Page 54 of For Love and Blood and Fury

“Nice and strong,” Marisol said to herself before reaching for a flashlight on the nightstand—a flashlight she’d covered with cloth to fashion a penlight.

“I’m checking your pupils’ reactivity. I can’t be sure you didn’t hit your head when you fainted,” she explained while a beam danced across Zuri’s eyes.

“I don’t faint?—”

“How’s your head?” she asked, her brow furrowed with so much concern. “Any nausea? Blurry vision? Dizziness?”

“No.”

“Do you know what day it is?” Marisol was looking at her like she’d give anything for an MRI machine.

She’d never seen Marisol like this. Gone was the flustered, uncertain woman who’d stumbled into her life a few days ago.This woman was calm, collected, in control. Her movements were precise and efficient.

“I’m fine,” Zuri mumbled, pushing herself up on her elbows. She felt a dull ache behind her eyes, a lingering reminder of the mind dive, but she’d live. “I just need to eat something and take a shower.”

“Well, lucky for you, I’d make an amazing housewife,” Elena said, stepping into the room with a plate piled high with something that looked vaguely edible. “I made you dinner.”

Zuri’s gaze snapped to Elena, her heart skipping a beat. Elena was standing, her posture straight, her movements mostly fluid. There was a slight limp to her gait, but she was walking on her own. How long had she been asleep?

Elena smiled, reading her mind in that annoying way of hers. “Marisol healed me after you rewound the tape to the beginning of time in her brain,” she said, her gaze shifting to Bambi sitting at the foot of the bed. “Well, mostly.”

Marisol blushed before shrugging. “It just… happened,” she mumbled, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her tank top.

“It was incredible,” Elena insisted, but there was a heaviness in her voice.

Elena remembered, Zuri realized with a sickening pang in her stomach. Remembered just how much she’d lost the night of the attack.Ugh, damn it. Why did she want to comfort her? Zuri resisted the impulse to do anything to chase away Elena’s grief.

Elena set the plate in Zuri’s lap, the aroma of burnt garlic and something vaguely sweet working against her appetite. “I figured you’d be up any minute. It’s been almost twelve hours.”

Twelve hours, Jesus.She’d never been out that long. Though, to be fair, she also didn’t normally attempt some kind of psychic interstellar travel or whatever the hell she’d done.

Zuri picked up a fork, taking a bite. The eggs were rubbery, the herbs overcooked, but it was the salt that was killer. “It’s... interesting,” she said, her voice neutral.

Satisfied with herself, Elena sat next to her on the bed as if to ensure Zuri was going to choke down her offering. If Zuri wasn’t so focused on chewing without breathing and swallowing while avoiding her taste buds, she would think about the other times Elena had attempted to cook for her.

“So,” Elena said, her voice casual despite the tension that radiated from her. “Marisol told me about your little trip down memory lane.”

Zuri swallowed, the eggs lodging in her throat. “It was more like a free fall into a black hole.”

“It was kind of terrifying,” Marisol agreed after a beat. “Do you think it was real? I mean, those were obviously not my memories.”

Considering it, Zuri shrugged. “I’ve never heard of anything like that happening, though there aren’t that many witches with my gift. And I don’t know anyone who can do what Bambi can… We’re in uncharted territory.”

“How have I never heard of an entire class of beings?” Elena complained as if her knowledge gap was the greatest sin. “And if vampires wiped them out?—”

“And witches,” Zuri added before Elena could take all the generational guilt.

“Not wiped out,” Marisol said as if to remind them she was still sitting there.

Elena glanced at her, dark eyes bleeding with guilt and shame and regret. “Just as good as.” She shook her head. “You’re disconnected from your kind. There’s nothing worse than that. Death is not worse than that.” Her brows furrowed. “Those wars you saw, they must have been ancient. There aren’t many vampires around who are older than I am. It’s the entire reasonwe developed cartels. To stop killing each other. Those wars were such a waste.”

Zuri agreed, annoyed that not a single tome in her coven mentioned anything about healing beings or cataclysmic wars. “Witches obviously didn’t help.”

“Neither of you were there,” Marisol said, back straightening. “You’re not responsible for what happened before you existed.”

Zuri was surprised to see Bambi so comfortable in her skin. She wanted to focus on that. On her beauty and light and the fact that she hadn’t found an ounce of darkness after accidentally scouring her mind.

“Did I make too much?” Elena’s tone lacked its characteristic arrogant edge. It was a tone she’d only ever used to whisper in the dark with her arms curled around Zuri. It reminded her how fiercely loving she could be. How she must be drowning in her grief, but trying to hide it under a cool exterior.

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