Page 70 of Crucible
It’s late when we finally make it home.
No one speaks as we trudge inside the quiet cabin. We’re too on edge, wondering if we should be suiting up for a repeat of last night. I’m honestly so exhausted pretending to look for Aurelia that I don’t know if I can spare the energy to fight with her again.
If she chooses violence again, I’m tapping out. She wins this round.
Thorin walks to his bedroom, where we found her last time, and peeks inside. There’s a mixture of relief and worry when he finds it empty.
We finish searching the entire upper floor before I realize the cabin is warm.
The last time we left Aurelia alone, she let the fire go out, and we came home to dying embers and a frigid cabin. The fire in the living room is still burning, albeit a little wildly, for the middle of the night.
I reposition the logs inside the stove so there’s less airflow before heading to the kitchen. Seth is doing the same to the larger stove we use for cooking while Thorin is eyeing the three covered plates on the counter as if they’ll explode.
His gaze rises to meet mine, and I almost laugh at the panic in them as he says, “I’m not eating that.”
“We have to.” I chuckle as I walk over to take a closer look. “Kind of sends a mixed message if we don’t, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t care,” Thorin says. He’s shaking his head and backing away. “I’lldie.”
I roll my eyes at him and then lean over the counter to study the food because it can’t be that bad.
It’s worse.
It looks like…shit.
The food looks like shit. And smells like death.
“How the hell is she gettingworse?”
I’d left Aurelia the cookbooks before heading out this morning. I can see a couple of them open on the counter, so I don’t have to question if she’d at least made an effort.
“Who the hell cares?” Thorin grumbles. “I’m not eating it.”
“Don’t be a baby. You—”
“Hey, fellas.”
Our gazes shift to the opening, where Aurelia is standing with a suspiciously bright smile on her face. The front of her dress is soaked through, but I don’t get a chance to ask what the hell she’s been up to because she says, “You’re home.” There’s a stumbling pause as she searches for something else to say to us. “How was your day?”
It’s forced and awkward.
“Fine,” Thorin snaps. The grouchy son of a bitch is glaring at her now like those things he said at the camp never happened.
The skin under Aurelia’s eyes looks a little lighter, giving her a sickly pallor. Considering our struggle to keep anything down earlier, it’s obvious Aurelia had gotten sick, too. She hadn’t eaten as much as the three of us, yet she looked worse off.
“Feeling all right?”
Aurelia makes eye contact with me, and I can see the indecision in her eyes before she looks away. “Yup! I hope you’re hungry. I made dinner.”
I rub the back of my neck. “Yeah. Um…”
Noticing my hesitation, the weird smile on her face falls. “What’s the matter?”
“Aurelia, what is this?” I gesture to the food.
“Your dinner.”
“Right, but whatisit?”
