“GO! The rest of you back to your homes!”
Her unbound hair spills over my arms, red curls tangled and wild. I cover it with my free hand, twisting the locks to tuck them atop her head so the others don’t see something meant to be private. She strains against my arms, and I notice her strength. Was she always like this?
“Arlet, I’m here.” The words slip out before I can catch them.
Her eyes snap open and she slashes at me with her fingernails.
“What the hell?” I jerk back, stunned as she kicks me in the ribs. She scrambles upright, retreating on all fours like a cornered animal.
Something inside me tightens. Her wide, wild eyes flickerpure black—then, with a single blink, the blackness fades, revealing familiar cinnamon-brown.
“Vann?” she breathes, blinking rapidly as if seeing her surroundings for the first time. “What... what’s going on?”
I let my face go blank.
"I found you here, on the ground. Screaming."
She wipes sweat from her brow. “I?—”
"Arlet!"
I turn as Queen Estela storms toward us. My eyebrows shoot up at the fact she actually came. She’s not usually available at night, not with her children to tend to.
She is small but commands a presence that rivals the goddesses who blessed her. Her braided curls look wilder than Arlet’s, though her skin glows with divine power.
She barely spares me a glance before reaching for Arlet. Two guards follow her, but they stand at a distance as she comes to a stop.
“Ulla and I were in the garden when someone told us Arlet was shouting. I thought you were sick,querida. You didn’t come to the meeting. What is wrong?” she demands.
Arlet swallows, then opens her mouth. No words come out. She shakes her head and tries again.
“I… don’t… know. I went to bed. Then I woke up here.”
Queen Estela turns to me, eyes sharp. “And you? What did you see?”
I hesitate. The image of Arlet rocking on the ground flashes in my mind—the way she lashed out. The way her eyes looked.
"I found her curled in a ball. She was surrounded by people. Disoriented. I worry she was attacked.”
If she was attacked by Daniel, the one who had come to her house, perhaps that could explain the craze. But her eyes… Vaimpír had red eyes. She couldn’t have been bit by one, I think.
Maybe anaradhlum? But cave spider venom was poisonous. She’d be immobile. Not running around like a madwoman.
Maybe this had something to do with Daniel.
“Thank you Lord Vann,” Estela nods once, turning back to Arlet. “Were you attacked?”
Arlet looks confused. “I don’t know.”
Behind her, Lady Ulla arrives. For a long time, she was both the person who managed the meals of the city and the healer. Now, she is more focused on healing than any of the others.
She’s a tall enduar woman, with hair piled up in a mound almost the same size as her head. She’s beautiful, by my people’s standards. Worry distorts her features. She hurries, coming directly to Arlet's side, and assessing her patient.
“I see no physical wounds,” Ulla announces. "But you look pale. Fevered. We need to get you home."
I open my mouth, "You're sure there are no bruises? No signs of someone or something hitting her head?
Ulla frowns. “No." She turns back to Arlet. "Have you been sleeping well? I know we’ve all been anxious about the upcoming festival, I imagine you doubly so with the ascension.”