Page 339 of Alchemised
Luc’s face was pale and streaked with blood and smoke. Although he looked skeletally thin, his eyes were blistering, a brilliant feverish blue, but rather than acknowledge the field commander, his attention went directly to Helena.
“What are you doing here?” he said.
She stood up. “I need to talk to you, Luc. Urgently.”
He blinked and finally turned to his field commander. “Who let her in here?”
Before anyone could respond, Helena spoke again.
“It’s about Lila,” she said.
The words worked like magic. Luc’s attention snapped onto her, and his throat dipped as his eyes darted around the room.
“Fine,” he said after a beat. “Let’s talk. Sebastian, get everyone ready to move. We’re retaking Headquarters.”
“No, bring him, I’ll heal him while we talk,” Helena said. “It’ll save time.”
Luc eyed her warily but nodded. He seemed so familiar, and yet—there was something off about him.
You should have known. You should have noticed.
He turned to the field commander, who looked lost. “Take everyone who can fight and start moving back towards Headquarters. Sebastian and I will follow.”
There were rooms deeper in the warehouse that connected to the next building, and as they walked there, Helena slipped one of the obsidian knives into the waistband at the back of her skirt, hidden under her jacket.
Sebastian had cracked ribs and a gash to the leg where a knife had gotten through a weak point in his armour.
Helena gave him one of her last vials of medicine to help sustain the amount of tissue and blood she was about to regenerate. Before she could stop him, he unfastened and began removing his chest plate.
“What’s wrong with Lila?” Luc asked the instant the door was shut and the three of them were alone.
“Nothing,” Helena said. “She’s fine.”
Anger lit Luc’s face.
“I just didn’t realise you knew about the baby,” Helena said, meeting his eyes.
Sebastian started. “What baby?”
Luc tensed enough that his armour clicked, but his expression was controlled. He didn’t even look at Sebastian.
“What baby?” Sebastian asked again.
“That’s why you came here?” Luc asked, his blue eyes glinting cold. “Because of that?”
Helena’s heart was beating so fast, it was a thrum in her chest. “No, I came because I don’t understand why you wouldn’t let me heal Titus but you’ve been letting me take care of your heir.”
“Luc, what did you do?” Sebastian said.
Luc ignored his paladin; all his focus was on Helena. “Lila can protect herself. You’ve already done enough to Titus.”
Helena’s throat closed, but in that moment, she knew: This was not Luc.
She should have realised sooner, but she’d spent so much time fearing his rejection, dreading the inevitable schism, that she had not questioned its happening.
She looked away. “You know, I was in one of the field hospitals during the massacre. When the liches infiltrated using living bodies. Apparently, a living body won’t accept another soul; it’s like an infection, the body tries to burn it out. That’s why they came in sick with brain fevers, screaming and clawing at themselves, saying, ‘Get him out,’ until they died.”
She drew a slow breath as she finished healing Sebastian’s leg. “Do you know anyone who suffers from fevers like that, Luc?”
