Page 181 of Ash and Feather

The magic within this concoction would seep into her body and reverse the damage and blood loss she’d suffered, while simultaneously restoring her energy. I only needed to distribute it evenly over the wounded areas, and then there was nothing to do except…wait.

Once the job was finished, I drew a chair up beside the window on the far side of the room and sank down into it. Itcreaked under my weight as I leaned back and raked a hand through my hair.

It wasn’t like me to not be able to keep still, but I found myself fidgeting as the minutes passed. Shuffling my weight from one side to the other. Picking at invisible loose threads on the chair cushion. Tapping my fingers against the windowsill.

I finally stuffed my hands into the pockets of my coat instead, hoping that would keep them still.

As I did, my fingers brushed against the heavy silver ring in my right pocket—a family heirloom that I’d been carrying since our trip to Altis. Fallon had given it to me. Had flung it at me, practically, and I’d accepted it against my better judgment, in spite of all the unwanted memories it stirred when I looked at it.

It traditionally went to the youngest in our family, so it wasn’t meant to be mine—itwouldn’thave been mine, if not for that fateful night of blood and poison all those years ago.

I squeezed it tight, rolling it around between my fingers.

Such a small trinket, but it weighed so much.

I was drifting dangerously close to clear memories of the night my siblings had died when Savna gave a sudden cough and rolled in my direction.

“You look like you’re contemplating murder,” she mumbled.

I softened my expression but otherwise didn’t reply.

“Not mine, I hope.” She breathed in deep, an effort that made her wince. “Though if you are considering it, there are knives under my bed. Very sharp. Should get the job done quickly if you’ve any sort of skill.”

“I don’t need knives to provide you with a quick death,” I reminded her.

She laughed a humorless, bewildered sort of laugh. “Right. Of course.”

We were quiet for a long time before she spoke again.

“Where is Karys?”

“Away on divine business, I’m afraid.”

“That figures.” With a great deal of effort, she fought her way upright, propping pillows behind herself so she could stay there.

Her face was alarmingly pale, her skin slicked with sweat. But her heartbeat sounded stronger, and she smelled considerably less like death than she had earlier. Or maybe it was just the pungent odor of the Healing God’s medicine covering up everything else.

“She’s…divine.” Another weak, bewildered laugh. “I keep forgetting that, somehow.”

“Maybe because you don’t want to accept it,” I suggested.

“Maybe.” She turned her tired gaze my direction, though she seemed to have a hard time focusing it on my face. “It’s hard to change the way we see people, isn’t it?”

Lucky for you,I thought,or else she would have abandoned you a long time ago.

I sank deeper into the chair, my hand once more in my pocket, turning the ring over and over as I considered what Savna had said.

Itwasdifficult to change the way we saw people; maybe that was why I couldn’t bring myself to fully let my guard down around this elven woman—because I’d only ever known her as a source of pain to the one being I cared about more than anyone else.

Savna was quiet for a time, her gaze fixed on something outside the window. “I feel miraculously better. You gave me something, I assume? These cloths against my skin…they carry the god-awful scent of magic, among other things.”

“Yes.”

Her face scrunched up, I assumed from a combination of the scent and the confusing, tense situation we’d found ourselves in. “So, you saved me.”

“For her sake, not yours,” I said, bluntly.

“Understandable.” She dropped her gaze to her hands, absently tracing the lines along her palm for a minute before she said, “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, haven’t I?”

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