Page 20 of The Searching Songbird

“You were awful sweaty,” Kenny explained when she looked up at them in confusion.

“Oh.” She reached a shaky hand to her face, feeling the dampness there. The memory of the woman's cane swinging through the dim light flashed through her mind, and her hand fell to her shoulder as she recalled the searing pain of it striking there. But, of course, there was nothing there. No welts, no bruises, no blood. Because it hadn't been real.

At least, not real for her.

Somehow, she'd found herself inside the dragon Shendri, and it reminded her of the real reason why she was traveling to Flores. She had to find her.

Before it was too late.

“Are you alright?” Draven's worried voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and she realized she'd just been sitting there, silently frowning at a damp towel.

“I'm fine,” she replied. “I guess I was more stressed by the events earlier than I thought, and it all caught up with me at once.”

He leaned forward, pressing the back of his hand against her forehead as he studied her face, his brown eyes dark with worry. “Are you sure? Do you feel sick at all? Feverish?” He let his hand fall but continued to examine her with his eyes. “You were unconscious for several minutes.”

“Yes, no, and no,” she replied, resisting the urge to sigh as she felt the tension in her shoulders melt away. There was something soothing about his touch and the way his deep voice wrapped around her like a warm blanket.

“It seems I owe you twice over, now, Mr. Grant. First you saved me in the market, and now this. Carrying me down here from the mess hall couldn't have been easy.”

The corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement as he straightened back up. He crossed his arms over his chest, cocking his head to the side. “And what makes you think I was the one who carried you? It could very well have been Kenny, and here you're giving me all the credit.”

“Yeah,” Kenny interjected. “It could have been me.”

She gave them a skeptical look. “Was it?”

“Nah, you were right, it was Grant.” Kenny grinned. “I offered, but he beat me to it. Guy's got some crazy reflexes. Pulled yer face outta the soup and was checkin' yer heartbeat 'fore any of us even realized what was happenin'. Yelled at us all to get outta the way and just scooped ya up like you were a feather.” He laughed, elbowing Draven in the side. “Course, he didn't know where yer cabin was, so he had to turn 'round about halfway out and yell fer me to come with him.”

Draven grunted, turning his head to the side, but not before Lily saw a hint of pink creeping up out of his beard.

“Anyway, you seem fine enough now, so I'd better be going. It's late, and you need to rest. Kenny?” He looked over at the boy and jerked his head toward the door. “That means you, too.”

“Yes, sir. You need me to bring you anything, Miss Lily? Some tea or somethin'?”

“No, thank you, Kenny. Mr. Grant is right, I just need some rest.”

“Well, alright.” The boy stuffed his hands in his pocket, a look of disappointment crossing his face. “Guess this means you won't be singin' tonight, huh?”

“No, probably not. Rain check for tomorrow?”

“I'll hold you to that.” He pulled on the brim of his cap before turning toward the door to leave. “G'night, Miss Lily.”

“Good night, Kenny, and thanks for helping.”

He lifted his hand in a wave as he left the room. Draven turned to follow him out, but Lily swung her legs off the bed and stood, catching hold of his sleeve before he could leave. He looked back at her, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Was there something else you needed, Miss Delaney?”

“Call me Lily, and no, I just wanted to thank you. Really. You've been my knight-in-shining-armor today.”

A flash of something indiscernible crossed his face – guilt? Disgust? She wasn't certain, but it was gone before she could analyze it any further, his expression impassive once again. He opened his mouth to say something, and she held up her hand. “And don't say it was nothing. It wasn't nothing to me.”

He let out a surprised laugh as he stared at her, speechless. After a moment, the corner of his mouth pulled up in a rueful grin. “Knights are overrated.” He took a step backwards, toward the door. “And it's Draven.” With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the room, leaving Lily to stare after his retreating form.

“Draven.” She tried the name out, enjoying the way it felt on her lips. Falling back onto her bed, she stared up at the ceiling and let the events of the day float past her eyes like a moving story. The ending made her flinch, as she recalled the vicious crack of the cane and wondered how many times the other girl had felt its punishing sting before today.

“How can that woman do something like that to another human being?” she wondered aloud. And it wasn't just her. She was almost certain the boots she'd seen in the original vision had belonged to a man. Who knew how many people might be involved?

It's going to be difficult enough to locate her in such a large city. What am I going to do if I actually find her?