Page 104 of A War of Three Kings

“Keira.” My lips form the name without thought, sprung deep from within my subconscious.

That beauty with curls of red-and-gold hair tumbling around her pale face is all I can see. A smile tugs at my lips, but the movement is painful.

“You’re alive,” I say, and it means everything. Absolutely everything.

The chanting of druids fills my ears, those voices overlapping, singing in a language I do not understand. There is magic in that song. It is foreign to me, a more primal power that draws from the planet itself. I open my eyes again to witness a ring of druids in their crude brown robes around me.

Edmund is there, between me and them, running a hand through hair that is so similar to his daughter’s. His presence makes me wonder again if I am being tortured, but Keira is here, and she wouldn’t allow that.

“I have removed the bullets, but I need to disinfect the site with alcohol and put a poultice on it,” that first voice says.

My hand is squeezed and Keira looks down into my eyes. Her face glistens with tears, but I can’t remember why she is crying. “We are almost done, Aldrin, then you can sleep.” Her other hand runs soothingly across my hair, but she is careful to avoid the side of my face that aches like the skin has been torn from it.

When she pulls away, I brace myself.

Liquid fire pours across my flesh and I scream a guttural sound. My body tries to thrash, but multiple people hold me down. Then fingers press something cold and rough to my wound and it is a different sort of pain, reaching deep within. I am vaguely aware of bandages being wrapped around my head as I black out.

I drift in and out of consciousness, and Keira is always at my side for the few minutes I am aware. The room is cast inlong shadows and silvery light when I come fully awake. Keira is curled up on an armchair that is pushed next to my large bed.

“Why don’t you join me in the bed?” I ask.

Her eyes fly open, widening with shock. I reach over to her, but the entire world spins around me and I collapse into the pillows.

“Aldrin?” she whispers.

“Yeah.” It is all I can manage as throbbing pain engulfs the left side of my face. I move a tentative hand up to the bandages, but I don’t have the nerve to touch them. “Where are we?”

“Windkeep Stronghold.” She rises from the chair and hovers over me, her eyes scanning up and down my injury, searching, while a gentle hand rests on my chest.

“Why aren’t you in the bed with me?” I say again. There is far too much space between us.

“I am afraid of hurting you.”

I lift a hand to cup her cheek and stroke my thumb across the line of her jaw. “Don’t be.”

She climbs in so carefully, trying not to rock the bed. The slight movement is enough to cause pain to flare momentarily, but I need her close. I hold her in my arms, her head resting on my chest and her body curled up against mine.

“Gods, I have missed you,” I murmur into her hair. “I was so afraid for you.”

“You were afraid for me!” Her head juts up and her eyes flash as she stares at me. I grit my teeth at the sudden pangs from the movement. Horror pales her face. “I’m so sorry, Aldrin. I knew I’d hurt you if I got in the bed.”

Keira tries to pull away, but I force her back down with the arm wrapped around her. “Stay.”

She is silent for a long time. “When my father rode through the city gates like a madman with you limp on his horse, Ithought you were dead. In that moment,Iwanted to be dead, Aldrin. Nothing has meaning without you.”

My fingers curl in her hair. “It will take a lot more than that to kill me.”

“It was a close thing.” A shiver erupts across her body. “Our alchemist looked at the musket bullets they pulled from your wound. The Explosion Brothers have stumbled upon an alloy that prevents fae healing. One rich in iron and other minerals. I don’t think they even know it. You were lucky we had so many druids together in one place. That we had a different source of magic that wasn’t affected by the alloy. None of your people could heal you.” Tears roll down her face. I want to reach down and kiss them away.

“Don’t cry, Keira. Not for me. My heart couldn’t handle it.” I stroke her back tenderly, from the tops of her shoulders down to her hips until she soothes.

“There was a part of me that knew something was wrong while we were apart,” she says. “Sometimes when my mind reaches out for you, it is like I can feel you reaching back. I cannot hear words, but I can vaguely sense their meaning. If the moonstone bracelet and the pendant you cut from the portal can connect us in this way, maybe we should utilize them for communication across our forces.”

I pause for a long moment, her words strangely twisting something within me, making my heart stutter. It is too much to hope for, and I am afraid to even consider it.

“Your father took my pendant when I was in his prison and never gave it back.” That truth hangs heavily in the air between us.

Keira’s lips fall open. “Then what does it mean, Aldrin? That I can feel you in my head, in my heart? That impressions of your emotions curl within me alongside hints of your voice?”

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