Page 55 of Realm of Thieves

“Better them than you,” I tell her. “I’ll see what I can salvage when this storm dies down.”

“How long do they usually last? I’ve never been through one.”

“Can take days,” I tell her.

The light in the cave is dim and I can barely make out the furrow between her brows.

But you’ve packed enough for that, haven’t you?I think. I keep that observation to myself, for now.

“I’m sure it won’t last long,” I tell her. “I just wish you had the same ability as your dog, so both of you could have been sent to safety.”

“I wouldn’t leave you,” she says.

I don’t say anything to that.

Instead I look around the corner, shielding my eyes from the incoming sand. There’s faint flickering at the mouth of the cave, and I get on my knees and crawl over to it, keeping my head down. There are a few fragments of burning branches tossed in by the storm, threatening to go out. I snatch one up and crawl back over to Brynla.

“What are you doing?” she asks, pulling her knees to her chest.

“Never know when a fire will come in handy,” I tell her. “One that you can control, of course.”

I reach into my pack and bring out a small piece of fireflame bark that comes from trees grown in Vesland. I stick the piece into a hole in the porous cave floor and light it with the fire, then toss the branch to the side, where it’s immediately blown away and put out by the wind. But the fireflame stays lit, a steady glow that gives off a lot of heat considering how small the flames are.

Satisfied that it won’t go out—that small piece of bark should stay lit for days—I look back at Brynla.

But her face is contorted in pain.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, moving closer to her, placing my hand on her knee.

She twitches her knee out of my grasp and I notice the way she’s clutching her stomach.

“Is it your pains?” I ask. “Did you bring any of the poppy resin?” I grab my pack and start rummaging through it. I know I should have brought some with me.

She lets out a gasp and nods. “I did,” she says, her words coming out staccato. “But it’s not helping. If I take too much, I’ll be unconscious.”

I put the bag down, wanting to help, needing to help.

“When did it start? Just now?”

Her eyes are pinched closed as she shakes her head. “No. On the ship.”

My chest stings, hurt and a little angry. “Why didn’t you tell me? I wouldn’t have made you come.”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you,” she admits, fixing me with a pained yet hardened stare. “I didn’t want you to worry and I didn’t want to be made to stay behind. Even though you can’t figure out why you need me.”

I rub my lips together, reaching for her again. She flinches at my touch but I hold her knee.

“But I need you,” she says softly.

I swallow hard, knowing what she’s asking.

“Brynla,” I begin.

“Why?” she says angrily. “If you have this power from the suen to heal, why won’t you use it on me? What happened to you? What’s scaring you?”

For a moment I feel myself freeze up, like everything inside me has seized.

And then it all comes out in a bitter rush.

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