Trial by Fire

“Eat,” she urged, nudging the jam in his direction.

“I will.” He glanced over at Lily’s pickle-less pickle jar. “Drink the brine,” he ordered gently.

Even though drinking pickle juice was something she would have considered disgusting just three days ago, Lily didn’t hesitate. When she’d finished the last drop, Rowan reached out and placed his fingertips on the inside of her wrist. His willstone glittered at the base of his throat as he gathered some of Lily’s excess energy. After a few heartbeats, Rowan released her, stood, and carried the unopened jam back to the cabinet.

“Why won’t you eat?” Lily asked incredulously.

“I don’t need to. I have you,” he said with a shrug.

“Don’t you want to eat something? I can give you energy, but that’s not the same as feeling food in your stomach, is it?”

Rowan joined Lily by the fire, sitting close to keep warm.

“This used to be an Outlander shelter for those who couldn’t quite make it to Salem,” he told her. “Traders, some of them coming from as far away as the mountains, would stop here as a last resort. Most people who come here are desperate, and some are near to dying. This little cabin and those preserves have saved a lot of lives.”

His expressive lips pressed together, like there was so much more he wanted to say, but was holding back.

“When did it save yours?” Lily guessed.

Rowan met her eyes with a touch of surprise, and then looked away. “When I was seven my father brought me to the Citadel to be tested,” he said. “We had to leave our people and make our way east alone to do it. Outlanders don’t usually risk it. Being chosen is a long shot, so they only bring their children to be tested at the Citadel if they happen to be near Salem during the child’s testing year.”

“Why did your dad risk it?” Lily asked. She couldn’t begin to imagine trying to get through these dangerous woods alone with a little boy.

“My dad was a doctor. Most Outlanders don’t have any book learning, but he did. He said he knew the signs, and he told me I had what it takes to make a good mechanic. Maybe even a great one.” Rowan breathed a mirthless laugh. “Mostly, I think he didn’t want me to die in the mines or fighting the Woven out on the Ocean of Grass.”

An image of the Great Plains popped into Lily’s head, and she nodded her understanding, encouraging Rowan to continue.

“At first, it was like we were charmed. We traveled for weeks without a single problem. It wasn’t until we were two days from here that we finally came across a Woven.” Rowan stopped and looked down at his interlaced hands, rubbing one thumb over the other. “She was an old thing, half blind, half deaf. But she still had enough venom to bite my dad before she died. I had to carry him here.”

Lily reached out and took one of Rowan’s hands, angling her head under his so he would look at her.

“Did he die here?” she asked.

Rowan looked at Lily, and a quizzical smile lit up his face unexpectedly. “No. My dad told me what to do. Even though we were in the middle of the woods and I didn’t have a willstone yet, my dad knew how to heal without magic.” Rowan’s voice dropped and his eyes looked inward. “He was really sick. And heavy. By the time we got to this cabin, it was like entering paradise. A roof. A fire. Jam.”

“Jam,” Lily repeated, swallowing the tight feeling in her chest.