Page 520 of Coal Hearts

With soft smiles and sweet kisses on my cheeks, each jewel gave me a quick hug as they moved from Peter’s bedside and went to visit the other jewels healing down the row.

I never took my eyes off Peter as Rachel hugged me last.

Pressing her lips to my ear, she whispered, “Meet me in the kitchens once you’re done. We need to talk.”

I squeezed her hand and nodded. “I’ll be there.”

“Mollie and I will be waiting.” Turning to blow a kiss at Peter, she added, “See you later, Pete.”

“Yeah, you too.” He grimaced as if speaking took too much energy. “Do what I said and ask Mel to order you some prenatal vitamins.” He swallowed hard, pushing himself to care about others instead of himself, even now. “Just because it’s his doesn’t mean it’s not yours too.”

Rachel rolled her eyes as if she’d heard it before. “Let’s just focus on you first, okay?”

With another quick smile at me, she clasped Mollie’s hand.

They headed back the way I’d arrived.

I didn’t move until the other jewels had scattered.

I tried to see who survived that awful game, but my heart pounded, and I couldn’t take my eyes off how frail Peter had become. How his body held no vitality. How his hands rested like white tombstones on the bed, wrapped in thick padding and bandages. How that damn, damn collar seemed extra heavy and extra cruel, cutting into his neck.

Moving closer, I sat carefully by his hip and drank him in. Tears plopped off my chin as I forced a smile. “I’m glad you’re not dead.”

He laughed, then winced. “Meh, I’m feeling decidedly mixed about that.”

The urge to fling myself on him and hug him stupid came far too strongly.

I managed not to fling, but I still hurt him as I folded close and wrapped my arms around his slender shoulders. He felt even less substantial than before. No longer wiry with strength but thin with sickness.

“Hey.” His arms came up, his thickly wrapped hands bouncing against my back. “I’m okay, jaanu.”

I burst into tears at the name. A name reserved for lovers or husbands and wives. A name that didn’t belong in this place or in our relationship, but I couldn’t find the strength to stop him. “I’m so, so sorry I haven’t been to see you. I tried. I wanted to. I’ve thought about you every second of every day and—”

“Ily...hush.” He chuckled tightly as I pulled away, leaving a few of my tears glittering on his pillow. “I’m fine. It’s fine. I understand why you couldn’t come.”

“Can I get you anything?” I looked around the suddenly rather empty gallery. “Some painkillers? Some water? I can get you something to eat—”

“Ily...” He smirked. “Seriously. Stop it.”

I slouched with a heavy sigh. The mania of finally seeing him faded a little, and I laughed under my breath. “Sorry. I’m just...really, really happy to see you.”

“Same.” With a trembling arm, he reached up and pressed his bandaged hand to my cheek. Using it as a tissue, he sopped up my tears before the exertion got the better of him, and he dropped it down again. “You okay?”

I flinched. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”

He scowled. “The past week has been the best in half a decade.” He cocked his chin at the other jewels in the beds. “No Masters to summon us. No gongs going off. No games to be endured. It’s a fucking holiday.”

Plucking the starched sheets, I asked quietly. “Who...who didn’t return?”

He stiffened. “You sure you want to know?”

It was my turn to scowl. “Just because I’m not allowed to sleep with you guys doesn’t mean I’m not one of you. Of course I want to know.”

“Sorry...I didn’t mean it like that.” He swallowed hard. “I only meant the minute you know their names and how they died, it’ll haunt you.” He looked away. “I have so many ghosts inside me, Ily...so many I’ve seen die in that fucking temple. It’s made even worse by knowing their names, knowing them. The minute I tell you, you won’t be able to forget.”

Lowering his voice, he added, “Right now, all you know is some of us passed on. If it were me, I’d want to stay in that place where it doesn’t become too real.”

My shoulders braced. “Tell me so it is real. They deserve to be mourned. They deserve to be remembered. Their families have no idea what’s happened to them. It’s up to us to carry their memory.”