“How?” Egeria asks.
I imagine him shrugging, his lean, muscled shoulders rolling with the effortless grace of an expert swordsman. “That’s what she does. Reads people.”
“What if she doesn’t get better?” Egeria voices the question everyone is thinking, especially me.
Griffin strokes my hair. “She will.”
“But what if she doesn’t?” Egeria insists.
Boots stomp, and the door creaks open. “Kato! Flynn! Get a healer in here!”
Egeria’s muttering tells me this ground has already been covered. Repeatedly. “They can’t do anything, Griffin.”
“They’re not trying!” he snaps.
“I think they are.”
He curses. “I need to be sure.” He comes back to the bed and picks up my hand. “Otherwise, I’ll take her to Selena.”
Yes, please.
“You shouldn’t move her,” Egeria frets. “It might disturb her.”
“I don’t care if it disturbs her! She’s not eating or drinking. She’s skin and bones.”
Me? Skin and bones? Ha!
There’s a commotion to my left. The door opens, feet shuffle, and the door closes again.
“No more games, Healer. Fix her.” Griffin is either pointing imperiously at me or he’s got his legs braced apart, his arms crossed over his chest, and a ferocious scowl on his face. I can’t decide.
“My colleagues and I have already tried,” a man responds stiffly.
“Try again,” Griffin orders.
“There’s nothing we can do.”
An ominous sound rises in Griffin’s throat. “She’s northern. She’s Magoi. She’s like you. She saved all of your sorry lives. While you were running away, she was defending this place. It doesn’t matter what you think of me. Fix. Her.”
“She killed Belinda.”
Who? The healer I drained flashes in my mind, limp and vacant. Dead, apparently.
“Belinda should have cooperated.” Griffin’s voice levels out dangerously. The healer would be stupid not to heed the threat.
“I would help her if I could, but I can’t. None of us can. This is what happens to healers who give too much. She drained her life force, and now she’s not strong enough to get it back.”
“Explain yourself,” Griffin says sharply.
“She gave it to you, Beta Sinta. She needs it back.”
Alarm hits me like a lightning bolt. Griffin must realize the same thing. With him, I can only give.
“What if that’s not possible?” Griffin asks.
The healer’s answer is dispassionate. “She’ll die. Look at her. She’s already fading away.”
He’s telling the truth. I’d know even without my gift.
The conversation grows faint, and I feel feverish. I’ve heard the Underworld is hot. Is Hades stoking his furnaces? Will he let me see Selena? I guess prophecies don’t always come true…
The voices around me fade, and a dark wave rolls over me, followed by endless gray. Where’s Eleni?
No! Not yet!
I fight my way back, trudging, clawing, and force my mouth to move. “Griffin?”
His weight instantly buckles the mattress, making me roll toward him. “Take it back!” He lifts my hands to his face. His jaw is prickly, and I wish I could see him—strong, determined features, black stubble, gray eyes that never fail to unmask me. His voice is rough with emotion, and I wonder what I did to earn his affection. I’m not even nice to him.
“Take your life force back!” His grip is urgent, his face close enough for his breath to stir my hair.
I try to find what I’ve lost, but he’s impenetrable. My feeble attempts slide right off. After a while, Griffin must understand that nothing is happening because he snarls in frustration and lays my hands back down.
“She can take ours. Some from each of us,” Kato says on my other side. A moment later, three heavy sets of hands land on me, one by one, followed by a smaller, feminine pair that joins the others.
My heart squeezes painfully in my chest. I don’t take anything from them. I won’t risk taking too much.
“Well?” Griffin asks impatiently.
“Nothing,” Flynn answers. “Either nothing’s happening, or she’s not trying.”
Griffin unleashes a string of curses that likely teach Egeria a thing or two. “Out!” he eventually barks.
Muttering under his breath about how stubborn I am, he lies down next to me, tucking me against his side. I wish I’d kissed him back. I should have thanked him for the lamb steak.