Page 8 of The Cursed Kingdom

“I don’t think it’s broken,” Lill says. “But I can’t put weight on it, and I’m having trouble lifting myself.”

I’m hardly surprised she can’t pull herself up. Her arms are too weak to support her body weight.

I grab her towel off the hanger and wrap it around her torso, covering her bare skin before hooking my arms under her pits and lifting. She’s so fucking light. I wrap the towel around her back as she leans into me, letting me support her weight and guide her out of the tub.

Her hair soaks my clothes, the long, white strands sticking to everything they touch, and Lill struggles to tame them as we hobble into her bedroom.

She whines. “I’m so sorry.”

We reach her bed, and I help her lie back on the pink sheets before grabbing a pillow and shoving it underneath her ankle. It’s swollen, but nothing looks out of place—not that I really know where everything should be in the first place.

“Relax,” I say. “I’m going to get you some ice.”

I’m mildly aware I’m panting as I pull an ice pack from the freezer and return to her bedroom. It’s tidy, not a speck of dust or clutter to be found. Even the perfumes littering her dresser have been organized by size and color.

It wasn’t like this when I was in here last night to return a pair of socks I found in my laundry, which explains why she was so unsteady that she fell in the shower. She shouldn’t be exerting herself, especially not for trivial things like cleaning her bedroom.

I would’ve happily organized the room if I’d known it’d been bothering her.

“This is getting out of hand,” I say. I shouldn’t bring this up now. I know I shouldn’t, but the words are already coming out of my mouth. “Let me go to the faerie realm and get you some more delysum.”

Lill shakes her head, immediately shutting me down. It makes me angrier than it should.

I place the ice pack on her ankle. “You can’t ask me to sit here and watch you die. I refuse to do that when there’s a solution. You need more tea, and I can get it for you.”

Lill’s bottom lip trembles, but no tears fall. Now isn’t the time to bring this up, but I can’t help myself. It’s a solution, our only one, and I hate that she refuses to take it.

“I know all about the faerie realm,” I continue. “You’ve been telling me about it for years. I can get you delysum.”

Lill shakes her head again. “You know stories, Abby. That’s nothing. It’s not safe for you there, and you’re not going to change my mind.”

I run a hand through my hair, slightly relieved when my fingers catch on a knot. The sharp pain helps ground me, keeping me from turning and kicking the wall in frustration.

“Lill…” I start.

She cuts me off with a pointed glare. “I saidno. Stop asking.”

I stomp my foot, the childish action all I can think to do at the moment, before grabbing the TV remote off her dresser and tossing it in her direction. She scrambles to catch it, her glare unwavering. She can be pissed all she fucking wants, but this is a good solution.

She would do the same thing for me, and being mad isn’t going to stop me from trying.

“Call me when you get hungry or need to go to the bathroom,” I say.

Lill sucks her cheeks into her mouth. “I will.”

She turns toward her TV, effectively dismissing me.

Stubborn bitch.

Chapter Three

ABBY

MY BEDROOM DOOR creaks open, alerting me to Lill’s presence, and I groan and shove my face into my pillow.

There’s a quiet clicking as she uses her crutches to approach my bed, and I scoot away in a sad attempt to evade her. Weekends are for sleeping in. She knows that, and it’s precisely how I plan to spend my morning.

“Abby,” Lill coos.

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