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“Go get dressed. I’ll walk you to work and check with the doctor again before I come back and take a nap.”
When we left the house, the late morning sky was clear, and the streets were filled with people walking around. I nodded to a group of women I knew strolling with several fey.
“Doesn’t look like the wall’s going to progress much today,” I said.
Molev grunted, watching the activity around us before a fey jogged over.
“Good morning,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“Ryan readied another ten homes. Those of us not working on the wall will run over to Unity with the women who wish to move.”
“That is good,” Molev said. “I will join you. I wish to see Unity with my own eyes.”
He glanced at me with a question in his gaze.
“I’ll stay here. That way, your arms are free to help carry whoever or whatever needs to go over there. Hurry back, okay?” I stood on my toes and tugged him down to kiss his cheek.
He watched me with a hungry glint in his gaze.
“The faster you leave, the sooner you can come find me again.”
He kissed me once, hard, on the mouth, then left with the fey. Smiling to myself, I walked to Eitri’s house. He opened the door before I reached it.
“Do you ever get any sleep, Eitri?” I asked as I entered.
“Yes.”
“Are you getting enough though? I know I saw you on the wall last night.”
“You need to take care of yourself, Eitri,” an older woman said from the living room. Her short hair wreathed her smiling face in a pouf of white. She was the first elderly person I’d seen in months. I wasn’t sure if it was that or how she reminded me of my grandma that brought a dangerous warmth to my eyes, but I had to swallow and clear my throat before I could talk.
“Hi. I’m Andie.”
“I’m Mary. James, my husband, is in the bathroom. Hurry up, James!” she yelled.
“Woman, you can’t rush this,” a man yelled back from the closed bathroom door.
“You should have let me help you,” she called.
“I slept, Andie,” Eitri said softly, reminding me that I’d asked before they’d started yelling. “I promise.”
“I can’t do it,” the man in the bathroom yelled.
“Yes, you can,” the woman said, sounding irritated. “This is our chance to be useful. And stop acting like it’s your first time. Remember that night in Vegas? You had no problem then.”
“That was mine, and I was with you.”
“Well, you should have let me help. You could have pretended it was yours again.”
“What’s going on?” I asked Eitri softly while listening to them shout back and forth.
“James volunteered. He tried to drink a cold sample first, but it was too thick and came back up. Mary said to give him a warm, fresh sample. I left it on the sink for him, but he has been in the bathroom for a long time.”
I stared at Eitri, unable to speak because, for the first time that I could remember, I had no idea what to say.
Mary, the older woman on the couch, stood and shuffled toward the bathroom door. She slapped the surface twice, annoyance twisting her features.
“What do you like telling me? ‘Don’t argue. Just swallow.’ So either let me feed it to you like a baby bird, or tip it back like a smooth whiskey. You have two minutes before I have Eitri hold you down.”
