Mar

11| No Place to Lie

As I reach for the door, it flies away from me, and Lady Constance spills through the opening. She is even shorter than me. Her scent speaks of great age and something different yet familiar, something that reminds me of Asher. Discounting the sparse wrinkles, her sharp, gray-green eyes are exactly like his.

With a word I don't recognize, she shoves me aside. The sound of swishing silk accompanies her every movement. Her escorts follow closely with Asher strapped to a stretcher between them.

"Wait, where are you taking him? Asher!" My call ends in a yelp as the old woman grabs my right arm—the one Brute bit—and tows me out of the stretcher's way.

"His consciousness is intermittent. At the moment, he can't hear you, and he doesn't need you waking him." She has the same authority in her voice as Uncle, though she pronounces words a little differently.

"Will he be alright, Lady Constance?" Esperanza asks.

"We'll know more once we get him back to the estate, where I have access to more resources and he has a proper place to rest. A kitchen table is no place to lie and hope recovery stumbles across you."

I agree, but I don't like the way she stares at me.

"What lovely eyes and unusual ears you have, child. You're one of Nabal's successes."

I back toward the men securing Asher to a foldable cart and keep my injured arm behind me. A low growl boils from my throat.

"Were you there? What did Nabal give him? Besides a knife to the chest, I mean."

I didn't see Nabal give Asher anything. But Nabal gave me a syringe and the choice to wake Asher up.

"One of their serums. Nabal said it might use up all of Asher's strength, but he wouldn't have awakened without it. Nabal said he hoped to get something useful out of him in his final moments."

The lady's brows fall, eyes closing, and disappointment gathers in her scent. "Then he did intend to kill the boy. My Felix was right not to trust Nabal, but a mother's heart can be truly blind."

Her eyes snap open, and sorrow turns to determination so fast I flinch.

"We don't have time to stand about chatting." She scurries up her hum-horse's wing. It seems like that would hurt—Asher was told never to put his feet on Fengari's wings—but the hum-horse gives no indication of being bothered by it. "The serum helped him, in a way. His systems accelerated. He's already replenished most of the blood he lost. But he's guzzling energy like that, a year's worth of life, gone in a matter of minutes."

I don't understand.

"Does that mean Asher is aging years in minutes?" I ask Esperanza. "How long has it been? Is he like a fifteen-year-old now?"

"Asher is seventeen," Esperanza tells me. "He was nearly fourteen when you were born."

I had no idea Asher was so old. Actually, I had no idea how old Asher was at all. A part of me figured he was a little older than me, while I also assumed he always existed.

Esperanza explains, "Human ages are different from dog ages. Lady Constance is over eighty."

Eyes wide, I stare at the old woman as she settles astride her hum-horse. "She's related to Asher."

"She is Asher's great-grandmother, and you will call her Lady Constance."

"She smells different. Different like the hum-horses."

Esperanza sighs. "She's the first of Felix Azuré's successful living experiments."

My gaze jumps to Esperanza. A mouthful of questions pile on my tongue, jumbled and smashed together. They're like peanut butter in my mouth.

"Very few people know that. It's a closely guarded secret, but Asher told me. I figure you should know since you're similar to her."

She's an experiment like me. I flip the thought over in my mind. If I can see how she fits, then perhaps there is a place for me, too.

"How did he choose her?"

"She's from across the largest ocean. A giant wave washed ashore monsters and beauties the world had never seen. Felix Azuré went to share in the discovery, but he had a bad ear for languages and a worse way with words. He called his translator Lady Constance because he couldn't say her real name. Yet, many did not want the foreign scientist to share in their treasures. They attacked his ship. Lady Constance was gravely injured. She would have died if not for Felix Azuré's genetic tampering."

"He healed her?"

"More than that." Esperanza hugs me tighter. "She can regenerate, Mar. Given time, she can recover from almost anything, and all her descendants have some level of her resilience, including Asher. Without it, I fear he would be dead several times over."

"Esperanza," Lady Constance calls. "Ride with Asher and ensure he doesn't fall."

Esperanza hurries to the cart.

I don't know what to think of the story. It sounds like what Mother would deem a "tall tale Asher shouldn't be repeating." But it makes as much sense as my own story.

Stunned, I follow Esperanza.

"No, Mar. Stay here." She climbs beside Asher on the cart.

"I stay with Asher."

She shakes her head. "The sheriff already pointed his gun at you."

"I'm not afraid of him." I am, very much so, but I won't admit it if it means watching them take Asher from me.

"Dr. and Mrs. Plunker are good people, and you've involved them in this. Stay here and protect them."

"But—"

She puts her hand on mine and pries it off the side of the cart. Sticks snap under the wheels as they start forward. "Asher will find you when it's safe. I promise."