Page 109 of Heart of Iron
“Will?”She twisted the knob, but the door sprang open in her grip.Will hovered on the other side with a glass of water for her.
Now that she’d taken care of one need, others were begging for attention.Her gaze went straight past him, to the icebox, just as her stomach gave an embarrassing growl.She took the glass and gulped it down.
“I’ve mutton stew,” he said.“And bread and cheese.It ain’t much, but there’s lots of it.I had ’em send round as much as Esme could bake.”
Stew.Her mouth watered.But there were other more pressing concerns.“Will, why am I here?What’s been happening?I can hardly remember the last day.”
“It’s been four actually.”
“What?”
Raking a hand through his hair, he turned away from her.“Here.I’ll show you.”Snatching the small bone-handled mirror off his washstand, he held it close, as if he didn’t want her to see.
Sudden dread filled her.What was wrong with her?Her hands flew to her cheeks, but her skin felt normal.Snatching the mirror, she bought it up and stared at her reflection.
“My eyes,” she whispered.They stared back at her, the pupils ringed with bright bands of copper.Slowly she lowered the mirror.“But how…?What…?”
Will couldn’t meet her gaze.“God, I’m so sorry.I told you I ought never have come near you.”He looked up, heat and anger swirling through his eyes.“This is why.I nearly lost you.I nearly killed you!”
He turned on his heel and strode away, hands entwined behind his head.Lena risked another quick glance in the mirror.“I have the loupe?”she asked wonderingly.
He flinched as if she’d hit him.
“Will.”Putting the mirror aside, she crossed toward him, but he jerked away, circling the table and chair as if she were hunting him.Taking a slow breath, she put her hands on the back of the chair and leaned on it.“I don’t care.I told you I wouldn’t mind.If I could be with you—”
“You nearly died!”he snapped, eyes rolling with white.
And she realized then just how close it must have been.His hands clenched and he looked away, tearing his gaze from hers.
“How bad was it?”
“We didn’t think you were goin’ to make it,” he replied hoarsely.“I thought you were dyin’, before the fever broke.You don’t know what it did to me.”He rubbed his chest.“I went a little insane.I threw Blade across the room and brought you here.Honoria comes by every day but I couldn’t let her… Not ’til you woke…”
Her heart ached for the pain emblazoned on his face.“I survived.”
“Barely.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
His fists clenched and he turned his face away.“Yes, it does.You don’t know what this means.”
“What this means?”She shoved the chair out of the way.Then the table.It was ridiculously easy.“Is that you don’t have any more excuses.”
Will backed up against the cot, his hands held in front of him.“Damn it, Lena,” he growled.“I infected you!Your life ain’t gonna be the same.”
She stalked him.“I certainly hope not.”
“You don’t understand—”
“I understand perfectly.”Stopping in front of him, she pushed on his chest and he stumbled back onto the cot, a look of surprise on his face.
Staring at her hands in wonder, she couldn’t stop her smile.“How strong do you think I am now?”
“Why?”
“No reason.”IwonderifIcoulddangleacertainbluebloodofftheedgeoftheIvoryTower?
The world had become a different place, full of blazing color, heat, and scents.Dust motes swirled through the shaft of light that lit them.She held her hands up, stirring them about.All her life she felt as though she’d been blind, with the details of the world around her only newly revealed.
