Page 40 of A World of Ruins

‘And she also made you black out completely.’ The soft linen mattress beneath me rocks as Freya sits by my side.

Another person speaks, and I look up to see that it’s Idris by the doorway of . . . the infirmary?

‘She’s gone, Nara,’ he says, and it only takes a split second for me to register the meaning of his words.

‘I was never going to kill—’

‘I know,’ he says softly, and feeling dazed, I sink into the cushion of my bed and glance at the environment I find myself in.

A female with long blonde hair is at the edge of a cot opposite me, her bent phoenix wing being attended to as she remains in half-human form. I look to my right, and a few more warriors rest upon beds before my gaze settles on Iker, almost nodding off to sleep in one of the chairs, and Idris and Link by my side.

‘Miss Nara, you should lie down, Miss Freya said you had a terrible fall!’ As Tibith climbs onto my knee, my gaze rips away from my brothers, and the infirmary’s sterile scent wafts past my nose.

My smile is so weak that I’m unsure if I should even call it a smile. ‘I’m fine, Tibith. Especially now that you are here.’

His ears flutter.

‘Nara,’ Link says warily. ‘What happened in there?’

I direct my attention to him.

Honestly? I am not sure where to begin.

I struggle to get the right words out but ultimately find my way. ‘I don’t think she was trying to harm me.’ I look at everyone else. ‘I think she was warning me of what could come.’

Illias exchanges glances with my two other brothers. A look that speaks of a million worries.

Freya, however, lifts her gaze to Idris and says, ‘You should have let me speak with it. I could have helped.’

Idris’s cold features seem to soften at the same time as Iker rises from his chair and walks up to the cot.

‘The Galgr hurt our sister,’ Iker states, the weight of his words carrying that fierce protectiveness the three of my brothers share. ‘We weren’t going to take any more risks.’

Idris agrees with Iker for once, nodding at him. ‘The creature likely put thoughts into Nara’s head. Why should we trust it when it hurt her?’

I shut my eyes as Freya tries to reason and I exhale a tense breath. There is no use explaining to my brothers why the Galgr did what she did. Yes, I have come to realise they are ruthless creatures, killers in fact. But what she showed me . . . what if it was a look into the future? What if . . . what if Darius asking me to kill him comes true?

I cannot, I cannot do—

‘Nara?’ Freya’s voice cuts through my contemplative thoughts, pulling me back to the present.

‘Sorry.’ I shake my head, wincing once I remember the hit I must have received from the fall. ‘I—’

Lorcan’s appearance by the doorway prompts me to stop talking. His hair is tied back and his clothes aren’t the usual burgundy armour. Instead, he looks . . . comfortable in his casual red shirt.

‘Can we talk?’ he says, and I huff. It is the only question he knows to ask around me.

I glance at everyone else and nod that it’s fine for them to leave the infirmary. They all kiss the top of my head before walking out one by one, with Tibith toddling behind and squeezing past Lorcan.

An awkward sense of restlessness and quietness in the air doesn’t seem to disappear, even with the whispers of Aerians talking to one another as Lorcan comes to the foot of my cot.

‘I heard about that—’ he starts to say.

‘Galgr,’ I clip, and shift my weight on the bed.

‘You’re still mad about what happened, aren’t you?’

My eyes snap up at him.

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