Page 68 of Choosing Jenny
Mal glanced into a few of the bags, looking impressed. “There must be over a hundred here.”
“One hundred and eleven Vulaven Eggs and thirty Halla Pearls,” I said, repeating back what Surge had told me. “He’s hoping it’s enough to capture all the Illiapol ghosts in one shot and to help Aphonic.”
Mal tucked the egg back in its place and stared at the rucksacks, his shoulders slumping. “All of these for Longshot’s hand.”
“Do you think the palace magician will be able to heal him?”
“I don’t know. It depends on how much of our trip was relayed to Justice before we discovered Sam’s betrayal.” His expression turned grim. “Longshot isn’t going to make it, Tiger.”
His words struck at my heart. “Don’t say that.”
“You don’t understand. He will not die because he lost his hand, per se. But his ability to shoot, the way his mind works…it was all tied up in that hand.” Mal’s jaw tightened. “Longshot doesn’t think like you or me or anyone else. He can seem ruthless at times, but he’s the first person I want around in a bad situation because he assesses a problem, does the math, and sees the solution. It’s why he was a sniper. He honed his body and his life around that principle. To have to recalculate his life around his left hand at his age, I don’t think that he can.” Mal stared at the floor. “Now that there’s a suicide mission on the table toassassinate Justice, I think he will jump at the chance. Death by palace guard.”
I closed the distance between us and closed my arms around him from behind. “Well then, Longshot is lucky he has all of us to help him through this and to make sure he doesn’t do anything so foolish.”
Mal leaned back into me, just enough that I felt some of his tension leave his body. Not all the way, but it was a start.
CHAPTER 22
Jenny
“You’re sure they have Tiger and the others?” I bounced anxiously in my co-pilot seat, trying to contain myself.
Jac glanced at me. “I read the message half a dozen times, Jenny. They have all of them. Well,mostof all of them,” he muttered.
I didn’t like the way that sounded. “What do you mean, most of all of them?”
He hesitated before answering. “Longshot’s right hand was, according to the message, bitten off by a Vulavi.”
I gasped, and my heart clenched at the devastating news. “Oh, god. What can be done?”
“I’m not sure. But we’re heading back to the manor now.”
“Yeah, okay.” I stared out the window as the ship banked hard and angled for the return route. Dread pulled at the corners of my mind, unraveling the earlier burst of relief.
“How’s the shoulder?” Jac asked.
“Thankfully numb for right now.” Right now it was the least of my worries.
“His hand is my fault,” a small voice behind us crackled.
Looking back at Sam, I was struck by how much the guilt rode her. Between the near-constant low-level sobbing and mumbles of apology, her face was somehow both ashen and red. She looked like a completely different person. Jac had retied her to one of the guest chairs behind us, and again, she hadn’t struggled against being restrained. It was as if she wanted to be punished for what she had done.
The trip back to the manor felt far longer than it was, and I was dying to see Tiger and the others. But Ode was waiting the moment we landed.
She spotted me and immediately took command. “To my infirmary right now—”
“But I need to—”
“Get the nerve damage under control,” she insisted, not wanting to hear any of my excuses. She grabbed my good arm firmly. “Let’s go.”
Apparently, what I wanted was not up for debate.
I followed her to the infirmary in the manor, which was in the front of the building. I didn’t even catch a glimpse of anyone else before she had my shirt off and me face down on the exam table.
“Hold still,” she ordered.
“I wasn’t moving,” I muttered, annoyed with the whole process when all I wanted to do was reassure myself that Mal and Tiger were truly okay.
