Page 94 of Heart of Iron
“Hey there, lady.Why don’t you ditch the old man and come sit with us?”One of them called.
No way past them.Will stiffened as if he’d heard the insult, and she stroked the lean muscle of his back.“They’re only boys,” she whispered.“No danger.”
She hoped.
Raising her voice, Lena looked the one who’d spoke dead in the eye.She’d faced down blue bloods and humanists.This was only a boy, trying to impress his friend.“Here now.Care to earn some coin?”
“How ’bout I offer you some tin?”Another smirk.
Lena grabbed Will’s shirt.“Don’t you dare.”Stepping forward, she kept a wary eye on him.He might be dangerously close to collapsing, but if the fury overtook him, it might be enough to rouse him to the killing edge.“I need a message delivered to my sister.”
The other lad tipped his chin up.“Who’s your sister?”
“Blade’s wife.”
Both boys stilled.The one who’d given her grief paled and leaped to his feet.“Didn’t mean naught by it, miss.What do you want us to say?”
“Tell her Lena’s at Will’s house.That she needs to come.”Will chose that moment to slump and she swayed dangerously with him.
The other lad stepped forward to help.
“No!”she cried as a snarl curdled in Will’s throat.The boy froze.“Don’t touch him.Don’t touch me.He’s not quite himself at the moment.Just run my message.”
Whatever they’d seen in Will’s face they didn’t even question her about the coin.Blade’s name carried weight here.Within seconds she was alone, facing the hurdle of the stairs.
Her own body screamed with exhaustion.Lena finally got Will to the top and shoved the door open.He hadn’t bothered to lock it.The pair of carved daggers in the door indicated who this house belonged to and not even the bravest thief would dare cross the threshold.
Holding him under the arms, Lena kicked the door shut with her ruined slipper.She’d lost the other in the tunnels and could barely feel that foot for the cold.“Here now,” she murmured, guiding him up against the door.Her vision swam.“Stay here whilst I fetch a lantern.”
Will slumped.“On the stove.”
She saw the outline of the stove against the pale shine of the moon through gauzy curtains.It took a minute to light, then a merry glow lit the room.
Lena looked around.“Goodness, Will.You do realize you can buy furniture?”
There was nothing but a small cot in the corner, draped with a pair of patchwork quilts, a table, and two chairs and the bare necessities of the kitchen.The apartment was small.Almost as small as the one she’d shared with her brother and sister when they first took to hiding in the ’Chapel.
“Surely Blade pays you,” she muttered in an appalled tone.
“He pays me.”Will took a step toward the bed and swayed dangerously.“Don’t have much need…to spend it…”
Lena leaped forward, catching him around the waist.His weight hit her hard and she staggered backward, her knees hitting the cot.They both went down, Will a heavy, crushing weight on top of her.
Her face was buried in his shoulder.Lena wriggled higher so that she could breathe, then collapsed back with a gasp.“Will!You’re crushing me!”
No sign of movement in his face.He breathed slowly and she realized he was in that almost unconscious state that followed severe exertion.Shoving at his shoulder, she managed to slither out just enough that his weight was no longer crushing.
Tugging his shirt out of his waistband, she craned her neck to check his wound.A bloody crust covered it.Touching his ribs tenderly, she checked for any signs of injury.By this stage there was little she could do.The virus would congregate in the wound site and do more than she—or even a doctor—ever could.
Satisfied that he wasn’t mortally injured, she collapsed back against the pillow.The chill that seemed to pervade her bones was still there.And Will was burning with heat.
Snuggling against his chest, she pressed her cold lips to his neck.The heat from his body made her feel slightly better, though the nausea from earlier had passed, thank goodness.Lena blinked sleepily.She could barely keep her eyes open.The weight of exhaustion hit her hard and she barely had time to wonder if her message would reach Honoria before the blackness took her.
Twenty-one
Morning sunlight streamed through the curtains.Lena blinked, pain stabbing at her too-sensitive eyes.She was so thirsty, her mouth bone dry.“Where am I?”
A shadow moved on the edge of vision.Lena shot to alertness, her heartbeat slowing down when Charlie grinned at her.
