Nightfire | The Whispering Wall #1

Thirty Nine: Visitors

Jordan lay flat on his back and stared at the ceiling. His head was throbbing under his bandages, and though the bed beneath him was soft and warm, it did nothing to dispel the dull ache in his spine and shoulders from being tied to the chair in the warehouse. He would've given a limb for some painkillers, but Nika had only had a soothing gel made out of some stinky plant in his supplies. The gel had been nice, but it had worn off hours ago and left him with renewed pain and a sticky back.

He lay in one of the guestroom beds at the castle. He had wanted to go back to Yddris's and pretend it had all been a horrible dream, but the lord had insisted they stay until the district around the warehouse had been thoroughly searched. Yddris hadn't been too happy about it, either, but Jordan had ruined any argument he might have made by fainting in the lord's study.

Now he was here, and he felt even worse than before.

Someone knocked on the door, and Jordan grunted a vague affirmation.

Grace crept inside, Ren cradled in her arms. Despite himself, his mouth pulled into a smile and he held out his hands. Ren squeaked and jumped from Grace's arms to scramble up his leg, and then she stopped on his chest, sniffing at the bandages and kneading his tunic with her claws. He chuckled and ran a hand through her soft fur, and some of the tension in his chest eased.

"Who brought her?" he murmured, angling his head away with a grin as Ren tried to lick his chin.

Grace giggled and came to sit in the chair beside the bed. "Another apprentice. His name was Kane or something."

"Koen," Jordan said. "He's here?"

"He said he'd visit you soon. He's going to do some rune work on the barracks. I think that's what he told me." She wrinkled her nose. "What's rune work?"

"Oh, they're like...instructions for magic. I don't even know, really. I haven't done any."

"He seemed nice."

"Yeah. Yeah, he's pretty good."

"A friend?"

"I suppose so."

"Nika seems nice, too," Grace said. "I don't know what to think of Yddris."

Jordan laughed and the sound felt foreign in his mouth, but good. Relieving. "Nobody does."

Grace nodded and reached out to stroke Ren, who had squatted down on Jordan's chest and hooked her claws into his clothes. The shadowrunner rolled onto her side, gently rumbling.

"I'm sorry about the other day," Grace said without looking at him. "I wasn't really thinking."

It took Jordan a second to remember what she was talking about. His head was still so full of what had happened in the last few hours, and yet so empty at the same time. The events of a few days ago felt like a distant dream.

"Oh, that," he said, and made a noncommittal gesture with one hand, "Oh, don't worry about that. I overreacted."

"I don't think you did," Grace said. She gave him a serious look. He didn't miss the nervous glance at the bandages around his head and scowled; if she was going to assume he was addled, that was on her. He felt perfectly rational. "I said some stupid things, and I've been thinking about it and I know how stupid they were now."

"What's up, Grace?"

"What?"

He looked at her. "Don't play dumb, I know when something's wrong. What's happened? Did she say something to you? Has she upset you?"

"No, no," Grace said, a blush spreading over her cheeks. "No, I just... Forgot that we'd really only just met. That I don't really know her that well." She shrugged. "I can kinda see why you reacted the way you did."