Page 110 of With Wing And Claw

So that left four.

Gadyon. Inga. Nicanor. Silas.

No, not Silas … Silas hadn’t been here when the news of the housing plans had leaked, hadn’t he? And that must have been the same person … or perhaps it hadn’t been? Perhaps thathadtruly been an accident, and this had been her uncle making sure she would not be able to do without him for a while?

But then he should have been at the feast to save her, and he wasn’t here.

Why wasn’t he here?

Had he betrayed her after all, then run off to avoid the consequences?

The world swayed around her as she took another sip of wine. Her heart was a drumbeat in her ears, a hollow, strangely slow rhythm that blurred out all tinkling silverware and muffled conversation around her –thump … thump. Thump … thump.

What was she to do now?

Get out of this hall alive. That was the first step, even if … even if her eyes strangely felt like falling shut …

And then?

She drank more wine.

The Alliance – she needed to tell the Alliance. Needed them to come pick up their captives as soon as possible. Maybe she could pretend she’d never captured them at all, once all traces were gone? And even if she couldn’t … even if she couldn’t, at least she’d have a hundred and thirty opponents she no longer had to worry about …

‘Thysandra?’ someone was saying close-by.

She was so fucking tired.

The dead hound seemed to be crawling closer towards her. Its misted beady eyes were almost sympathetic –we’re in this hell together, they said, and yes, they really were, weren’t they? She’d seen the hounds as monsters, too, even if …

Thysandra!her father screamed.

No.

No, that wasn’t her father’s voice.

The wine glass slipped from her hand, shattering against the table.

And then there was Naxi, tugging at her shoulder – pretty little mouth forming words that reached Thysandra’s mind only an eternitylater.Thysandra, she was saying, which was wrong. She wasn’t Thysandra. She was Sashka. She was very, very tired, and her body was heavy enough to sink through the floor and into the cold, safe earth below …

The hall had gone strangely quiet.

Other hands grabbed her shoulders. Thin, elegant hands. Nicanor hung before her, suddenly, which was vexing, because he was not nearly as pretty as Naxi was. He, too, was making sounds.Thys, can you hear me? Can you tell me what you’re feeling?

Tired.

So tired that her lips wouldn’t even move.

‘She’s feeling very tired!’ Naxi was shrieking. ‘She’s feeling too tired to move – not paralysed, justheavy…’

That was true, she wanted to say.

Her eyes were falling shut again.

‘Cold?’ Nicanor snapped – gods, there really wasn’t any reason for him to be so angry … ‘Or warm? Any pain? Is she able to breathe?’

‘No pain. Breathing is hard.’ Naxi was rambling so fast Thysandra could hardly follow her words. ‘Very warm, as if it’s the middle of summer. Her limbs feel heavy. Don’t think she really feels her feet anymore.’

Feet?

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