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“He’s awake,” she mumbled.
“Savida told us. Is this not good news?” I asked hesitantly as I stroked her hair.
I wanted to go in and talk to him, assure myself he was well, but Savida told us he was feeding. Although I hoped to get past my aversion to blood and feeding, I knew I couldn’t see fangs in my little cat and not feel disgust, anger, and fear. It was still too soon.
“I’m not sure.” She sighed and withdrew from my arms to sag onto the sofa. “He still has the black spots, and he’s acting strange.”
“Strange?” Charlie asked, walking around the sofa to sit with her. He offered her a biscuit from the packet he held, but she shook her head.
“What’s so strange about him?” I asked.
She began counting on her fingers. “He shouted for Savida to leave. He hasn’t healed. He has a dark ring around his eyes.” She looked at me with a kind of wild desperation in her eyes. “Did he have that before? I can’t remember. We can look different in the dreamscape …”
If there was one thing I remembered clearly about my soul mate, it was his eyes. His eyes that I fought so hard against and then to care for. I knew them. And there was no dark ring. “No. Just blood red.”
She nodded solemnly and continued her list, “He asked for the ‘titan,’ as if he’d never met you before. Do you think he’s brain damaged?”
“He can’t be that brain damaged if he’s speaking,” Charlie added around a biscuit.
“Something is wrong.” She stood up again and twisted her hands with panicked energy. Her voice got higher, and her words came faster as she ranted. “He didn’t tell me what happened with the shadows and couldn’t tell me how he got here. A spell of some sort prevents him, but I think they’ve done something to him. He’s so strange, and I know we don’t know him that well, but my stomach is in knots, and my brain is screaming that something is …”
I took her hands and squeezed them. Her eyes met mine, and I said, “Little Cat, please, calm down. Your worry is probably making Charlie feel sick.”
“True story,” he garbled around yet another biscuit.
She turned to glare at him. “It could be that he’s just eaten half a packet of biscuits.”
“Nope, definitely your emotions.” He shook his head and smiled, his teeth full of crumbs.
His dramatics did not entertain Clawdia. She snatched her hands from mine and crossed her arms. “Well, I’m sorry for feeling.”
“No one is telling you not to feel,” I told her calmly.
“Something is wrong, Zaide,” she hissed.
“Perhaps it is,” I agreed and pulled her back into my arms. Pressing a kiss to her forehead she sighed and relaxed her arms. “But we can’t do anything about it yet. Let us be calm. Let us watch. Wait. And when we can do something, we will.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It’s all very …” She swallowed before continuing. “I don’t feel great. My stomach hurts, and I’ve got a headache.”
Her whimper hurt my heart, and I hugged her tighter. She was so good at looking after others, but she needed someone to look after her.
“Don’t be sorry. You are stressed, Little Cat. I was just setting out lunch. Let’s feed you and give you something to drink. That should help your headache.”
I didn’t move immediately, as she seemed content in my embrace. Just as her body started to relax and lean into me, the bedroom door opened, and Baelen wandered out holding a towel. Clawdia pulled away and turned to face him.
“I’d like to shower. Where is the bathroom?” he asked blandly, as though this were an ordinary day and not the first time we had seen each other since shadows attacked us in the dreamscape.
I expected more—something—from him. Relief, maybe, that I was all right and not lost in the dreamscape. Or a smile to reassure me he was all right, but he didn’t even meet my eyes. He only looked at Clawdia.
We pointed at the door, and he nodded without saying another word.
“See,” she muttered as he closed the door behind him, and she caressed my chest where my heart throbbed with pain. “He didn’t even say hello to you, Zaide.”
I kept my eyes on the bathroom door. “I noticed.”
“He wouldn’t do that.” She shook her head fiercely. “He wouldn’t hurt you like that.”
“You don’t think he’s in his right mind?” I asked as I walked back to the counters.
