Page 86 of The Last One
I close my eyes and remember the pendant glowing as we fought the burnu. After we bumped into each other, I remember Veril staring at it. After that…I don’t remember it at all.
“You chased me through the forest,” Veril says.
I whisper, “Yes,” then look to Jadon in desperation. “And I fell, and the trees and roots grabbed for me, and I didn’t check to see that my amulet was still on. It must’ve fallen out between the dell and your cottage.” The clasp was weakened when Olivia yanked the pendant from my neck. But I didn’t expect it to fail.
I could wring her neck.Again.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.I press my warm cheeks to tamp down my rising panic.
Jadon is searching near the front door and beneath the table.
“Did you see it fall?” I ask him.
“No.” Jadon shakes his head. “I didn’t.”
“But I need to find it! I need to go—” I yelp as I try to rise from my nest in the pillows.
Jadon hurries over and places his hand on my shoulder to keep me from standing. “Kai, you can’t go back out there. You’rehurt,and those woods are treacherous.”
I try to rise again, but my leg screams with pain, forcing surrender. The pain rolls back like the surf, leaving welcomed numbness, then surges forward again, meaner this time, and I groan. Again, the wave pulls back—I feel nothing, and then rolls forward—I feel everything.
My spirit sags. I’ve lost my amulet again. I’m left with nothing to connect me to my past. How could I have been so careless?
“Wherever it is, it will still be there in the morning.” Veril offers a reassuring smile. “You’ll have to wait anyway until I bind these wounds. I don’t know if you noticed, dearest, but your leg is split open.”
My throat chokes with tears and disappointment, and I nod.
“I’ll go out and search,” Jadon offers, his eyes bright with urgency.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“What did I tell you moments ago, Kai?” He traces the edge of my face with a finger.
I’ll do anything to make you whole.
My body has swung back into numbness, and I can’t feel his touch. But I can imagine. “Thank you,” I whisper, my imagination making me breathless. A teardrop filled with relief and gratitude rolls down my cheek.
Jadon catches it on his knuckle, just as he’s caught the others, and smiles. That smile is like the dawn. That smile is hope renewed. He holds my gaze for a heartbeat more, then nods to Veril and grabs his sword from its place near the door. Sliding the weapon into his back scabbard, he pauses for a moment. Our gazes meet again, and I feel his promise as if he’s said it aloud.I’ll do anything to make you whole.He opens the door, levels his shoulders, pushes out a breath, and heads into the fading darkness without another word.
24
Once Jadon leaves, Veril helps me stand and we hobble together down a short hallway, stopping occasionally so that I can catch my breath and manage the pain. We reach another room with soft lantern light, a small bed, and a window that overlooks that silver creek far below.
“You’ll recover here, dearest.” The old man settles me onto the bed, pulls off my boots, and says, “Let’s get you out of these rags.” He uses shears to cut away the torn pants and cuts the back of my tunic up the middle.
I pull off my shirt and gingerly remove my pants.
Veril leaves the room and returns quickly with a basin of fresh water.
I prop a pillow against the headboard and sit back. “Really, thank you for your kind hospitality.”
“Oh, you don’t have to thank me.” He shuffles over to a large wood trunk and opens the lid. “Now tell me about your companion. Are you two…together?”
“When you say ‘together’…?”
“Betrothed, dearest.” Veril pulls a blanket out of the chest. “Or simply…enjoying the benefits of such?”
I bark out a laugh and wince. Even that simple movement causes pain to shoot up my leg. “Far from the first and far from the second, to be honest.”
