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I still don’t know what to say to him. He has retreated from me more than physically. As I look at him, standing as far as he can from the bed I am laying in, he seems guarded suddenly. After all that we have been through, now he wants to stay away from me? I thought we were good when he first came in, but it seems the healer’s visit has put distance between us. How do I fix this?
I begin, “Are you well? The Cabal didn’t hurt you?”
“I am fine,” he says, his voice almost oddly calm. It’s impossible to tell what he is thinking.
I don’t know what else to say, so I ask, “And Korovi? He is not too angry, is he? He got hurt because of me.”
“So I heard,” responds Verrick in that same tone. “He is fine. He was merely worried about you, as we all were.”
Oh. Well, then. I suppose there’s no more beating about the bush. I blurt out, “I’m sorry you were taken . . . it was my fault . . .”
“No, it wasn’t,” Verrick returns, his voice still even.
“It was! Hoggins told me . . . oh, gods! Hoggins! He’s one of the Cabal! We should . . .”
“He’s dead,” Verrick says bluntly. “They all are. We burned them last week.”
That brings me up short for a moment. Shocked, I ask, “All of them? Dead? But how? Did Grazrath . . .”
“No,” interrupts Verrick, “I did. Ideath screamed.”
“Youdeath screamed? But . . . I thought you said that wasn’t one of your gifts.”
“It would appear that I am capable of it, when given the proper motivation,” he answers cryptically. I suppose he means when his life is in danger. Useful, that.
“Then did you kill Grazrath, or rather Antony’s body?”
“No,” he replies. “I have bad news on that front. He escaped out the windows while the others were dying. I tried to keep him from finding any other orcs to drain to complete the ritual . . . but before they could be recalled to the castle, one of the scouts I had on the border of the town was found with puncture wounds and drained of blood. Runes were carved into his body with what appeared to be talons. We believe the demon succeeded and is at large. We could not find his trail though and have no idea where he is now.”
Grave news, indeed. “I’m sorry that I failed when I tried to kill him.”
“You keep apologizing,” he says gruffly. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
“But I looked like I betrayed you! You were taken early because of our argument and then when I was with Antony I said such vile things about you . . .”
“I could smell that you were not being truthful about the things you said. You didn’t take yourorikirileaf tea, remember? I could clearly smell your intentions. You put yourself in the midst of a den of vipers and tried to rescue me, putting yourself in grave danger at the same time. How can you think you need to apologize for such bravery?”
His words leave me speechless. But if he knew I was playacting the whole time, why is he suddenly being distant? Could it be our argument? But that feels like it was so long ago . . . like a lifetime. So many things have happened since then. My feelings . . . well, they are still confused, but I know one thing: I want Verrick in my life and in my bed. I want to fall into him with all the relief that I have that we are both still alive.
But before I can say anything, the door bursts open and Queen Adalind enters the room.
“Pell!”
She gathers me into an embrace that I return easily. Adalind is one of my closest friends, the only one who truly understands what I went through with Yorian.
Behind Adalind, Verrick coughs and says, “I’ll leave you twothe room.” Then he exits before I can protest. I am stunned and a little hurt that he is abandoning me so easily, but I do as I have always done and hide my pain under a smile.
I ask, “What are you doing here, Adali? Don’t you have two countries to run?”
“As if I could be anywhere else! When we received Warchief Verrick’s message, I can't tell you how desperate I felt! You gave us all quite the fright!”
“So everyone tells me. Honestly, it was not on purpose.”
“Of course not, Pell. But I am quite angry with you! Taking on the Cabal by yourself with Warchief Verrick, with no backup. You both could have been killed!” Adalind spears me with an icy disapproving look that I know just means that my friend was worried about me.
“At the time it felt like the only choice,” I protest, perhaps a touch weakly. “We needed to move before the Cabal realized I was working against them. If we had sent for help, they might have intercepted it.”
Adalind keeps the icy look on her face a bit longer before softening. “I know, I know, Pell. Warchief Verrick explained your plan—he was quite adamant in your defense. But it was so dangerous. And to think, they summoned Lord Grazrath. I don’t know what we should do about that. With him unleashed on the land, who knows what will happen?”
