Page 113 of A Vow of Embers

The healer arrived then, carrying a bag of supplies. Io immediately started to assist and the healer deemed that the cut would indeed need stitches. It was awful—I kept my face in Xander’s neck as the healer cleaned the wound and then sewed it shut. Each time the needle pierced my skin and the thread tugged, I felt like I would vomit. Xander’s arms seemed to tighten around me with each stitch.

Then it was finally over. The healer said, “I’ll leave some salves to prevent infection, to speed up the healing, and then one to remove the scar.”

Xander held out his left arm to the healer. “I’ll need stitches, too.”

I lifted my face long enough to see that he had the exact same cut in the exact same spot that I did.

“You got hurt in the fight?” I asked. How had one of them managed to reach him?

“No. This just ... appeared.” He spoke softly in my ear so that I was the only one who could hear him. “I knew it meant you were in danger.”

“How did you know that?”

“I don’t know. I can’t explain it. I just did.”

And then he’d rushed here to save me. If he hadn’t come when he did ... I did not want to think about how things might have ended up.

Io tugged at me gently. “Let’s go get you in something to wear to bed while they stitch Xander up.”

I didn’t want to leave him. I wanted to stay right where I was. But I let Io lead me over to my dressing screen. I let the blanket drop and she and Zalira quickly helped me put something on, being careful with my arm. Xander was cut in the same place I was. We had matching bruises on our necks. Our ribs had been injured in the same spots. This had to mean something significant.

Then I felt my arm being pierced again. Like someone was stitching it up. I stared at it. Xander was getting stitches and I felt each and every one like it was happening to me.

Had he felt the same when I was being sewn up?

When I came out from behind the screen, the healer was gone and Xander’s arm was bandaged. He gave directions to his phratry and to the guards who had arrived.

My sisters hugged me and told me that they’d be right next door if I needed them.

The bodies were removed. After that was done everyone else trickled out one by one, with the last guard tugging our bedroom door in place, effectively closing it. Xander and I were alone together. He held out his hand to me and I walked over, taking it. He brought me to my side of the bed and helped me get in. He pulled the blankets up around me. I heard him disrobing and then getting in on his side.

I didn’t want there to be a distance between us tonight, but I didn’t know how to say it without feeling like a total fool.

“So we’re just supposed to sleep now?” I asked.

“Your body needs to rest. To heal by sleeping. There are guards everywhere. I promise that you’re safe.”

Silence settled around us but I was wide awake. “I’m so glad Luna wasn’t here. That they didn’t hurt her.”

There was a long pause before he asked in disbelief, “Your lizard?”

“Yes. She’s very sweet.”

“She’s a lizard,” he said dryly. And although I couldn’t have sworn to it, I thought I heard him mumble something that sounded suspiciously like, “I know what it’s like to care about an unaffectionate creature.”

I didn’t ask him to explain and instead lay there and listened as his breathing began to even out.

“Who would try to kill me?” I asked. My mind wouldn’t stop racing.

“Erisa.”

“Why?”

“You know why,” he said, and it made me remember the last time he’d said that to me—when I’d found out he’d helped me during the race and made sure that I’d survived.

He’d also made sure that Quynh had survived. I thought about it for a long time. How he had shown up for me when I needed him most. There was still so much I was angry about, but I could at least acknowledge that fact.

It sounded like he had finally fallen asleep and it made me feel even lonelier, the night darker, the quiet more suffocating.