Page 105 of Heart of Iron
“In me rooms,” he replied.
“Perfect.”She pressed a hand against Lena’s temple, closing her eyes.“Very close to the peak, but not there yet.There’s time.”
“She’ll get hotter?”Honoria gasped.
“She dies if she does,” Astrid replied bluntly.“Will, fetch me ice.Lots of it.”
He spent the next twenty minutes smashing the heavy ice blocks to pieces, then carrying it from the deep cellars to Blade’s room.The cellars were freezing; Blade needed a continuous supply of ice in order to keep his blood chilled.
Astrid and Honoria had taken over the bathroom.Astrid filled the bath to the brim with cool water, then poured buckets of ice chips into it.
“Are you certain this is safe?”Honoria asked.“They used to do this to the inmates at the institute I worked at.It was awful.”
“It will hurt, yes,” Astrid replied, her expression unchanging.She met his gaze, knowing he’d be the one to protest.“Whatever she does, you must not interfere.”
“How much will it hurt?”he asked.
“Like fire.”She put a hand out to stop him.“This is her only chance.In Norway, we use the snow to quench the fever.”
He hovered on the balls of his feet.The worst thing was knowing how much pain Lena was in right now.How much pain would come.He’d spent two days clawing at the dirt in the cellar before the fever broke.
But there was no help for it.“How long?”
Astrid gave him a serious look.“Two or three days.Perhaps one has already passed.She seems halfway through it.”
This was her only hope, he reminded himself, though the thought of hurting her made him feel sick.“I’ll go fetch her.”
Twenty-three
The moment they put her in the water she started screaming.
Will held her down, despite her weak thrashing, his teeth clenched and his body tense.Astrid had said the shock of the cold might kill her, but without it her temperature would keep rising until she died.
The ice water burned his arms, his fingers eventually numbing.He could only imagine what it felt like for Lena.And it was all his fault.His eyes blurred with heat as he held her down, whispering to her that he was there, that she would be all right.
It didn’t take long for her thrashing to subside and her body to slump into his arms.“What’s happening?”he asked.“Lena?”There was no response.Only the slight quiver of her lip as she shivered.
“Bring her out,” Astrid commanded.
Will cradled her carefully in his arms, icy water splashing all across the marble floors.They dried her off, with Astrid monitoring her temperature and the timepiece Honoria had given her.
“What now?”he asked.“Is she better?”
“Her temperature’s dropped a degree,” Astrid said, taking the thermometer away.She exchanged a glance with Honoria.“Will, I need more ice.”
“More ice?”
“For next time.”
He shook his head.Lena lolled in his arms, her skin clammy with cold, yet burning with an inner radiance.“How many times?”
“Each time her temperature goes up.Until the fever breaks.”
The hopelessness of the situation hit him.“She’s not goin’ to make it, is she?”
Astrid stroked the wet strands off Lena’s forehead.“You told me she is strong willed, no?”
“Stubborn as rock.”Tears burned in his eyes.
