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“Josie will be all right. We’ll help her adjust to it. She’ll be alive, that’s the important thing.”
“No!” I shouted, unable to contain myself. “How can you say that? How can you restrict her life like that? How can you accept anything less than her full potential?”
Hands gripped my shoulders, shaking me until I fell silent, the whole crowd hushed in the wake of my outburst.
I was shaking all over, unable to calm my emotions. Defiant, I gazed at Amara’s face.
“Delphine, control yourself!” she snapped. “This isn’t about you!”
I refused to back down, though, glaring at her with all my overflowing outrage. How could they all agree to this so calmly?
Amara sighed, her grip on me softening.
“We can take her to Caltor,” I said, reaching desperately for any option. “I can keep her alive long enough to get her there. They can heal the leg. She doesn’t have to lose it.”
Amara glanced at Esme, who slowly shook her head.
She didn’t quite meet my eyes when she spoke. “You had to stop all the blood flow to her leg to prevent her bleeding out. Maybe you’re too new to have learned yet, but a leg without blood can’t last more than a few hours before it dies. Caltor is two day’s ride. Even if you don’t stop overnight and get there in one day and one night, the leg will be past salvaging.”
I flushed, finally looking down. I did know that. I had read it in one of the anatomy books Amara bought me. I was talking wildly, from emotion and not reason, and everyone here must know it. I was reflecting badly on both myself and my master, but I couldn’t seem to rein myself in.
Esme moved closer to Amara, giving me a sideways look as she lowered her voice.
“If she can’t do it…If she’s not in a fit state, or if she doesn’t have the strength…” She grimaced. “I can’t do it on my own, not with the patient’s level of resistance.”
“Don’t worry,” Amara said in crisp tones. “Delphine can do it. She just needs a moment.”
I wanted to be grateful for her belief in me and proud of the strength she thought I possessed, but anger still raged through me, my embarrassment only adding further force to the tossing waves of my emotions. Everyone was so calm and rational—didn’t they care? Did no one care that this young girl’s life was going to be made small?
“Is there time?” Amara asked the healer. “Can you keep her sleeping for a while?”
The healer scratched at the side of her face, her eyes distant as she considered. “I can at least keep her asleep. That much I can manage. And it will take us time to get her moved and for me to get everything set up. You can have an hour, even two, if you must. There won’t be any lasting damage in that time.”
She glanced at the two parents, and even through the fog of my fury, I could read her expression. She and Amara believed that a longer wait would only be delaying the inevitable—a cruelty to the parents who were in great distress.
I tore out of Amara’s hold and dove into the crowd. I thought I would have to push through them, but people parted before me, melting away to give me a clear path. When I looked at the wide-eyed stares and then down at my gown, now streaked with blood, I could see why. I seemed like a madwoman, beyond reason or sense.
I ignored them, breaking into a run as I dashed toward the edge of the crowd and the open fields beyond. I needed to get away, I needed to feel my legs pounding and my breath rasping harshly in my lungs. I needed to stop thinking, stop feeling, stop—
A hand grabbed at my arm, pulling me back so abruptly that my momentum carried me around in a half circle. I almost collided with Amara who had firmly planted her feet, a solid presence in the middle of my storming sea.
“Go,” she said once I had steadied. “Run it out of your system if that’s what you need. You have an hour.” She took my chin firmly in her hand and forced me to look her in the eyes. “But you have to be back in an hour. I know this isn’t easy for you. I know you haven’t properly processed your own pain yet. But this girl’s future has nothing to do with the choices your father made for you. No one is reducing this girl—they are saving her life. And they need you to do it. Delphine, do you hear me? You cannot leave this girl to die.”
I stared at her, and she continued, unbending. “Promise me. One hour and you’ll be back at that square.”
I jerked a nod. “I’ll be back.”
As soon as I spoke the words, she released me, and I fled from the village as if wolves were chasing me.
ChapterNine
For a short time I could see nothing but the field beneath my feet and hear nothing but my rough breath grating in my ears. Everything else had disappeared.
But as my legs began to burn and my breathing became more labored, the world slowly returned. My first awareness was of the animals around me. The wild ones had scattered at my frantic approach, but I could feel one familiar presence behind me, her heart pumping as she matched my speed. Ember.
Without conscious intention, my feet slowed. I wasn’t alone. Faithful as always, the fox had followed me, expending the effort she would usually reserve for short dashes after prey. She knew nothing of the situation, she only recognized my distress. Just her presence brought a small measure of calm to my fevered mind.
But as soon as I slowed and started paying attention, I realized Ember wasn’t the only one following me. A human was behind me as well, carefully keeping pace so as not to overtake me.
