A hunched figure leaned over Neya’s still form, his back bent sharply as his hands moved with focused urgency across the bandages at her shoulder.
Leona let out a choked gasp and raced forward.
“Get away from her!” she cried, throwing her arms out to cover Neya
The man stumbled, catching himself against a stone table. His messy head of hair whipped around, and Leona froze. The anger drained from her face so swiftly it left her pale.
“Meliory?” she whispered.
“The wound was festering,” he rasped, his throat bobbing as he swallowed back a sob. “I had to clean it. I am a healer, Leona. I have not forgotten how.”
A sob tore from her chest and she lunged for him, clutching his ragged shirt as her shoulders shook. I stood in the doorway, my own eyes blurring. The keys I had thrown into that cell had been a reckless act, but here he stood.
“You are here,” she wailed into his chest. “You are actually here.”
“I am here, little prodigy,” he murmured, his trembling hands curling into her cloak.
Leona drew back just enough to cup Meliory’s face in her hands, tears streaking down her cheeks without shame.
“You are half your former size,” she scolded through the tremor in her voice. “You look as though a stiff breeze would carry you off.”
He managed a faint smile. “Then I am fortunate this city shelters me.”
Her laugh broke before she guided him toward a nearby chair and pressed him down gently.
“You brought him back,” she said, turning to me.
I shook my head. “He brought himself.”
She swallowed and offered me a wobbly smile. “Thank you, Kaelia.”
I smiled and move moved toward Neya. She lay propped against dark pillows, her skin pale but no longer ashen.
Clean bandages wrapped her shoulder and ribs, the cloth faintly stained but no longer weeping. Her breathing was slow and even, her brow smooth in sleep.
“Thank you for protecting me,” I whispered, my fingers brushing hers.
Behind me, Leona cleared her throat and swiped at her cheeks. “She will wake soon. The worst of it has passed.”
I closed my eyes briefly then turned to the pair. “I am glad to see you back where you belong, Meliory.”
He smiled and looked at Leona. “If it were not for you, I may have never found my way home.”
I offered Leona one last smile.
“I should rest,” I murmured.
Leona nodded, brushing a damp curl from my temple before returning to Neya’s bedside.
By the time I reached my chamber, my legs felt like lead. The hinges gave way with a soft sigh, and Vesuva slithered up to my feet, her heads coiling around my ankles. I sank into the thick furs of the bed, the scent of the room—clean, familiar, and unmistakably Umbral—swallowing me whole.
Safe.
I lay back and closed my eyes, but the dark brought the memories back in flashes: the block, the crowd, my mother’s scream.
I turned onto my side, pressing my face into the furs as though I could bury the memories there.
I am alive.