Page 40 of Dance of the Phoenix (Cloak of the Vampire #3)
Ragnor
The last thing he wanted was to stay in his room, but Ragnor’s sense of duty and friendship, despite everything that had happened between them, didn’t let him leave Eliza’s side.
She’d been sleeping for who knew how long, and yet Eliza refused to wake. Ragnor would’ve been worried had it not been for the visit he received from Luceras in the night prior.
Luceras, whose expressively colorful junglelike eyes usually expressed nothing, had peered at the sleeping Eliza with what Ragnor would’ve called concern had Luceras been any other species but a Malachi.
Ragnor had pretended not to see when Luceras reached out to Eliza, caressing her hair once, before he nodded to Ragnor and left.
Now Ragnor was saddled with the uncomfortable feeling that if harm came to Eliza, he would make an adversary out of a powerful being.
So despite his gnawing worry over Aileen and her upcoming battle the next day against a vampire she considered a friend, he couldn’t leave Eliza’s side.
The spectacle of Renaldi’s hosting of the opening ceremony rested heavily on his mind too. But that was neither here nor there. Nothing he could do about it now.
“Eliza,” he said, weary of all the troubles that seemed to pile up without an end in sight. “I know you’re strong enough to wake up from ... whatever this is. I need you to tell me what’s going on.” Maybe then, at least, he would be able to resolve one of his many problems.
To his surprise, Eliza stirred. Then, slowly, her single eye opened. She turned her head to where he sat on the chair near the bed, and her eye widened. “What ...” she croaked, shock written over her face.
Ragnor gave her a humorless smile. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? I can get you something if you want.”
She pushed herself into a sitting position and looked away. “I don’t ...” She swallowed hard before peering back at him. “Where are we? This isn’t the Rayne League.”
“The Hecatomb arena,” Ragnor replied simply, watching as another wave of shock caused her to freeze.
“Oh,” she said, frowning. “Shit. Is the Hecatomb happening now? How long have I been asleep?” She paused. “Why am I here? I was supposed to be recuperating at Alby’s ...”
Ragnor almost genuinely smiled at her confusion. He wondered how she would react if he told her Luceras wanted to get her out of Alby’s and under Ragnor’s protection. He had a feeling he would have had a good laugh at whatever expression she would’ve made.
Unfortunately, humor wasn’t an emotion he was capable of at the moment. So instead, he said, “I got you out of Alby’s and here. I’m under the impression that you got yourself into some deep shit, Wains.”
Eliza snorted, as if to say, You don’t even know the half of it . But instead, she asked, “How did you even know I was there?”
Luceras’s words from last night echoed in Ragnor’s head. “ Don’t tell her it was me ,” he’d told Ragnor. “ Come up with an excuse. I don’t want her to know I was involved in any way, shape, or form. ”
So Ragnor replied ambiguously, “I have my own ways of finding things out.”
She shot him a look that told him she didn’t buy it. But thankfully, she let it go and instead said, “You mentioned food?”
Ragnor folded his arms. “I’ll bring you some—for a price.”
“Wow,” she said dryly, “and here I thought you were simply being altruistic toward an old friend. How very optimistic of me.”
Ragnor shrugged. “Think of it what you will,” he said, “but it won’t change the fact I need to know what happened to make you go into a deep slumber for God knows how long.”
He saw her eye tick in irritation. “Fine,” she said, angry, “but food first.”
Ragnor rose to his feet and gave her a mock bow. “As you wish, my Lady.”
She stared at him, suspicious. “You’re being too nice to me, considering how we parted ways last time we met.”
Deciding against answering her question outright, Ragnor simply sent her a thin-lipped smile and left for the lounge to grab something for his old friend, whom, despite everything, he had missed.
And once she had eaten and told him her story of what had happened to her in the past few months since they’d last seen one another, his whole world tilted on its axis.