She studied me. “You’re not going there to burn it.”
“No.”
“You’re going there to see if something survived.”
“Yes.”
“Good.” Her jaw flexed, but she said nothing more.
We stood there in silence for a breath.
I inclined my head once, a wordless acknowledgment, then turned back.
34
Aurelia
The low murmurof voices dragged me upward.
Slow and heavy, pressing over bone and thought until the ache of waking grew too loud to ignore.
My mouth was dry. My limbs, heavy. I couldn’t lift my head, not yet.
I was thirsty. Gods, I was so thirsty.
Not the kind of thirst that came from a dry room or a fever. This was deeper—cell-deep, marrow-deep.
I tried to speak. The words stuck. My lips were cracked, my throat raw.
Water. I needed water.
A shadow moved at the edge of my vision. A figure knelt beside the bed—Kaelith.
His face was composed. Serene, almost. But his eyes shimmered faintly, the color too bright in the firelight. There was something strange in the way he looked at me.
He held a crystal glass in one hand, etched in curling patterns that shimmered violet and silver. The liquid inside glowed.
He lifted it to my lips without asking. The scent hit first: sweet, metallic, spiced like crushed berries and lightning.
I hesitated. But my body answered before I could think. The first swallow was silk. Cool. Heavy. Strange.
My throat stopped aching. The burn melted into numbness. The world tilted and blurred.
I heard him speak, though it sounded far away.
“She’ll be like this for a while,” Kaelith said. “The change will complete over the next few days. Tonight is the most critical.”
Another voice answered. Malachi. Rougher. Closer. More grounded than the rest of the world.
Kaelith continued. “Have the rest of your companions prepare the mares. Two of them. Gabriel can walk.”
A pause.
“Take her to her chambers. I want her rested. Meet me at the hall come morning. There’s a stop we must make before returning to Synnex.”
The words faded. And then, I was weightless. No. I was being carried.
Malachi.