Page 139 of Ash and Feather

I answered in the same way—a simple thought, directed toward her:I’m right here.

Her head tilted toward me, eyes fluttering open and trying to focus.

I kneeled at her bedside, brushing a sweat-soaked strand of hair from her face. “Hello, Wildfire.”

Her eyes closed, but her lips curved slightly upwards, recognizing the nickname.

“I made it back to you through the chaos, after all,” she said after a moment of concentration. “I told you I would.” Her smile faltered as she inhaled what sounded like a shallow, painful breath. “Sorry I’m late.”

Something in her voice nearly unraveled me.

I’d come too close to losing her.

Far too close.

“It’s all right,” I said, taking her hand and lacing my fingers through hers.

She breathed in deeply. Exhaled slowly. Nodded.

The silence stretched between us, full of questions. “But I need to know,” I began after a minute, “what exactlymadeyou so late? What happened these past days?”

Her hand gave mine a weak squeeze.

I was hungry for details. For answers. I wanted to know what they’d done to her.Whohad done it to her. Who I needed to hunt down next.

But it was asking too much of her, too soon, maybe.

Reluctantly, I said, “…A conversation for later, perhaps.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. Her hand went limp, sliding from mine. Within moments, she was already dozing off again.

I stayed by her side for most of the next hour before deciding to leave her to her sleep. She was conscious again—that was enough for now. She needed to rest.

She stirred once more, however, as soon I stood and started to turn toward the door.

“I felt you,” she whispered. “Your magic, reaching for me from the other side of the walls they’d put up. You were looking for me.”

“Of course I was.”

“For how long? I think I lost track by the end.”

“You were missing for nearly five days.”

She clenched the blankets and went very still, as if steadying herself under the weight of this knowledge.

“And I would have kept looking for you for an eternity, if that was what it took.”

A pause. Then her voice, so quiet I wasn’t sure if she was truly whispering or just pressing her thoughts into my head once more: “Even among the chaos.”

“Even among the chaos,” I agreed.

She settled back into the pillows with an exhausted sigh.

“Rest,” I urged. “I’ll be here when you wake up. Then we can talk.”

Chapter 34

Dravyn

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