Page 71 of Curse of Darkness
“I’m… furnn…” I swear I say it.
“Mama?” someone says in a very small voice.
Amaya.
I try to turn toward her, but she’s vanishing, the sound of her voice calling my name chasing me down a long, dark tunnel.
And then it’s warm and dark and someone’s easing me onto something soft.
A bed. My bed.
I blink, and the three of them hover over me.
Thalia, her olive skin pale and ashen.
Eris, watching from over her shoulder with a grim look on her face.
And Finn, easing the covers over me.
“’maya.” Where is she? She was right there….
“She’s asleep,” Thalia murmurs. “You’ve just come from the infirmary. Mariana was most put out with you. You nearly killed yourself, Vi.”
“And now you need rest.” Finn sees me watching him, and his jawline tenses. His voice was always velvet over gravel, but now there’s more gravel to it. “Sleep, my queen. You’ve done enough. You’ve done more than enough.”
The weight at my throat is gone. My heartbeat races. I can’tfeelthe little soul-trap that Kato gave me…. “Thiago?”
“I have him,” Eris promises, lifting the amulet from around her throat to show me. “I’ll keep him safe for you.”
“Lie back down.” Thalia pushes on my shoulders. “Go to sleep.” She shudders as a wave of warmth floods through me. “You need to rest, Vi. Rest and let us all take care of you.”
15
Light cracks through my eyelids, and I groan as the door creaks open.
“Mama?”
“Amaya,” I murmur, rolling onto my side. Every inch of me feels like I was run down by a carriage.
A blur darts toward me, and then Amaya throws herself on the bed and into my arms, sobbing against my shoulder. I wrap my arms around her, burrowing my face into her hair. “I’m okay.”
“I know.” She squeezes me tight. “Grimm told me you were alright. But….”
I know.
I know.
I squeeze her back.
“The doubt you people cast upon me,” says an arrogant purr as a weight lands on the bed. “Don’t listen to Grimm. It’s not as though he can see through the Shadows.Have I ever been wrong?”
Amaya lifts her head, her eyes red-rimmed. “No,” she says. “But sometimes you don’t tell me everything.”
He blinks. “When have I ever—?”
“Old Mother Hibbert.”
Grimm stills.
