Page 92 of Hexbound
"A little heartmurmur? Adrian said you'd nearly ruptured your coronary artery. And you've aged since then! That all happened years ago!" Marie shot back.
"I'm no less of a woman for the fact that there's forty years added to the tally. Enough of this mollycoddling. I've had enough!"
Marie's lips thinned and she stepped back, shoulders squared. "Then go ahead, and see yourself into an early grave. It's not as though I should care, is it?" Tears gleamed in her eyes, but she spun toward the door, trying to hide them. "I shall send Maxwell up with some nice chamomile tea for poor Verity. She, at least, has earned it."
She didn't quite slam the door after her.
Lady Eberhardt stared at the shut door, mouth agape and her hand outstretched before realizing. Spearing Verity with a gimlet eye, she fussed with her blankets, muttering under her breath whilst trying to pretend that she wasn’t staring after Marie.
"It's all right," Verity said, taking the old woman's hand and sitting on the edge of the bed. Certain relationships were becoming quite clear to her. "Adrian's the same. Spitting like a tomcat backed into an alley whilst proclaiming that he hasn't a worry in the world." Her tone softened, and she stroked the paper-thin skin on the back of Lady Eberhardt's hand. "You gave everyone quite a fright. They're only worried about you."
Including me.It was only afterwards, when the excitement of the action wore off, that Verity had collapsed in tears. Not only had she lost the Chalice, but she'd nearly killed Adrian's beloved master.
"Where is he?" Lady E asked.
"Resting. Healing you took quite a bit out of him." Verity bit her lip. Their link had faded now, but she still remembered traces of what she'd felt. While Bishop held himself walled back, odd impressions had leeched through when he was concentrating more on healing Lady E rather than keeping her out.
He'd been scared while he'd healed his mentor. Not scared of losing Lady E, but scared of pushing too much, of taking too much.
Verity didn't know what to think about it.
Lady Eberhardt stared into space. "I'm getting old," she whispered. "And there's so much still to do, but here I am, helpless as a newborn babe."
"Nonsense." Verity pushed her dark thoughts aside. "If I'm as spry and hearty at your age as you are, then I'll be considerably pleased with myself. You might have aged, but you're not old, my lady. And perhaps you should stop thinking of yourself as Hercules, facing the tasks all by himself. A wise general commands his troops and sets them to running to and fro. He doesn't do all of the work himself."
Lady Eberhardt harrumphed. "Don't think I can't see right through you. You're trying to manage me, missy. I can still give you a thump around the ears if I want to."
"We'll see." Verity teleported across the room, landing by the window. "I can translocate and you can't."
Lady Eberhardt shimmered with power and then something invisible swatted Verity across the fleshy pad of her ear. "Ow!"
The other woman arched a supercilious brow.
Rubbing her ear, Verity crossed to the bed. "Well, it's good to see some things haven't changed.”
"Are you referring to a certain young man I might know?" Lady E settled back against her pillows like a demanding pasha.
"Perhaps." Clearly Lady E wanted to forget about her own problems, and for once Verity was happy to allow her probing. "Bishop's... struggling."
"In what way?"
"I felt something strange when we were linked." Verity frowned. "It was a horrible feeling, like dark clouds hanging over the pair of us, threatening to consume us at any chance. But it felt heavy too. Like a weight on our shoulders."
"Have you spoken to him about it?"
Verity lowered her gaze. "He won't let me in." Not fully. As soon as he'd felt her wondering about his feelings earlier, he'd cut off their link sharply.
"He's afraid," Lady Eberhardt admitted, patting her hand as if she were the one comforting Verity. "You remind him very much of Mya and all that he's lost. But don't think you're not important to him. I'm neither blind, nor a fool. Adrian likes you very much."
Verity stared at Lady E. "Mya?"
Lady E’s face froze.
And suddenly it all made sense. "There was a woman he loved, wasn’t there?" Verity breathed. "And he hurt her."
"Damn it," Lady E cursed. "Yes. Though she wasn’t a woman. Barely a girl. Her name was Mya, and she was Burmese. I’d assumed he’d told you."
"Did he love her?" Verity asked, swallowing hard.
