No, as I turned to face this stranger, there was something else there. It was something deep and foreign, something that scared me.
“The head of the houses?” I repeated her phrasing like a question. I knew the answer, though. My brain was far too confused, so I foolishly said the first thing that slipped into it, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by her if her smile was any judge.
“Yes, there will be a council in a few days. He is speaking with the last surviving heads of the family in preparation.”
I could only nod, the old information stagnant to me, after all.
“I’m Risha.”
“Ryland.” My voice was much softer than I had meant it to be.
Maybe I will have you kill her, too.
I fought the jerk at the phrasing, startled by my emotional reaction to the voices. I hoped she didn’t notice.
“Nice to meet you, Ryland.”
I hadn’t thought something so formal could be so beautiful.
We stared at each other, the minutes ticking away until it seemed they had gone by long enough. Then Dramin chuckled, the deep, rich sound pulling me out of whatever reverie I had been stuck in and right to the old man who sat with an ugly mug and the biggest smile I had ever seen plastered to his face.
Kill them all.
“Risha is serving as Ilyan’s second until someone can be chosen to take Talon’s place.” I stared at him, trying to figure out why he would tell me this while still attempting to recover from the embarrassment of having stared at a girl for so long. “I figured I would answer the question that was burning on your brain. That, and she’s single.”
I didn’t think it was possible to choke on something when you were neither eating nor drinking, but I somehow managed it, gasping and coughing loud as I tried to figure out how to breathe again.
Risha only laughed. The sound was rich and joyful, and just like that, I was forgetting how to get saliva down the right side.
What was going on?
As if on cue, the door to the hall opened again, and Joclyn walked in, followed by a thoroughly agitated Wyn.
“I don’t understand why you can’t tell me what you plan on doing to that kid. You never know, I could help you,” Wyn said from behind her, her gravelly voice laced with enough whine that it pulled me right out of the embarrassment I had been plagued with and right into what I should have been certain was hell.
But it wasn’t.
It’s her.
Kill her.
Kill them both.
The voice grew louder, but I ignored it, pushing it from my mind as I stared at them, my mind quick to find its path again.
Yes, it was Joclyn. And, yes, in some ways, I wanted to hurt her. However, in reality, it was just Joclyn. It was just Wyn. It was just two girls. One who used to be my best friend, one whom I used to love. One that, until that moment, every time I would come face-to-face with her, I would see nothing but blood and death.
Kill them now!
The voice grew louder, but I barely even heard it. It didn’t matter anymore. In this one frightening moment, I knew for sure that everything had changed.
I stared at them in bewilderment as they walked in, Joclyn stopping right in her tracks at seeing me staring at her, something that hadn’t been a reality for as long as I had been forced to lie here.
“You’re awake.” I could hear the fear and anger behind her voice.
I expected her own trepidations to ignite mine. Hell, everyone around us obviously expected the same things judging by the way Risha moved closer, her body squared in a guard stance. Wyn was looking between the two of us as if she was trying to decipher who to stop.
Kill them now!
The voice could barely make it through the static.
I wanted to tell him it was useless.
I felt nothing, and I could tell by the look in Joclyn’s eyes that she felt nothing, too.
For whatever reason, by whatever divine wonderment, we had defeated it.
You will never defeat me.
I said it before, Father, I already have.
“Yep, I’m awake.”
She could only nod in understanding, a move so like her I couldn’t help smiling. She returned it so quickly that, for a brief moment, it seemed like everything was going to be all right, that I would get my best friend back.
“I’m here to heal him.” She nodded her head toward the boy.
Part of me should have been grateful for the change, but I was more grateful for the change in us and what we had regained.
She smiled slightly once more before she moved away from me, toward the mysterious boy who lay not too far away.
Wyn laughed and jabbered on about who knew what at such a low decibel that, even if I tried, I wasn’t sure I could make it out.
I looked away from Joclyn, my focus pulling right to the tall, strawberry blond who stood at the foot of my bed with an elegant smile pulling over her face.
“I am glad you are feeling better,” she whispered, her voice laced with all the knowledge in the world, something that, for the first time, I was happy I didn’t have to explain. She already knew.
But, more than anything, I was happy that it was true.
“So am I.”
Twenty-Two