Page 15 of Kiss the Dawn
My gaze flicked to her face to find her watching me. “It’s spreading,” she confirmed. “My leg, too, now.” She swallowed hard. “Can you promise me something?”
“Anything.”
“If I go feral, then you’ll put me down.”
My heart sank. “Padma, I?—”
“Please. I don’t want you to keep me in a cage hoping that a cure will materialize. I don’t want to be that person, thatthing. I want you to end me. Please…Orina…”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re the only one I can trust to carry it through.”
This was the moment to say that it wouldn’t come to that, that we’d find a cure, but it wasn’t platitudes she needed, it was assurance. “I’ll do it. I swear. If you go feral, then I’ll take you down.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
I followed her back into the sitting room, the sinking feeling coagulating into something heavy and ominous in my belly.
How much longer would we succeed in staving off this infection? And if we failed to stop it, would I be able to keep my word?
It wasstrange getting into bed without Hemlock, but he’d left soon after Padma and Edwin returned; after all, someone needed to speak to Ezekiel about what had happened. Kaster had stayed for a while longer but left when everyone started to get ready for bed.
Lorenzo had taken the sofa, and the others tucked themselves into their sleeping bags on the living room floor. I could have joined them, but I needed a little space before my trip tomorrow, so I shut myself in the bedroom with a sleeping bag because the bed had no sheets.
It was a comfy mattress, though. Ezekiel had spared no expense.
Hemlock would have told him everything by now.
He’d be waiting for me in our dreamscape. At least…I hoped he was.
I relaxed and allowed myself to let go of consciousness.
The salty,ocean air filled my head. I was in our vista, ready to speak with Ezekiel, almost too afraid to turn around in case the room behind me was empty.
“Hello, Little Silver.”
How could I have doubted him?
He sat on the plush sofa, goblet in hand, dark hairloose about his beautiful face, and my heart throbbed. “Hemlock spoke to you?”
“He did.”
“And…”
“I raged a little, of course.”
“A little?”
He shrugged, mouth turning up wryly. “A little in comparison to some of my rages.”
I bit back a smile. “I’ll be safe. Lorenzo has ensured it.”
“Hemlock says that he’s high up in the mageri ranks. I’m assuming at the pinnacle if he can assure your safety.”
“That’s right.”
He set his goblet down and bridged the distance between us, and I tilted my chin to take in his meticulously carved beauty.
