Page 155 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

The wound beneath his ribs was not as bad as she’d feared. The blood had stopped oozing from it, at least. She uncorked another bottle.

He watched her emotionlessly and made no move to take the panacea from her. He didn’t think he was going to make it. He was prepared to die here.

“Just drink,” she said impatiently, holding out the bottle.

He gave her a tired look.

“Drink it, or I’ll make you.”

He drank. But when he’d finished, he said gently, “We have nowhere to go. The closest shelter is miles away. It’s too cold.”

“I thought you said Varai didn’t mind the cold,” she said as her shaking hands uncorked another bottle.

He frowned, his brows barely moving due to numb facial muscles. “You’ll regret it if those are the last words you ever say to me,” he said slowly.

“They won’t be,” she said, as much to reassure herself as him.

She force-fed him panacea until his wound had closed. There was one problem solved. One more to go.

“Take off your clothes,” she said. The panacea was doing good work. He seemed more awake, and there was even a bit of color returning to his skin.

“And replace them with what?”

She nodded toward Alexei’s corpse. Vaara made a face that was half disgust and half dread, but didn’t argue.

While he peeled off his wet clothes, Crow set to work de-armoring and undressing Alexei. She felt almost empty of emotion—as if she’d expelled it all into Alexei and had none left. Her only thoughts were of getting Vaara to safety.

When Vaara was clothed in Alexei’s garments, he did not look much improved, despite the layers of wool and fur now enveloping him. If anything, he looked more worried than he had before. It looked like the time he’d spent healing and dressing had given him time to fear death again.

She took off her cloak and threw it around his shoulders, then hugged him tightly. He shivered as he wrapped his arms around her.

“Now what?” he asked.

There was only one place nearby where they could go. They had no other options.“We go back to the prison,” she said.

Vaara was quiet for a long time. The harsh wind shook trees nearby. His arms were locked so tightly around Crow that she could hardly breathe.

“I think I’m going to vomit,” he said finally.

“That’s just spell fever from the panacea. It’ll pass.”

“It’s not from spell fever.”

He abruptly pushed away from her, stumbled a few steps away, and vomited several times in the snow.

Crow waited until he seemed to have finished, then took his hand. She had to pull him to his feet—he’d staggered when he’d tried without help.

“Can you walk?” she asked. Even that seemed like a lot to ask.

He looked down at her, hesitating, then nodded once, not giving the expected sardonic reply. They started across the snowy fields toward the prison.

Chapter 42

Vaara watched from a safe distance as Crow glamoured herself into a guard and entered the prison unaccosted. He knew she was resourceful and clever enough to keep herself safe, but watching her go back into that place still filled him with dread.

Watching her kill Alexei had been both awe-inspiring and chilling. It wasn’t like the other times he’d seen her take control of someone. Something had been different this time. Something terrible had happened. Whatever she had done to him had been harrowing beyond measure. It made him shudder to think about it.

Or maybe that was just from the cold.

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