Page 135 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
Hallie blinked. Her eyesight finally expanded past the ground beneath her. The sound of the tunnels trickled back in. Kase’s face came into view as he lifted her head—his short beard, his calm gaze, his perfectly formed lips.
“I’m not a girl.”
He smiled, his hands still on her cheeks. “Irksome lizard, then.”
Hallie gave him a shaky smile, even if the sweat and subtle quake of her hands negated it. “Thank you.”
“You’re the one who taught me how.”
He pulled her into a hug, and for that moment, she melted into him. Engulfed in his scent and wrapped in his arms, the last vestiges of her panic attack receded more. The longer he held her, the more they faded. It had been years since her last one. Jack’s death had brought them on. By the time she left for Kyvena, they’d been a thing of the past. It was how she’d been able to coach Kase through one, but apparently, she couldn’t help herself anymore.
He was going to die.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Her breathing picked up.
Breathe in for three. Out for four.
It wasn’t a nebulous something occurring someday in the far-flung future. It would happen. Soon. The world was falling apart. That was what the strange floating Yalvar fuel meant. They would all die, consumed by it.
In for three.
She only got to two.
“Hals,” Kase whispered into her ear. He hadn’t let her go, only kept holding her close. “If there’s anyone who can figure out a way out of this, it’s you.”
“But Loffler and Niels and the…the…what Saldr said…”
She couldn’t form a coherent sentence. Her thoughts were all a jumble, and she couldn’t even determine what she wanted to say. Everything hurt. She needed sleep. Desperately.
“We’ll do this together.” He pulled back a little and hooked a finger underneath her chin. She opened her eyes and found his. He didn’t blink. “You get a medic to look at you, since your father is busy helping Niels, and I’ll be back before you’re done, all right? I need to have a word with the Stradat Lord Kapitan.”
In for three.
Hallie’s words came out a little strained. “I’ll go with you.”
Her mother came back into sight then and interjected, “You need to rest. Now.”
“I’ll be fine.” Hallie hadn’t intended for the words to contain any bite, but they did. Her mother only raised a single brow. “Sorry, Mama.”
Movement came from behind her. Hallie looked up to see her father conversing with a few medics. They directed him and Saldr to take Niels to the back of the ward. Fely followed behind.
“I’ll stay until someone comes to check on you,” Kase whispered in her ear.
According to a few people who scurried about with supplies as they passed her, the hospital area had been moveddue to the bombing. It would’ve been worse if Kase hadn’t taken things into his own hands. Word must have spread at last, as several people who passed them by thanked him.
Not the sort of thing you said to the person who’d set the city on fire a few years ago. Did they not know? Or had saving their lives in a hover erased any ill will? At this point, Hallie didn’t think she cared how it had happened, only that it did. Kase had messed up. Badly. But he’d grown in the years since, and the fact that he’d been willing to go back and face it head-on? That showed maturity.
Hallie could forgive him for telling the Stradat Lord Kapitan about her powers. It was foolish of her to feel betrayed over that anyway. He’d only wanted to win this horrible war. It still stung a little. But it was Kase. He only had her best interests at heart…she thought.
Stars. She hated that little seed of doubt. Why couldn’t her brain just allow her a little bit of happiness, a little bit of sunlight on the dark horizon?
She tucked herself closer to Kase and tried to shove the thoughts away. The current situation at hand was enough to distract her. One of the nurses took Fely and Saldr back to one of the tents.
Like an ant hive, the hospital overflowed with people. Some constructed tents to house some patients or areas where surgery might be performed in relative privacy. Others were lying prone on the floor or in scavenged bed rolls. It was hard for Hallie to ignore the blood and frantic shouts of those waiting to be treated. Hallie looked down at her hands. It was better to focus there.
A pair of shoes came into view a few minutes later, but Hallie didn’t look up. Her pulse had finally returned to normal.
“She’s breathing and stable, but I’d like a medic to look her over, if you would,” Kase told someone above her. He helpedher stand and kept an arm around her. Hallie didn’t hear the person’s response, but Kase led her to the side where they could wait.
