Page 76 of Of Blood and Banes
“N-nothing but my n-name…h-he didn’t even…l-look at me.”
“Did you touch him?”
“No…why are…you asking me th-these th-th-things?”
“Do you feel alright?” She pats my cheek and forehead, nearly flinching when she touches my skin. Her breath whooshes out in a single blow. “Gods and heavens, you’re freezing.”
I nod, each second draining more energy to keep my eyes open.
Cole presses a hand to my cheek again before whipping a pointed look at Marge. “Why is she so cold?”
“Because she visited The White.”
“What in the hells is that?” he asks.
“The White is what many of the elders called the afterlife. When we die, our souls go to The White?—”
“And you just let her fucking pull until she died?” Cole growls.
“Well, I alerted you, didn’t I?” she bites back. “Don’t get mad at me. There wouldn’t have been anything I could have done to stop it. And besides, she didn’t actually die. She just visited it, you overprotective buffoon.”
I can’t seem to form my thoughts into words past my trembling lips.The afterlife? Where was everyone else? My mother, my father, the little girl I failed to save back in Hornwood?
Cole continuously rubs the side of my arm firmly, narrowing his gaze at Marge. “We need to get her inside and warm. Are there other repercussions we should be wary about?”
“Not that I know of. As long as she didn’t touch anyone…she should be fine. She’ll just need rest.”
Numbness seeps throughout every inch of my body. Just as I’m about to curse Marge for not warning me of the risks, I slip back out of consciousness.
CHAPTER 26
CUTTING LOSSES
My muscles groan in protest as I work to wake them. With a yawn, I turn to my right, feeling like bags of sand lie on my eyes as I drag them open. The heaviness in my body turns out to be from the weight of blankets piled high on top of me. I shove them down to my knees and sit up as someone’s snicker pulls my attention to the stone wall.
“So cold-blooded, you needed that many blankets to keep warm?” Darian taunts.
I glance back to the pile of blankets and recognize a jacket draped over them. And it isn’tCole’s…
I side eye Darian. “Why is your jacket up here?”
“They stripped it off my body to keep you warm, of course.” He flicks something off his knee.
“Liar.”
He sighs with an eye roll. “Fine. I threw it over to you in case you froze to death. You’re no use to me dead, you know.”
“How charming of you,” I mumble as I get up and toss his jacket back over to him. This is now the second time I’ve woken up in the morning with a poor recollection of the previous night’s events and his jacket draped over me. Though, I guess Ishould be happy this time around I didn’t wake up in his bed.Wearinghis jacket.
“Just as I wouldn’t be so useful to you if I were dead either…” he starts, glancing over to me slyly.
I tie my boots up my shins and pause, still bent over as his voice tampers off. “Yes. As you already know.”
“I have a proposal,” he says rather plainly.
I perk up, straightening my back and staring at him from the other side of the bed. “I’m listening.”
“I’ll tell you what the King is planning…” He drags his gaze away from mine, lazily examining his fingernails before he clenches his fists and cracks his knuckles.
