Page 90 of A Token of Blood and Betrayal

Her tone and the lethal look in her eyes reminded me of Thordis when Eli had said her name.What had he said afterward?That he had no quarrel with her or reason to speak to her kind?And Thordis had claimed she wasn’t a staff member.She’d said Phedre had ordered her to follow me.

Whatever hierarchy the Valkyrie followed, Phedre outranked Thordis.

Something to dig into later.

I pushed away my blanket and carefully swiveled to sit on the edge of the bed.It went better than I expected, no dizziness or sudden onset of nausea.

“Where’s Blake?”I regretted the question as soon as I asked it.It was an admission that I noticed his absence, that I felt it, and wanted him there.

“He’s handling something,” Astrid said, making air quotes around the last two words.“He gets growly when you interrogate him.”

“I don’t recommend interrogation.”Really, it was better he wasn’t here.He wasn’t going to like what I was about to do.

I placed my bare feet on the carpet and experimented with standing.That, too, went much better than expected.

“You must have upped your poultice magic,” I said.My body felt heavy and a little more wobbly than usual, but I could handle this.

“It helps to have a coven.”She unfolded her legs from the chair and stood too.

“The coven’s here?”I asked, although I vaguely felt like I already knew that.

“I called them in as soon as I saw how bad your arm was.They were on standby for the”—she glanced at Phedre—“project, so they were able to get here quickly.They’re going to want to return home soon though, so if you’re cool with it, we can get everything ready for tomorrow night.”

“She doesn’t need to worry about that right now,” Garion said from the bedroom door.

“Garion.”I don’t know why I was relieved to see him, why I felt the need to apologize.Maybe because I hadn’t helped him yet?Because I’d risked leaving the Null more than once?“You’re okay?”

He scowled.“You’re alive and human.”

Was that a yes?I knew he was worried about my dad’s wish to be “free from The Rain.”He was probably blaming himself for the wolf attack.

“You look better now,” he said, his voice losing the rough edge.“You’re not as pale.”

“Duh.”Phedre hopped off my dresser.“She was almost turned into a werewolf, not a vampire.”

He and Astrid stared at the Valkyrie.Her eyes widened innocently.“What?Too soon?”

I couldn’t help it.I smiled.

She gave Astrid a smug grin.“Kennedy thinks I’m funny.”

“Kennedy lost a few billion brain cells this week.”

“Hey,” I said.“That’stoo soon.”

Phedre snickered.

I clung to that moment of normalcy for one more second, then opened my sock drawer.Laughing helped.But it didn’t change what I needed to do next.

“Any catastrophes happen while I was out?”I sat in the chair Astrid had vacated, then bent over to slip on my socks.Thathurt.

“You were the catastrophe,” Garion said.

He was still stuck in grim mode.Maybe he’d ease up if, nowhen, Astrid nulled the token.It would give him his freedom, and I’d have more bandwidth to focus on The Rain and my enemies.

The ache in my arm flared, but I didn’t let it stop me.I pulled on the socks, then grabbed my shoes, which someone had placed beside the chair.By some miracle, there wasn’t a single splatter of blood on them.

“You’re not going somewhere.”Garion’s tone wavered between a question and a statement.