Page 77 of The Infirmary for Dragon Burns and Midair Mishaps

I leaned my chin against the top of her head. “Where does this leave us?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted, dropping her hands to wrap her arms around me, clutching me so tightly it was hard to breathe. “I suppose… it means there’s a lot for us to figure out.”

I nodded. “Do you wish you’d never come to Ember Ridge in the first place?”

It took her a long moment to answer. She played with the ends of my hair. “No.”

“Well, that’s something, at least.”

She smiled at me then. “I know I like this.” She pressed a kiss to the side of my wrist. “I like you. A lot. A lot. A lot.”

“I guess that’s all I can ask for.” I didn’t have a good answer for our worries. I didn’t have a way to assuage either of our fears. “And just for the record, I like you, too. A lot, a lot, a lot.”

“I figured,” she teased. “You’re very obvious in your affections.”

I scoffed. “I’m not that obvious.”

She laughed as I snuggled into her. “Please, half the infirmary knows. Seraphine’s been teasing me about you since, like, day one.”

“I am broody and secretive,” I said, rejecting her statement. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She pressed her lips to the middle of my forehead. “Yes, my grumpy little wrangler. You’re right. No one had any idea how you felt.” When she pulled back, she caught my eye. “Do you think you’ll talk to Trystan again today?”

I nodded. “I told him the kingsguard needs to set up a better perimeter around the Wretch. Now that Grady’s been injured, I’m sure there won’t be any pushback from the captain. They’re waiting for reinforcements to arrive before they attempt to move the beast again, so I suppose I’ll offer my help in securing the perimeter. Min and I will do what we can to keep curious folks away.”

Eden hummed.

“Why do you ask?”

“I was just thinking about something…” A muscle in her cheek twitched. “Something Gunther said when he returned to the infirmary. And I wondered if perhaps your brother might know more about it.”

She sounded concerned in a way I wasn’t expecting. No, it wasn’t just concern. There was a tremor of fear laced in her voice. “What exactly did he say?”

Eden snuggled closer to me like that would make it easier to speak about. “He said there were whispers of a plague along the border towns. Something Cai’amar has never seen before. Something steeped in magic.”

I pulled back, dread coiling around my spine. “Was he certain?”

“Can anyone be certain of a rumor?” Eden lifted her arm in a half-shrug, then cocked her head. “Why? Do you already know something about it?”

“Not exactly.” I replayed the conversation I’d had in the pub with Trystan in my mind. “But my brother did mention that before his company was dispatched from the capital, there’d been word of ill tidings along the border. Some sort of unrest, he said.”

“He didn’t know what it was?”

I shook my head.

“Do you think they’re one and the same? The unrest and the rumors of the plague.”

“Maybe.”

“Do you think Trystan knows more than he’s letting on?”

“He would have no reason to lie to me,” I told her. I trusted him with my life. I always had. “Though the king might have reason to lie to the kingsguard if he didn’t want to cause a panic.”

“You think the king already knows about the plague and is keeping it quiet?” Eden said.

“Possibly. The one thing Trystan was sure of was that the king was after the Wretch because of those rumors. In a time of crisis, what could be a better show of strength than having the land’s biggest dragon at your command?”

Eden looked pensive. “And what do you think about it all?”