I tried to roll over and was met with a stab of pain so sharp I let out a little strangled sound that was intended to be a “fuck” but instead sounded more like “ffermmkk.”
Footsteps circled the room, approaching me.
“Well look at you,” Raihn said. “So bright and cheerful when you wake up.”
I tried to say, “Fuck you,” and coughed instead.
“Oh, I still heard that.”
He sat at the edge of my bed. It was so rickety that his considerable weight made the entire thing shift to one side.
I choked out, “Where are we?”
“One of the Crown homes in the east. It’s, uh… seen better days. But it’s safe. Quiet. And closer than Sivrinaj.”
“How long have we been here?”
“Little less than a week.”
I started, and Raihn raised his hands. “We kept you sedated for a while. Trust me, that was for the best.”
I didn’t love the idea of Raihn’s men carting around my unconscious body for a week.
As if he could read my face, he said, “Don’t worry. It was just me.”
That did feel like a relief, though I didn’t want to examine too closely why.
“Where are the others?”
“Mische is here. The Bloodborn are in Lahor with Ketura and her guards, getting it under control.”
Lahor. It all came back with overwhelming detail. The fire and Evelaena and the sword and— “I killed Evelaena,” I said, not quite intending to speak aloud. “She—”
“Strung you up in a basement. Yes. I know.”
The basement.
The tower. The sword. The—
Panic. I touched my chest, eyes going wide.
“I found something in the tower. I found—”
“This?”
He reached for the bedside table and withdrew a carefully wrapped object about the size of his hand, flat and circular. He opened the cloth covering, revealing the moon pendant. The last time I’d seen it, it had been covered in Evelaena’s blood, but now it was pristine.
“You were crawling for it when I found you. Even half-dead.” He quickly covered it and set it back on the table, wincing and rubbing his hand. “The minute I tried to touch it, I realized what it was.”
“I don’t know if I do know what it is. Just that it’s…”
“Special.”
“His. It was his. More than that. It was… It has to do with whatever Vincent was trying to hide.”
This certainty came to me with an unexpectedly strong flood of satisfaction. There was so little I understood about my father. Finding even one puzzle piece seemed like a triumphant victory, even if it only led to more questions.
“Probably,” Raihn said. “All the better that Septimus doesn’t know about it. I’m glad it’s here, with us, instead of with him.”
He seemed shockingly unconcerned with it. My eyes narrowed.
“I’m surprised it’s still here, and that you didn’t fly off to Sivrinaj with it. This was what you were looking for, wasn’t—”
“You were fucking dying,” he snapped. “I had more important things to worry about than your father’s games.”
He clamped his mouth shut, like he’d just said something he didn’t intend to. “That’ll burn,” he muttered, and rose to go stir the pot over the stove.
More important things.
He returned, carrying a plate piled with steaming meat and vegetables.
“Here. Eat.”
“I’m not hungry,” I said, even as my mouth watered.
“It’s delicious. You want it. Trust me.”
Arrogant.
But my stomach rumbled. I had to admit, the smell was… incredible.
I took a bite and almost melted back into the bed.
Mother fucking damn him.
I took another bite, and another.
“Was I right?” Raihn said, infuriatingly smugly.
“Mm,” I said, between bites.
“I’ll take that as, ‘Delicious, Raihn. Thank you for this meal cooked with love, and also for saving my life.’”
A joke. It was a joke.
Still, my chewing slowed. I set aside the plate—already almost half empty—and turned to Raihn with a hard stare.
He must have thought I ran away. It would’ve been a reasonable assumption.
“You came to find me,” I said.
His smile faded. “Is that really so surprising?”
“I thought you’d think I just—”
“Oh, I did think.”