Page 46 of Shardless

But it didn’t. In fact, the feeble blow sent a wave of pain reverberating up her arm and into her shoulders and neck. She writhed, trying to get away from the crest of blazing fire that had been ignited beneath her skin, but the blankets pinned her in place. They weighed her down, and the moreshe struggled, the more tangled she became.

Someone drew in a sharp breath, and a pair of hands reached out to still her. “Let’s not do that,” a soft voice murmured. “We don’t want your wounds reopening.”

“Skye?” Taly rasped. Her throat felt raw. Her tongue was dry and clumsy. When she cracked open her eyes, Skye’s face slowly came into focus. His clothes were wrinkled, and it looked as though he hadn’t shaved in several days, but he was smiling.

“Yeah, Tink,” he replied quietly, reaching out to push aside a stray lock of hair that had fallen across her eyes. “I’m here.”

Taly opened her mouth to speak, but something in her throat caught. Coughs racked her body, and she whimpered at the fresh surge of agony that accompanied the uncontrollable spasms.

Skye was at her side in a moment, looping an arm around her shoulders as he lifted her. Leaning her against his shoulder, he held a cup up to her lips. “Here.”

Taly pushed his hand away as best she could. The memory of the last time someone had offered her water—and the resulting pain—was still too fresh. “No, I don’t want that,” she managed to choke out between coughs.

Gently pulling her hands away, Skye held the rim of the cup against her bottom lip and tipped her head back. “The healing spells have kept you from getting too dehydrated, but Aiden said we needed to get you to drink water as soon as you woke up. You’ll feel better. I promise.”

The cool liquid easily slipped down her throat, extinguishing the burning pain, and though it made her stomach turn, she managed to keep it down.

When nothing but a faint tickle remained, Taly pushed the cup away. “What happened?” she asked weakly. Her eyes scanned the room, confirming her worst fears. They had brought her back to the manor. A familiar sense of dread stirred in the back of her mind, but it felt far away. Nothing but a vague, undefinable fear. “How did I get here?”

“Well, that’s a long story,” Skye muttered as he gently laid her back down. Setting the cup aside, he settled back into a chair beside the bed. “Let’s see… I guess it all started when this little blonde brat decided she had a death wish and tried to hobble off on her own, half-dead and full of harpy venom.”

“Hey now, Em. Don’t skip the beginning of this story,” Taly grumbled when she saw him smirk, clearly amused by his own joke. “Personally, I really love the part about the idiot that brought the twit along that put me in the situation with the harpy.”

His smile slipped. “You got really sick, Tink,” he said, all traces of playful rebuke melting away. “When you were on the road, you could barely stand, your words were slurring together... you couldn’t even tell us your name. Aiden said it was the fever, but… Shards, that was some scary shit. You started panicking, and he had to use a sleeping charm just to keep you from reopening your wounds.”

“I remember the road, I think.” Taly’s head lolled to the side, and she stared at the crack in her curtains. Her mind felt dull, and she wasmomentarily distracted by the way the dust caught the light as it hung in the air. “Didn’t Aiden say it was just an allergic reaction to the harpy venom? Or was it an infection? It’s all a little fuzzy.”

“We’re still not sure. My guess is both.”

Taly sighed as she twisted, trying to get comfortable. The pain in her back was becoming a problem.

“Hold on.” Rising from his place beside her, Skye retrieved a small, cloth-wrapped bundle from the worktable against the far wall. He lifted her, sliding it underneath the small of her back. The slightly elevated position and the delicious warmth radiating from the pack had her sighing in relief. “Fire crystals,” he said when she raised a brow in question.

“How long have I been out?” Taly mumbled. “A day?”

Skye grimaced. “Not quite.”

“Two days?” she asked, her eyes widening when he shook his head. “Longer?”

“Try eight.”

“What?!” Taly exclaimed shakily. “Eight days? How is that possible?”

Skye stuffed his hands in his pockets. “It took you almost a full day to wake up after Aiden removed the sleeping charm. And no matter what anyone did, your fever just kept getting worse. You were waking up less and less often, and half the time you didn’t even know we were there. We tried everything—Sarina even sent Ivain and me to Litor for blood wood. The medicine didn’t end up doing anything for you, but I wasn’t really expecting it to. I think the trip was mostly just toget Ivain out of the house. He wasn’t handling things very well.”

Sinking down on the bed beside her, Skye ran a hand along the stubble on his chin. “And then your temperature started to drop the night before last—just a few hours after we got back from Litor. You started shaking. Sarina was casting warming spells for a while, but Ivain and I eventually managed to rig something together to keep your temperature elevated. I think we bought every fire crystal in Ryme in the process. I really thought…” Skye’s voice caught, and he stopped. Reaching for her hand, his thumb grazed the pulse point on her wrist, lingering there. The gentle touch felt strange and slightly ticklish, but Taly made no move to push him away.

He stared at their intertwined hands for a moment before continuing. “And then Aiden gave you some sort of draught—he wouldn’t say what it was. He just told Ivain and me to keep feeding him aether. Whatever he did, whatever he gave you—it worked. You stabilized a few hours later, and you’ve been doing really well the past two days. You probably still feel like shit, but Aiden says you’re on the mend.”

Now that the pain in her back was under control, the aching soreness in her arms and legs was starting to make itself known. She whimpered slightly when Skye reached underneath the blanket and rearranged a small lump situated next to her hip. She heard the clacking of crystals, and then a small burst of heat had her murmuring a soft“thank you”as the pain receded.

On his feet again, Skye began checking on other small bundles of crystals carefully arranged around her body. “How’s that?” he asked, tuckingthe blanket back around her. “Are you warm enough?”

“No. It’s freezing in here,” Taly replied, involuntary shivers running up and down her spine.

“Okay. Uh…” Skye clicked his tongue as he looked around the room. “One second.” Taly watched him disappear into her washroom. Still feeling listless and drowsy, her thoughts began to drift as her eyes traced the polished, leafy tendrils etched into the dark wooden surface of the door, and she jumped when Skye reappeared carrying two large bundles. He smiled at her as he arranged what looked like lumpy pillowcases across her stomach and feet.

Taly sighed, curling her toes as the heat of the fire crystals seeped into her. The pain, the chill—it all began to fade. “Hey Skye?” she asked, watching as he continued to fuss over her. “There’s something I’ve been wondering.”

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