When we entered the Keep’s dungeon, I didn’t scream. I wanted to, but I didn’t.
The guards were still there, watching me. I refused to acknowledge them. The only one I bothered to share contact with was the one I’d attacked. Kiefer was sporting a bloody lip. For a second, I felt a sliver of something other than despair, but then it was gone.
I was standing in front of Darren’s cell. The guards weren’t concerned with a potential escape. Darren’s wrists and ankles were attached to manacles on chains.
They unlocked the bars.
I tried not to stare at the prisoner’s blistered skin, rubbed raw from every time he shifted in place. There was a bucket in the far corner—empty. Priscilla must have ordered it changed after my first visit, but the stench was still enough to water my eyes.
Darren’s eyes were half-closed, his chest rising and falling as he slumped against the bars. This time, he was sitting up—barely—and I could see blood seeping through his rags.
A cry rose up deep inside. Darren.
I knelt down beside the fallen king and my chemise puddled at my feet. Alex and Ella helped me adjust. It didn’t matter, not when this boy was in front of me, slowly fading away in his cell.
I placed a trembling hand to his wrist, doing my best to fight the knot in my lungs.
“Ry…iah.” Darren’s voice was rough and unused. I could hear how much it pained him to speak.
“I’m here.” I didn’t want him to see me cry; I needed to be strong.
Ella placed a calming hand on my back. “We brought Alex here to help, Darren. He’s going to treat some of your wounds.”
My brother knelt. “What hurts the most?”
Darren’s lips were white as he bit out the words. “No… need.”
Alex looked to me, and my nails dug into my thigh until it burned. “Darren,” I croaked, “please.”
For a moment, the king didn’t speak. Then he drew a sharp breath and shut his eyes. “My… chest.”
Alex splayed five fingers across Darren’s ribs, and the king’s face went ashen and pale. Something burned in my lungs. Whatever the guards had done, it hurt a great deal, much more than he let on.
“I’m going to do my best,” Alex murmured, “but Priscilla only wants me to see to the worst of it. If I do too much—”
“I… understand.” Darren’s face contorted as the first spark of green seeped in under his skin, but still, he held strong.
I didn’t realize I was shaking until I felt the pad of a callused thumb against my wrist. I started, and the king smiled, his lips cracked and red.
“You’re… still alive.”
My heart stammered in my chest. “I was your l-last stand?”
Darren’s eyes held my own, and I saw a thousand different emotions at once. His answer bespoke everything I had wondered those last few minutes in the cave. All those things left unsaid.
My fingers locked on his wrist. “You were mine.”
The king’s smile fell away. “Shouldn’t… have.”
“In a week…” My voice caught as I read the set of his jaw. Darren already knew. “I’m g-going to stop it.” My voice was hoarse and desperate. “Priscilla is queen. I’ll f-find a way to convince h-her.”
Darren didn’t say anything, just stared out at the wall.
“You d-don’t believe me.”
“I’m not…” The king’s jaw worked as he tried again. “I’m… not… a hero… love.”
Don’t save me, I could read it in his eyes.
Something stabbed at my lungs, twisting until they bled.
I opened my mouth just as Darren’s hand fell away, his shoulders convulsing violently against the bars of his cell.
Ella helped me shift as Alex took over my spot. Not all healings were painless. Sometimes they got worse before they got better.
My fingers scratched across stone, inches from Darren’s own. I wanted to touch him so badly it hurt.
When it finally stopped minutes later, the king slumped against the wall; he couldn’t even lift his head.
I leaned in closer, but Darren’s eyes remained shut, clenched tightly against the pain. “Darren?” I’d never seen him like this, not even in the cave.
“He has to rest.” My brother gripped my arm. “And so do you. Ella can get you a healer upstairs.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m not leaving.”
“Ryiah—”
“I said no, Alex!”
My brother dropped his hand. Then he looked to his wife.
“Ella,” he said, “can you get a second healer?”
The girl nodded and left.
It was a half hour later when she returned.
There was a knock at the door, and one of the guards went to open it, peering out at the people on the other side. There was a low murmur as the three exchanged words and then the guard stepped aside.
Ella appeared with two others, not one. A healer in her Red Restoration robes and Ian.
The latter had a bundle in his arms. He took a hitching breath as his gaze fell on Darren.
Seconds later, there was a pile of blankets in my lap. Ian’s eyes were bloodshot.
“All this time,” he croaked, “I thought he’d… but he didn’t?”
“No.” It was the only word I could manage.