“Elise, I appreciate the offer, and I’ll certainly let you know if anything comes up,” I said, shrugging out from beneath her grip, “but I promise you, Lia just needs sleep.” She gave me a small nod, and I took my leave of the roomful of inquisitive, doubting eyes. I made it to the end of the hallway before I stopped suddenly, turned on my heels, and returned to the living room. “Actually, Elise, I could use a quick word, if you don’t mind,” I said, tipping my head towards the bedroom.
She followed me to the room and closed the door behind us, waiting patiently as I wrapped Lia in the lush homemade quilt on our bed and fluffed her pillows. “I’m sure this goes without saying,” I started, my back to her as I continued to watch Lia sleep, “but I hope our involvement in today’s events will remain...confidential.”
“It will,” she said, her head bowing deeply. “Other than the families of the men I lost today, nobody will know there was even an incident.”
I flinched. “About that,” I said, turning to her. “There is some...aftermath from the battle. A rather large amount of it, in fact. I’m sure the entire town of Mayaan is already aware that something happened today.”
Elise hid her shock well, but not well enough to escape my notice. “I see,” she murmured after a moment’s pause. “I won’t mention your involvement, of course, but...what else can I do?”
“Gossip,” I replied. “People are going to be talking about what happened today, and I’d like to know what they’re saying: what they know about the monsters, what they’re saying about the incident, and what they think really happened.”
“And what did really happen?” she asked warily.
“We killed the monsters for you,” I answered flatly. The idea that we owed an explanation to anybody while Lia was still unconscious irked me, and I began to regret asking Elise in.
My harsh reply hung over the silence for a few tense seconds before she bowed her head again. “Of course.” She turned to leave but paused with her hand on the doorknob. “Bella and I will be leaving at first light tomorrow. I’ll send you a message as soon as I can.”
“Good.”
Elise turned to scan the room with a final, sad look, then left and closed the door behind her. “Thank you,” I added as the door latched, leaving me to wonder if she had heard me. I fell into the chair at our bedside with an annoyed sigh and rubbed my face. My hand darted out to find Lia’s, and I wove my fingers tightly between hers as my anxiety flared. What am I doing, Lia?
I sent out a pulse of mana to distract myself from my thoughts. The forest around the Corell residence was quiet and dark apart from a single beacon of Marin’s pink energy bobbing its way towards us. She froze as she reached the edge of the clearing, shuddered, then shook her head and continued to the house. After exchanging a few words with Hana and Marten that were too muffled for me to hear, she crept down the hallway and waited at the bedroom door. Her hand raised as if to knock, but it trembled a few inches away from the wood, hanging there until she took a sudden step back from the door. She removed the pack from her back, set it carefully against the door, and retreated to her own bedroom.
And now there’s this, too, I thought bitterly. My fingers squeezed around Lia’s as I ground my teeth. I could really use your help right now, Lia. I watched her face with a vain hope that she would suddenly awaken to answer my call, but she remained peacefully asleep. I don’t know what to do about Marin. I’m not sure there’s anything I can do. She knows what I am. I shook my head and trudged to the door, cracking it open just wide enough to grab the backpack before shutting it again. It doesn’t matter. We can figure it out after you wake up.
I unpacked the clothes Marin had picked out, folding them neatly on the dresser in the corner of the room. Along with an array of nightgowns and sundresses, the bag had held three additional items: two extra hair clips for the end of Lia’s braid and the small leatherbound diary she had brought with her on all of our adventures. I eyed the book reverently, turning it over slowly in my hands. My thumb slipped in between two of the pages at random, and I nudged the book open to reveal neat rows of Kaldanic runes written in black ink. I couldn’t stop my eyes from reading the words at the top of the page.
Those men came back to the house today. We tried to ignore them, but they started to break Mother’s flower pots! Father went outside to talk with them and made us stay at the table. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could hear him shouting. He never shouts. Not like that. I don’t know what they could have said to make him—
I snapped the book closed and set it on the dresser. “Sorry,” I murmured to Lia’s reflection in the bureau’s mirror. Grabbing one of the loose nightgowns I had set out, I returned to the bedside and began to unbuckle the straps of her armor. Gingerly lifting each of her limbs, I removed her boots, greaves, gloves, and spaulders, stacking them in a pile on the floor beside us. My hand brushed along the surface of her cuirass as I moved to unfasten the final buckle, and I traced a finger along the brutal crack through its surface where the monstrous scythe had pierced her heart. It had
