Page 99 of Shadows and Flames
My brother and I moved on to other concerns, perhaps him sensing I had no more words on the matter of my son. I had always taken longer to process things, once I set myself on that path. This was no different.
He had me reach into one of his packs and retrieve a deck of cards. Something to pass the time before we were able to set off. I’d offered multiple times to find him a human or other mortal, to bring them back for him to feed.
But he refused, nose wrinkling as he said that he was not yet so far gone. That he would wait for the Vyrkos should he need to feed. How having someone hunt for you was different than having a willing donor coming to your bedside, I was not sure and did not ask.
At one point, after I had lost at least two gold pieces, Tana came in to check on my brother. She used more hushed words over her glowing hands, focusing primarily on Tom’s bare chest. When she eventually pulled back, he was able to sit up a bit straighter, but the smile she offered him was not the bright, carefree ones I’d seen her aim at others.
Tom did not seem to notice. Or he did not let himself dwell on it.
“As soon as Fenix wakes, we’ll set off.” For Nethras, she meant. From what I could hear, Meline and Francie were not yetback from the hunt my queen led to quench Francie’s high need for blood, to help her through the remnants of starvation. Of Frenzy.
Meline and I had woken late, but there were still many hours of daylight yet. Tana decided that we would wait for Fenix to sleep, even though he had the coverings to allow him movement during the daylight hours. My fingers tightened on my hand of cards, at the thought of wasted time. The journey to Nethras was going to be even more time at sea. At least four week’s ride. The acrid scent of sickness, as much as Tana’s powers staunched its growth, permeated the room. Lylithans so rarely fell ill that the aroma was almost offensive.
I was not sure Tom would survive whatever was poisoning his body.
“Did we receive any letters? From The Well.”
As soon as we’d come upon this village a handful of days ago, we found a small pharmacy, just one dusty room, and sent word to the Well that Marco should request some leave time and have an escort bring him to Nethras. There was enough time for them to arrange the journey, and hopefully, we would bring Francie home just as he was arriving.
Only Shadows could send word to The Well, and the letters themselves were warded against any who wasn’t Shadow. To open it would yield a blank letter.
Today, Tana had spoken of her intention to replenish her supplies at the local market this morning, as well as promising to bring back any letters addressed to Tom and me. “No, there was only a letter from Whitley.”
I grunted and thanked her. After finding my own way back to my queen, I was relieved for the Lylithan to finally be getting their mate back.
But the lack of response from Noruh was… concerning. Or not? Throughout our travels, she or Marco had maintained steady communication with us.
I glanced at Tom who was already frowning. “How long were we in that realm again?”
Tana looked off in the distance, counting and comparing. “We were there for only three days. But here…when I asked around town, they confirmed we were gonefrom herefor almost four months.”
Tomás cursed, and a dark sense of foreboding creeped further up my spine. When we returned, the weather had changed from the brightening of spring to the darkening of autumn, but hearing definitively the skip in time was more than disconcerting.
Four months and no word from The Well.
A knock announced Meline and Francie’s return, and when they pushed open the door, they brought with them an unfamiliar human.
“No,” my brother said before they could even open their mouths. Tana sighed, and Francie hung back, watching the rest of us. More color had returned to her face, and though she watched with subdued alert, she was much calmer than she had been just a few short days ago.
Was her body confused by the change? At once being in Frenzy for three months but also three years?
Meline pointed a gloved finger at my brother. “You shut up. Now, this is Daveed. He has agreed to let you feed from him. Fenix needs a break.”
Tom shot me an incredulous look, as if I had anything to do with this development.
Ihadspoken my support for this idea, when Meline and I were readying for the day, but I did not tell my brother that. It was best to take the choice out of his hands in this matter.
“You traitor!” Tomás hissed at me as I rose from my seat and extended my hand. He slapped his cards into my palm, grumbling about not needing to be fed like a baby bird, or something of the like.
The human appeared hale with a luster to his skin and a flush creeping up his neck and ears. My own impending hunger was a drying in my stomach, a dulling of my overall energy. But I could go out and hunt later.
Daveed shuffled further into the room, gaze going between Tom’s sullen form on the bed and Meline’s encouraging one that guided him forward. He sat slowly, onto the edge of the wooden stool. Without instruction, he scooted it until he was practically in the bed with Tom, and he craned his head to the side, exposing his neck.
“Just the wrist,” my brother sniped, flustering the human who cleared his throat and obeyed.
Before I could properly chastise him, the insatiable hunger took over, and Tomás’s focus was on the vein pulsing in the man’s arm. Through this sickness, Tom had lost much of the strength and speed characteristic of our race. But there must have been some remnants, with the way he snatched and sank his fangs into flesh.
The three of us left at that point, giving Tom privacy to feed and Tana to supervise. In the corridor, with rich sunlight streaming in through the windows at either end, the two females turned to me. They looked nothing alike, other than the caution with which they observed me. For different reasons, of course, but they prompted the same reaction within me. A desire to put them both at ease.
