A Shield of Faith (BOOK 4)

Chapter 26

FENRER

Little Wolf.

Weights pressed against his chest as he tried to breathe from underneath the cover of his blankets. His clothes stuck to his skin with the veracity of ooze. "Kon," he tore out the name of his Aeoniir through the hazy field of view left to him, wriggling in the dark. Before he left, Neven sent a burst of sapphire touched flames into the lamp by his washing bin — a flimsy idea to cool off the wildfire underneath his skin. Energy slipped past his lips with each breath he took, and he squirmed and threw off the blankets, suffocated still. Ancients... what is Yuven feeling...? He tore open his eyes and slid his head in the other direction to check on his closed door.

Kon released a sad sigh in the distance. This... is not Yuven, at least, not in the way you think it is. It is our blood, Fenrer. That, I know. He winced when Kon's mirage stepped from the veil of magick which split the world of the living to the bridge of the dead, lifting his muzzle over him. Do you remember much of your fall into the sea?

Fenrer shook his head and it sent a shockwave of heat down his spine, straight to his tailbone. "You were incanting something," he rasped, dragging brown strands off his brow and out of the sweat.

You understand our covenant. I would see you survive, though I cannot intervene past that one single promise I made. Kon sat beside him, a huff leaving his nose. I had to give you some of my essence to ensure that you are given a chance, to activate the latent magick of our bloodline so that someone — anyone, could see it... and I know not quite what it did past what I knew it would do. I am so sorry, Little Wolf.

Fenrer groaned. "Kon, this isn't your fault," he insisted. "It's okay..."

Kon's blank green eyes remained torn and conflicted. He squirmed when Kon lifted a giant paw then rested it on his brow, scooting closer on his hindlimbs. It is burning something that is not inside... you must rest, Little Wolf. Rest and recuperate, this is not something you wish to test. His paw slid off his brow with ease. If there is something you would have of me—

"Yuven..." his Oathbound's name slipped past his lips. "Don't worry about me... you can hold onto the starlit connection, can you not?" He twisted his attention to Kon, who molded into a blurry mirage. "Even if you can't affect it... do you think you could keep it from dissipating entirely on my end?" Tears dripped down his cheeks. "He needs me..." Darkness cascaded over his eyes, but when he next opened them, Kon was gone, and in his place, Neven stood with a small cup full of ice cubes with a crease to his brow and a tired, weary frown on his face. He tried to lift his hand to grab onto the cup, but found enough strength to wiggle his fingers instead. "Yuven?" he asked once more when Neven went to hand him the cubes.

"No change. I have told Maria your fever has spiked, and she will send someone up with a tonic that should quell some symptoms that might be slipping through the Oathbound connection—"

"I'm fine." Fenrer shivered underneath sandblasted desert suns. "This is probably nothing compared to what he's experiencing." He wiped his brow once more and took the cup to press the ice cubes against his lips. Each one sparked and melted at his fingertips. Waves of frustration slammed into his chest, a circle of flames as he faced down a draugr which wore his dad's rotted face. In a surge of light, he punted the cup across the room, where it smashed into his weapon stand and the remaining ice cubes clattered onto the floor. On his hips, he rasped into his hands, "I'm fine. I just need something..." He used Neven as a crutch before his Guardian could think to keep him in the confines of the warmth. He hobbled over to the washing basin, dipping his fingers, then his hands, and then his entire face into it. It bubbled in his ears, a swallowed chokehold of the sea. Neven's golden aura spiked against his temples and dug its teeth in deep as he came from the surface, dragged by a pillar of sunlight at the tip of a statue's hands. Water cupped in his hands, he wiped it down his face with a cloth, stumbling past Neven when he got off his bed, hands outstretched. "I need to get to the bathhouses, cool myself off..."