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I impaled a spear of asparagus on my fork. “Not so much after you behead them.”
Konstantin laughed nervously. “Beheadings are hardly proper dinner conversation.”
“You asked.” I finished my trout in one bite.
“It was a rhetorical question.”
I stared at my empty plate. “If I can speak freely, I’m not sure we’re winning. More and more of the Transylvanians havelearned how to fight with bows and spears. I’m even seeing decent swords out there.”
Konstantin dabbed at his mouth. “An unfortunate consequence of the Hex.”
“‘Unfortunate consequence’ isn’t how I would put it.”
He looked directly at me, his eyes keen with interest. “And how would you put it?”
Better not to insult one of the architects of the Hex. “There will be a war, and all the magic in the world can’t stop it.”
Konstantin sipped his gin and tonic. He peered out the window as we rocketed through the dark forests of Transylvania.
I dropped my napkin on the table. “I’m afraid I’m done for the night.”
“No dessert?”
I shook my head, since I suspected it would be equally minuscule.
“Then good evening,” he said. “I hope to see you again.”
I mustered a polite smile. “Thank you for the company.”
On the way back to our cabin, the train rattled over a bridge, and my meager dinner squirmed in my stomach. The train’s staff had converted our seats to berths and even left a mint on each of our pillows.
Fancy. I tossed a mint into my mouth.
The door to the tiny bathroom stood ajar. I rapped on the wall.
“Yes?” Wendel said.
“It’s me.” I peeked inside.
He was bent over the sink, bracing himself with his hands, breathing shallowly. He stared at his own reflection in the mirror. Pain etched his face, and I discovered why. His wound was bare and bleeding again.
6
Wendel met my eyes in the mirror. “Ardis.”
“What are you doing?”
“Doctoring myself.” He held out his hand. “Could you pass me the alcohol?”
Ugly black sutures ran the length of his wound, and blood still seeped past the stitches and trickled down his arm.
“The alcohol?” he repeated. “To clean the wound?”
“You don’t use alcohol to clean wounds. It’s too strong.”
“Oh?”
“Why did you take the bandage off?”
