Page 102 of Heart of Iron
With his feet dragging, he slowly climbed the stairs to the attic.The faint swish of skirts told him who was awake up there.
A murmur of voices greeted him as he lifted his hand to knock.Blade too, then.Guilt choked him but he forced himself to rap at the thick wooden door.There was nothing he could do now.Lena needed her sister.
“Come in, Will,” Honoria called.
Light sheared through the darkness as he opened the door.Honoria’s usual chignon was a bedraggled mess as she perched in an armchair by the hearth.Blade rifled through the books on the shelves, peering intently at the spines.
Honoria met his gaze, dark circles swallowing her eyes.
She knew.
He faltered in the door, shaking his head, unable to speak.
“Oh, Will,” she whispered, coming to her feet.“How is she?”
He opened his mouth but no words came out.Only an inarticulate sound of pain and guilt.The room blurred as heat filled his eyes.“I didn’t—I was always so careful.I don’t know how—” And then a flash of image swam into his mind.Of the jewelry store.“My lip,” he said, touching it.“I had a fight with Colchester and he split my lip.”Guilt punched him in the chest.“I kissed her.I didn’t think.”He’d been more concerned with not bedding her, of fighting away the desire to claim her as his own.He’d forgotten, for a moment, the dangers of his blood.And the wound had been so minor…
Honoria wrapped her arms around his waist and for once he let her.“It’s not your fault, Will.No matter what we all said, she would never have stayed away from you.”The warmth of her body soaked into his and he rested his chin on the top of her head, holding her awkwardly.
“I should have made her.”He drew back and wiped his sleeve across his eyes.“I should never have thought I could do this.I should have come straight to Blade when this all happened.Let him deal with her.”
“When all what happened?”
Too many secrets.He shut his mouth and raked his hands through his hair.“What do we do?”
Honoria stared at him for a piercing moment, then let it go.She turned away, gesturing at the half-opened books that littered the room.“I don’t know, Will.We’ve been reading all day—”
“You knew?”
“Her temperature’s too hot.It’s not human.And I could guess.”
He took a step toward her, suddenly angry.“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
“You were in no condition,” she replied simply.“And we knew little about the loupe.I needed to find out more before I could start to treat it.”
“Ease up, lad,” Blade warned, his eyes darkening.He had his hands shoved into his pockets, but the way he rocked onto the balls of his feet indicated swift movement if needed.
Will turned away, shaking his head.No point getting angry.The only thing that was important now was Lena.“Have you found anythin’?Anythin’ at all?”
A slight hesitation.“There’s nothing about how to deal with the transition or the first initial stages of the virus.The loupe isn’t a very well-documented disease in Britain.I don’t think anyone in the Echelon cared whether people survived it.What did they do when you were first infected?”
He stared at the wall.“I don’t know.Don’t remember much.”Just heat, incessant heat.His body aching.Screaming through a newly reknitted throat as his body changed.And the merciful coldness of the cellar as his da’ tried to bring his temperature down.“Cold,” he said.“The cold helped.Me father put me in the cellar where it were cool.”He turned around.“She’ll be thirsty.You have to keep her drinkin’.”A shrug.“I can’t remember anythin’ else.”
“That’s not a lot to go on.”Honoria bit her lip.
“I know,” he snapped.“I were only five and barely lucid.Do you think I wouldn’t mention somethin’ if I could remember it?”
“I wasn’t accusing you of anything, Will.”
Blade had taken a step closer.
Will turned away, fists clenched.“I’m sorry.I’m on edge.I can’t believe—” His worst nightmare.Come to life.
A hand slid over his lower back.“We know,” Honoria whispered.“Come.We’d best get prepared.I don’t think it will be long before her temperature starts spiking.She’s already got the rosy cheeks.It’s the following fever that will…”
As if realizing what she was about to say, she stopped.
“Hold,” Blade said.
