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“Darling,” Faenir said, completely ignoring his cousin. “Are you well?”
I smiled brightly, trying not to jump as a violent rumble of thunder echoed beyond the chamber door. “Couldn’t be better,” I lied.
Faenir did not believe me, that much was clear. Myrinn noticed it too, for she began fussing like a bird as she edged towards the door. She said something about supper and how she would see us there, then she was gone.
Leaving Faenir and me alone.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I said, sounding like a demanding child.
“How can I not? I feel as though I have been deprived of your company,” Faenir replied, kneeling suddenly beside the chair I had sat myself down on. If I had not, I was certain I would have fallen.
Noticing I struggled with the shirt, Faenir gently swept my hands upon my lap. His fingers, fast and assured, began buttoning up my shirt. I groaned as his knuckles grazed my stomach. “I have wanted to come for you hours ago, but the rest of our guests arrived at the most inconvenient of times. There has been much preparation, and I did not want to concern you with it.”
“Well,” I said, trying to stop myself from demanding that he began undoing his helpful work and rip my clothes from me. “You are here now.” I leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on the end of his nose.
The soft touch conjured a purring groan from Faenir as he finished dressing me. “I missed you. Is that pathetic to admit aloud when you have been mere hallways and rooms away?”
“I…” My chest tickled. Panic surged through my body and mind as I prepared for the fit to come.
Faenir’s grin faded once again, and he leaned forward, fingers brushing over my chin. “Something bothers you.”
I shook my head, giving myself time to appease my breathing. Part of me believed I would open my mouth to reply, and the coughing would begin. If it did, there would be no hiding the truth when blood spluttered beyond my lips.
“It is the storm,” I replied, thankful that my voice was clear and the tickle in my chest subsided. “I’ve never liked them. When I was younger, I would steal into Auriol’s room, take her from the crib, and hide inside the wardrobe. Mother would find us come morning and no matter how many times she did, every storm always ended the same.” It was a relief to speak aloud the truth to Faenir, to share a part of my past.
“Your sister has always been important to you.”
I nodded, eyes pricking. “Even before my parents died, I had wished to protect her. Perhaps on more occasions than required.”
“There is nothing wrong with wishing to protect the ones you love.”
“Even if they did not wish to be protected?”
As the sickness grew within me, greedily clawing at my body in desperation, I could not forget how Auriol and I had left off. Just as the blood suffocated me as it filled my lungs, I had done the same to her. It would be a regret I would carry with me to the grave.
“I have no doubt that your sister loves you. How could she not?” Faenir glanced towards the closed balcony doors and narrowed his gaze as they rattled in their frames. “The storm will pass as they always do. However, between me and you, seeing Frila and Gildir nearly thrown from Charon’s boat into the Styx has been a moment I will not forget in a hurry.”
“I feel cheated for not having seen such a wonder,” I replied, recognising the warmth in my chest as hope. Myrinn had arrived at Haxton alongside Haldor. It had only been a matter of time before their siblings arrived. “Only one more to arrive.”
Faenir looked downward. His hand dropped from my chin and gripped my thigh. “Claria has declined.”
I expected it, but still the news stung. “When did you find out?”
“Gildir informed me upon his arrival. It was the first thing he said as sick still dribbled out the corner of his mouth after he expelled the contents of his stomach upon my shores.”
I gritted my teeth, jaw aching with tension as I bit down on my response. “Do I wish to know what this means?”
“Tomorrow I will leave Haxton to speak with her.”
“Kill her,” I corrected.
Faenir gripped his hand into my thigh and focused in on my eyes as though I were the only thing of importance to him. “She has decided her fate, as I have decidedours.”
Ours. I blinked and saw the horror in Tahra’s face as she discovered the rot of sickness that was unrepairable. There was no knowing how long I could fight it. Even now, I felt weaker than I cared to admit. My neck ached as I held my head up, my arms tired and numb. Our fate raced towards its end, and Faenir did not know it.
“Tonight, we shall feast together,” Faenir announced. “With what is coming, I will still need my family’s support. I do not wish to go from living with knives at my back to ruling with newly forged swords at our fronts.”
“And what if they do not listen?”
