t exactly a command. More permission, even if that permission wasn’t his to give.

“Yeah, we have things handled up here.” Aylia’s voice remained cheerful.

“The battle?” As much as Merrik wanted to take the excuse to abandon his duties, he couldn’t shirk any longer.

“Done, at least for now.” Lije sounded like he shrugged. “The Mongavarians turned tail a few minutes ago. We’re just flying overwatch now in case they come back.”

Merrik released a long breath. At least he hadn’t left his squadron to an extended dogfight. “All right. Remain on overwatch. If no Mongavarians reappear within the next few hours, then start rotating back to base so some of you can rest. I will check in throughout the afternoon.”