Of Whispers and Daggers ✓ [TLRQ #2]

Chapter 55 - Leavi

The stone walls feel fragile, like they might crumble at any moment. I hurry down the halls and up the stairs. The great windows leak cold air, and I hold my arms tight against my chest. Yesterday it rained, but today it snows, big white flakes floating over the Kadranian army. The air shimmers at the wall, and where the snow touches the shimmering, the flakes melt. The Park the army encamps on is dusted white, but the castle grounds are bare.

Amazement fills me all over again. Riszev told me Aster put the field up, last night when she and her guards dragged him up to the room. I turn away from the window, quickening my pace.

She sent me away in the early hours of the morning when the courtiers, wizards, and soldiers finally stopped knocking at our door. Everyone wanted to see him and know what was happening, and for hours, I played go between. No, he hasn't woken up yet. Yes, he called the order to abandon the wall. No, you cannot see him. Yes, the defense really will only last for three days. No, I don't know anything else, thank you for your concern.

And then I'd signal to Riszev's guards, and they'd close the door again.

They nod and step aside as I approach, and I unlock the door. Inside, the air feels too still for the number of people there. Shava sits silent against a wall with her eyes closed and veiled hands performing ashva. Ollem hovers in Aster's open doorway. At his bedside, Riszev watches in an armchair displaced from the living room. Underneath the unnatural quiet, the staff throbs its constant chants. It feels like an extra heart beating under my skin.

Ollem murmurs a quiet apology as he moves out of the door, and I slip past him. The covers tucked around Aster can't hide the pallor of his skin or the deep hollows of his eyes. At least the blood has been cleaned from around his nose. His finger twitches, and I wonder if he's missing his staff, leaned against the bedside table. Illesiarr had to pry it from his hand last night.

"No change?"

Riszev fists and unfists a black cloth in her lap. "His breaths are more even, I think."

"Good."

We stare.

"Did I say, last night," she asks, "that the doctor thinks he will wake?"

My head shakes. I thought I heard Illesiarr say that as I was coming back from talking to Ladies Riletta and Osennia, but I wasn't sure. "What do you need?"

She shakes her head, still watching the bed. "Ollem already brought breakfast."

"Did you sleep last night?"

"Enough."

"So no."

She flashes me a frown, hands tightening on the fabric in her lap. "Enough, Leavi."

I don't know if she's referring to the sleep or telling me to keep my mouth shut. "Riszev, please. Let me keep watch for you, or Shava. Like you said, there's been little change for hours. I'll let you know if he wakes."