Page 78 of Season Warriors & Wolves

He headed for the dressing chambers, and I followed shortly after, flipping through pages and pages of detailed craft. “At some degree. We tracked Vas for a while and Moriko managed to locate him one day down southwest of the Hanaian border. Visha had him trapped for a good solid ten seconds and it would have taken two more for me to have held him entirely under it. He got out. Barely.”

I gaped, realisation hitting me, remembering how weak Vas had looked, wheezing and holding his chest at times. “That is why he looked injured?”

“That’s good to hear.”

The papers dropped from my hands. “You were hunting Vas today?”

He dug through his clothes. “Of a sort.”

“Kilian, that is dangerous.”

He looked at me over his shoulder, throwing a shirt on. “Is it now?”

“You fought him again today?”

“No. He just stood there and screamed till his witch portalled him out of there.”

“The blood—”

“The Aura he had with him. Adriatian. Felt…poetic to do it manually. Sort of had forgotten how bloody people are though.”

Glaring at him, I returned to lay down on our bed, picking up some of the calculations Visha had made for the dream veils she was practising to trap Vas with. Something cold and scaly and familiar and raw touched my shoulder, and I flinched, crawling and stumbling away from the bed until my back met the far wall. My breath misted, old shivers rising over my skin, frost sliding over marble and spreading through the room. Black specks blurred my vision, and when I looked down at my arms, there were bite marks all over again.

I choked, struggling to breathe, feeling something slither against my throat.

Kilian was already on his knees in front of me. “Where…what…what hurts? Love, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t…don’t touch me.”

He stilled. Breathing. Moving. “There are easier ways to tell me to go die.”

Hot tears slipped down my cheeks and I reached for him. “I’m sorry. All…over. They’re all over.”

He took me on his lap, skimming my skin with his fingers, searching and searching. It took him less time than me to realise that there was nothing there, but he didn’t stop, as if to comfort me. He blew on my skin and brushed his hand all over, slowly washing away the veil of memory. “It’s alright. They’re gone. See?” he asked, slowly kissing up my arms. “Gone.”

For a brief moment, I tore my eyes from his and looked down.

Gone.

They were gone.

Leaving only a haunted feeling behind.

Memphis wriggled and yowled, hiding in the corner of our bedroom, her cries piercing my heart. It had been her, just her. “I’m sorry.”

Kilian looked between her and I. “Come here, Memphis,” he called, reaching a hand to her while he held another on me, making sure to not let me go.

My animal looked unsure, but she slowly walked to us, eyes downcast and guilty.

He took my hand and put it on her head, letting me feel my oldest friend’s warm fur. “It’s just Memphis, my heart.”

She came closer, resting her head on my shoulder and I hugged her tightly to me. “I’m sorry, M.”

I’m sorry, too, her voice echoed back inside my head. She nudged my arms with her snout and Kilian’s hand gently grabbed my own, prying it from where I was scratching against my skin there. He left to return with a warm wet cloth, cleaning the blood. “What is it that you thought touched you?”

I opened my mouth to speak and then shut it when Memphis let out a long trill of broken notes.

Immediately, his eyes lifted to mine again. They searched and searched for answers that he always got correctly. He didn’t say it out loud, but he’d figured it all out.