Page 45 of Peril

Edmund curled on the bench, his head on her lap. He trembled in his sleep—or perhaps he was unconscious. He had been slipping in and out of a restless kind of sleep throughout their train ride.

When they had ridden out of the mountains and seen the small town with its single train track ending at the station, Jalissa had nearly cried at the sight.

Sarya had sold the horses, and they had used the money to purchase second-class tickets on the train. It was not as opulent as a first-class ticket, but they at least had a private compartment with two benches facing each other rather than being stuck in the rows of the cheap seats.

Outside the windows, the sun sank lower until it was nothing but an orange glow on the horizon.

The sliding door to their compartment opened, and Sarya stepped inside with a tray of tea. She set the tray on the small, folding table. “You should attempt to drink something, amirah. This honey vanilla chamomile tea should be gentle on your stomach.”

Jalissa reached for one of the cups, blew on it, and sipped the tea. Sweetened with honey, just as she preferred. The tea soothed her aching stomach and relaxed her tense muscles. “Linshi.”

Sarya sank onto the bench across from her and Edmund. “We are thirty miles out of Aldon.”

Thirty miles. So tantalizingly close, yet achingly far at the same time. There would likely be two, if not three more stops before they reached Aldon, and each stop would drag out as passengers disembarked, luggage was removed, and new passengers boarded.

Perhaps they should have made for an army post where they could have used Edmund’s status as a prince to get them a train that would not stop except for coal and water all the way to Aldon. Maybe they would have been fortunate enough to get a magically powered train, which could make the trip without stopping.

But that would have risked word of their escape making it back to Mongavaria. Or tipping off Princess Bella in Aldon to step up her plan, whatever it might be.

No, right now Jalissa did not dare trust anyone. Not until she could speak with either Averett or Julien in person. Both of them should be in Aldon. Somehow she would just have to get to them, then everything would be all right.

Edmund shuddered, his breathing going even more ragged.

Keeping her grip on Edmund’s fingers with one hand, Jalissa hastily set aside the teacup, then rested her other hand against Edmund’s chest, over his heart. The papers he had stuffed into the pocket on the inside of his shirt rubbed against her knuckles. Beneath her fingers, his skin was clammy but his heart beat in a steady rhythm in time with her own. Still alive. Still strong.

Jalissa closed her eyes and rested her head against the back of the bench behind her. She concentrated on the simple acts of breathing in, breathing out, and clinging to Edmund both with her hands and that extra something deep in her chest where she could sense him.

The clacking of the wheels slowed, then the shriek of the train’s whistle announced the stop.

One stop down. Only a handful more to go.

Jalissa let herself drift, lulled into a wakeful doze once the train started moving once again.

Another screech of the whistle. Another stop. Another shuddering vibration as the train eased into motion once again.

Finally, Sarya touched Jalissa’s shoulder. “We are here, amirah.”

Jalissa blinked and pushed upright, her head spinning a bit. Gathering her strength, she shook Edmund. “We are here, darling. Time to wake up.”

Edmund’s head lolled in her lap, his face a pasty gray-white. Only his heartbeat and the rise and fall of his chest under her fingers reassured her that he was still alive.

She shook him harder. “Edmund, ispamir. Wake up.”

Could she and Sarya carry Edmund between them if he did not wake?

His eyes flickered open, his gaze lifting to her, his eyebrows scrunching.

“We have reached Aldon. It is time to get up.” Jalissa kept her voice soft, soothing, as she tried to lift his head and upper body to prop him upright. She could barely shift him.

“Aldon?” The word came out so slurred that Jalissa barely understood what he was saying. But he at least made a weak attempt at swinging his feet off the bench and woozily tipping upright.

As Jalissa steadied him, the train’s whistle shrieked into the night while the city lights flashed outside the train window, a blur against the black of the night.

Sarya shouldered their one remaining pack. They had ditched anything that could be abandoned, leaving only a few essentials and Jalissa’s orchid still in the pack.

As the train vibrated to a halt, steam whistling, Sarya and Jalissa each tugged one of Edmund’s arms over their shoulders.

Jalissa stumbled under his weight, but she forced herself to straighten. She kept a grip on his hand, her insides churning and shredding with each breath.

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