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The fourth time she woke, Leonid was in the room. He kissed her cheek and held her as she sobbed in his arms, stroking her hair as she let out her tears until she cried herself to sleep, exhausted.
* * *
Tegan opened her eyes. She could feel her body—the pain was less, she was almost healed. Turning her head, she met Salem’s stare.
“Hi,” he greeted her. “You had me worried.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m a father, I’m allowed to worry,” he said with a small smile.
Tegan pushed herself up in the bed to a sitting position. “I mean…I’m sorry that I wasn’t enough.” She couldn’t meet his eye. “I should have been better. More.” She shook her head. “The bombs, I wasn’t used to them, they disoriented me, I was weak. I wasn’t prepared, I should havetrainedmore,donemore. I’m sorry.”
“Tegan…” Salem paused. “Tegan, look at me.” When she did, he reached forward and brushed away the tear. “I could not get to you, either of you, that filthy…Drakhynblocked you both from everyone. I couldn’t get to either of you.” Salem paused, and her head dropped slightly. “But I couldsee.” Tegan looked up at him. “I saw you fight, I saw you fight it, and I saw it wound you and almost rip your insides out, and still I saw you fight.”
“I didn’t fight hard enough.”
“Tegan,” Salem sighed. “Your body was wrecked, your shoulder almost bit in two, and you know what? I still saw you fighting him. You werenotweak.”
“He fell,” she whispered as tears slid down her cheeks. “It should have been me.”
“My son was the Blade, and my daughter was the Stone that sharpened him.” Salem wiped his own eyes. “It should have been neither of you, but the Ancients do not listen toshouldn’t.”
“Have the funeral rites been done?” Tegan asked softly.
“Yes.” Salem cleared his throat. “You’ve been away from us for more than a week.”
“Oh.” Tegan frowned. “No wonder I feel so bad,” she said as she rubbed her legs. “I need to train.”
“I think you’ll be okay for a few more days,” Salem said with an exasperated sigh.
“The Castor?”
“He is well, we think.”
“You think?” Tegan asked, alarm rising. She reached for the bond and found it gone. “Where is he?”
“He left.”
“He wouldn’t,” Tegan said, confusion in her tone.
“His battle may have been the hardest one of all; he needs time.”
“My bond is gone,” Tegan said as she bit her lip, her hand on her chest. “Why is it gone?”
Salem took her hand away from her chest and held on. “Because you died.”
* * *
It took another week before Pure Castor Jameis declared Tegan fit enough to get out of bed. She had been impatient, but Sloane had visited regularly, her fathers too, and Zahra was a frequent visitor, the loss of their brother binding them and bringing both sisters closer.
Her feet were unsteady as she descended the stairs, but she refused aid from her father, and when he suggested she use the handrail, Tegan glared at him.
She was dressed in soft cotton pants and a white wrap-around top. The clothes were alien to her, but Castor Jameis had only wanted soft material touching her skin. The burns on her skin from Cord’s barrier were still tender and taking longer to heal.
With Leonid hovering over her, Tegan made her way to the formal dining room. Conversation stopped when she entered, and self-consciously she sat down quickly, tipping her hair forward to cover her face from the Akrhyn gathered, many she did not know.
“Tegan, it’s so good to see you,” Lucas greeted her warmly.
