Page 168 of The Secrets of Jane: Reborn

“This wound is stitched together with siren’s kelp. It can heal nearly anything, but it’s a very fragile bind. You were at great risk of re-traumatizing the wound. It seems to be a lung puncture, so yes, it was quite nasty.”

When she’s done applying the gel, his mother offers a hand with very short nails. “Let’s sit you up and get some food and tea in you.”

I grimace as I move, but it’s nowhere near as bad as when I first awoke to Soren. His mother fetches me some tea and food on a table, and I find it interesting that she wears billowy pants, along with a loose tunic, her feet bare.She’s not wearing a dress.

“Thank you for looking after me.”

“Of course. Anything important to Soren is important to me,” she replies, sitting back down on the floor with crossed legs, next to my cot. She pours me some steaming tea, and offers me a plate of spiced rice.

My jaw goes slack when I lock eyes with a few blue candles lit near the kettle. “Those! How do you use those?”

“The azure flame?” she asks, like this surprises her. “Oh, you just light them. It’s done by gripping the candle and sending your healing magic into the wax. The flames only appear that way. You don’t have to do much else, really. They’re draining, though. So you can’t leave them on for long because they give off a pulse of healing energy in the room, which takes from your energy.”

“What’s her name?” I nearly whisper, staring at the physical manifestation of the understanding I craved while locked away. “Of our goddess?”

“Azzara.”

“Azzara,” I mutter, a pulse of energy concentrating in my wrists. My heart almost breaks in two, desperately clawing at the memory of my mother. What happened that made her veer from our goddess? Her magic clearly saved me on that ship; my body turns rigid once more when recalling how the waves washed over me on Darkwater.

“Your mother didn’t teach you?”

“No… um, she had a falling out with Azzara.” Taking my gaze off the candles, I don’t want to speak of my mother about something like that, as if I’m speakingforher. “What is it likehaving Soren as a son?” I ask, sipping on the tea that’s thankfullynormal,eager to have a conversation that roots me in reality.

She snorts, placing a hand on either knee as she looks me over. “Any man he kills deserves death. I won’t hear otherwise.”

Picking up the plate of rice after setting the cup down, I smile at her response.

“Eat slow. You didn’t get to eat much on the ship.”

Nodding, my growling stomach nearly tells me otherwise, but I listen to her and take my time.

“How did you do it?” she asks. “How did you set the ship on fire?”

I touch the back of my neck for the ruby—it’sgone—and leave that part out of it. For better or for worse, Cypress may have actually saved me. “I… I used my magic and channeled every bit of it into Misery’s staff, and then a wave washed over us, and he was gone. He screeched as if I had burned him.”

Intrigue is etched into her gaze. “How did you do that? He should have seen that coming.”

"I came with a suppressant. Misery couldn’t feel a thing,” I quickly say, the sensation of speaking about it in past tense quite odd on my tongue. “Why did that work so well? It was like me touching his staff was actualpoison.”

Her gaze trails off, canting her head to the side. “You touched him with another god’s power, and in our case,oursis quite annoying to someone who is the God ofMisery.” She pours me more tea and motions to the bowl with the salve she used on me. “This is for inflammation, by the way. Your body has healed a great deal, but I’m afraid your lung will have some permanent injury. What that manifests as, I’m not sure. This will reduce whatever we can manage.”

I look down, sighing like I’ve released a thousand worries. She places a hand on my shoulder, and it’s been a long time since a motherly touch was given to me. “You will be alright, Jane. Getsome more rest. There will be someone outside the door if you need anything. I’ll let Soren know you’re awake.”

“Wait, what’s your name?”

“You can call me Sera.”

Downing the rest of the tea as she leaves, the quiet calm is almost too weird. Too out of place. It’s something I lived with every day in Coalfell, but now I don’t know what to do with it. Is it seriously over? Jesper is gone like he never existed? Blackwell’s ship is at the bottom of the ocean? I may have had a hand in that, but… I didn’t realize how much my heart had settled on going down with Darkwater.

Lie down.

Closing my eyes, I’m sure I fall asleep for some period of time, the lighting in the room seemingly brighter when I next open them. At some point, a lady’s maid enters after knocking.

I sit up once more, my chest not nearly in as much pain as it was earlier. “Where’s Soren?” I ask the woman, who is wearing a simple, red dress, her black hair pin straight and parted down the middle.

“In his chambers. He checked on you earlier. I’m here to see if you need anything.”

“Am I near his room?”