Page 96 of Heart of Iron
Honoria eased a hand over her sister’s forehead, smoothing her damp curls out of the way.Though she’d left Lena sitting in a chair beside Will’s bed, when she’d returned with more water, she’d found her curled up on top of the blankets asleep, her fingers entwined with his.
Blade’s arms slid around her waist from behind and he rested a chin on her shoulder.“What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re troubled,” he said simply.
Pressing a finger against her lips, she led him out of the room and eased the door shut behind her.Though he arched an eyebrow in question, she shook her head and led him upstairs to her workroom.
“What is it, luv?”he asked, frowning as he closed the door behind him.
Nobody would hear them up here.Honoria crossed to her desk and tugged a heavy book down from the shelf.She opened it to the page mark and pressed her finger to the spidery script.“Read it.”
Blade squinted at the page, his lips moving slowly.“Don’t understand.This is the first stages of the loupe virus and its effects.”
“I was studying it in order to try and find Will’s cure,” she admitted.“The first sign of the loupe is a fever.Headaches, hot and cold flushes, the sweats…”
He understood immediately.
“She’s burning up,” Honoria whispered.“She shouldn’t be that hot, not without severe signs of discomfort, but all she feels is hunger and thirst.”
Blade’s face paled.
Honoria bit her lip.“There’s more.Did you know that the loupe is an extremely virulent disease, and yet there are few verwulfen around?”Heat burned in the back of her eyes and she stroked the page in front of her.She’d come up here to read more as soon as she first suspected what was going on.“Blade, the statistics for surviving the initial fever are extremely poor.Perhaps one in fifteen makes the transition.In Scandinavia and Germany, only the strongest warriors are allowed to be infected.They must prove themselves in a test first, to ensure that they have the strongest chance of surviving.”Her vision blurred.“This is why no verwulfen is allowed to mate with a human.Oh God, what have I done?”Her words faded to a whisper, an ache burning in her chest.“I should never have allowed her near him.I should have realized.I should have—”
Strong arms tugged her close, burying her against his chest.“I’ve a feelin’ nothin’ we done coulda kept ’em apart.”He stroked her hair.“Hush, luv.Ain’t your fault.You couldn’t a known.There’s so little information ’bout the loupe goin’ round.And who knows, she might be strong enough.”
Honoria hiccupped a sob.“The strongest warriors, Blade.And most ofthemdon’t survive.”
“Then,” he said, tipping her chin up toward him, “we need to work out what she needs.How to ’elp ’er.”
The thought penetrated where no false comfort ever could.This she could do.She grabbed the book and dashed the tears from her eyes.She hadn’t been able to save her brother from the craving virus, but she’d be damned if she’d let her sister’s life fade.
“Sit.Read,” he said, pushing her into a chair.“I’ll fetch a pot of tea and somethin’ to eat.Then I’ll check on them.”
Honoria’s eyes were already racing across the lines on the page.“Thank you.”
***
The world beneath her moved.Lena blinked sleepily.Arching her fingers, she dug them into the soft body beneath hers and yawned.Her pillow threatened to dislodge her and she grabbed onto the sheets.
Will rolled onto his side, blinking warily at her.Thick slabs of muscle covered his chest and shoulders, and for a moment, the urge to run her hand through the hair on his chest was almost irresistible.
Grabbing at the sheet to stop it from dropping too far, he stiffened.“We’re at the warren.”A frown.“What happened?”
“Don’t you remember?You collapsed,” she said, “and Blade had you brought here.You’ve slept the day away.How are you feeling?”
His gaze drifted past, toward the water jug.
“Here,” Lena said, hopping off the bed in her nightgown and pouring him a glass.She held it out to him, but he grabbed the jug instead and tilted it up.The muscles in his throat worked, rivulets of water pouring down his jaw and into the hollow of his collarbone.
Heat burned between her thighs and she gripped the cool glass hard.Sheer longing was almost a knife to the chest.She had promised herself that she would speak to him if he survived, tell him how she felt, but suddenly she was nervous and tongue-tied again.The way he always made her feel.
She, a woman who could twist a man around her finger with a simple smile if she chose.
A crack appeared in the glass.Then another.Lena looked down in astonishment as the glass shattered, pieces crumbling to the rug.Blood welled from her fingers.
Will lowered the jug, his gaze dropping to the glass.“Bloody hell, Lena.”He leaped out of bed, moving with the same economical grace that always drew her eye.
