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And then I will convince her otherwise.

Linh produced a small moan and let her head fall to the side. She turned to the right, keeping her leg straight with the other bent, so she could stop the ache crawling up her neck.

Couldn’t they have turned me?Who just let someone lay on their back like a corpse for however long?

She opened her eyelids, only to squint them at the blaring light piercing her poor eyes.

Bright sunlight was broken up by small fluffy white clouds, and she followed one as she stared out of what had to be a private room in the hospital. Her lips thinned as she pondered, her disorientated mind still groggy from sleep as she examined the blue sky.

I can’t believe he took me home.

Not only did he go against his own demands of not returning her to her village, but he’d been wise enough to do so when he couldn’t save her. He’d thought outside the box, outside of his own wants and desires, and had done the right thing for her sake.

She was undoubtedly proud of him.

It was why she knew, while lying on a soft pillow and stupidly uncomfortable bed, that she truly loved him.

What’s the bet he’s waiting outside of the village for me to come to him?She snorted a quiet laugh, only to give the window a sad smile.He’s probably so worried.Her smile died swiftly, and her eyes snapped open wide when another possibility infiltrated her thoughts.Oh shit! What if he left because he hurt me?!

Linh sat up so fast her vision swam. Her empty stomach immediately protested as anxiety clutched at her gut.

If Nathair left due to some silly, chivalrous notion that he no longer deserved her due to one measly accident, she’d kick his weird snake butt!

Before her vision cleared, gentle hands pushed against her shoulders. “You should lie back down,” a young, feminine, and familiar voice stated. “You’ve only just woken up, and you refused to eat anything. I’ve been pouring nourishing potions down your throat for days.”

Linh did as she was told, just as a white clay mask and hood came into view. Two red lines were painted from the top of the mask, down the eyes and then the cheeks. They curved inwards until each line came to the corners of the mask’s lips and painted them. Linh shifted her position enough to be half-seated against the pillows.

Linh blinked at her. “Glenda?” she asked, guessing due to the anonymity of the masks the Priests and Priestesses wore.

Her light-brown hand pushed back a few strands of Linh’s long fringe – the only part of her skin she could see. “Yeah, it’s me. Your dear, old cousin.”

Linh gave a small laugh at that. “Aren’t I older than you?”

If memory served Linh correctly, Glenda was only eighteen, whereas she was twenty-one. Perhaps due to herage, she didn’tact as cold and unfeeling as the otherAnzúliLinh had briefly met.

Her great-aunt was the leader and often wore black robes to highlight her position. Linh didn’t know her name, but Glenda had accidentally spilled her own when she shouldn’t have.

“Yeah. I let the guards know you’re awake. Hopefully they let your parents visit you,” Glenda murmured, before touching her warm palm to Linh’s cheek. “Your temperature is still low. That Duskwalker’s venom really did a number on you. Once we removed it, we had to put you into a coma due to your seizing.”

What little humour she maintained was sucked right out of her. “How long have I been out?”

“Two full nights.” Glenda pushed back the grey blanket and lifted the white hospital dress Linh wore. “How’s your right leg? Can you wiggle your toes?”

Linh tried to, but they barely moved. “A little.”

“Any soreness? Since we couldn’t find any puncture wounds, we assumed it’d bitten you on this leg due to the lack of movement. Our magic really struggled to combat it. If it hadn’t offered us some of its venom to make an antidote, we wouldn’t have been able to save you. We think our magic did some harm, but we’ve been trying to fix that as well. The whole situation was unusual for us. There were no texts to help with Duskwalker venom, so we kind of had to... wing it.”

Linh bent her knee. It was slow, but she had movement in it. “If I walk around, it’ll help to make blood flow properly,” Linh stated, gaining herself a tsk.

“You and your mother are always the worst patients. You think just because you work with herbs and medicine that you know everything.” The disappointed and frustrated tone in Glenda’s voice made Linh weakly grin.

“Someone has to annoy you,” she playfully bit back.

“Someone has to annoy you,” Glenda mimicked with a mock sneer. “I should put you back into a coma.”

She’s a little more bitchy than normal.Glenda didn’t usually say things like this, not even playfully. Why did Linh get the feeling the woman had hardened in her absence?

“Are you okay?” Linh asked, her forced cheer fading. She sat up a little better so she didn’t feel like a feeble child with a cold. “What’s happened since I left?”