My heart pounded in my chest, my own eyes beginning to blink rapidly, trying to keep my vision clear so that she would know I was listening. "So glad," she said, on an exhale.
My mother let out a garbled little cry, but I was entirely still, staring back at my grandmother, trying to decide if I was imagining the slight tilt of a smile on her lips. Her eyes closed, and my hand clutched at her arm. She couldn't go! I needed her, needed her influence on my mother and her force against the council and??/p>
Oh, wasn't that awful.
I hated myself in that moment, watching my grandmother wither quietly in front of me, dreading the loss of my ally in the battle for Kimmery, but not??/p>
I stood from the bed, stepping back and searching the shadows, ignoring the glint of Camellia's stare.
"Hector, Vincent?" I called.
They moved slowly closer, tears rolling down Hector's face, Vincent's shoulders slumped lowly.
"Please," I whispered, gesturing to the bed for them to take my place. I would want my Chosen at my side if it were me. Stars, I wanted them now.
My mother wept into the bedding as Hector and Vincent settled at my grandmother's side, Hector kissing her hand, Vincent her forehead. We waited in the quiet, the seconds piling up between each breath, my head counting them, my own breath trying to match my grandmother's.
It wasn't until my chest burned and my vision went blurry, my head losing track of the count, that I realized another breath wasn't coming. I gasped, swaying in place, and turned away from the bed.
Camellia had backed away too, close enough to the mantle that the tensing of her muscles, the anxious shifting of her feet was clear in the dark room. She looked as though she was about to shatter, but it wasn't sorrow for our loss in her eyes. It was Hunger, and she was going mad with it. Her eyes flicked up to mine, and she bared her teeth at me. My heart stopped in some kinship with my grandmother, and Camellia turned on her heel.
My sister left the room, my mother's cries fading to sniffles, and I sank to my knees, my back leaning against the shuttered curtains, my head empty and echoing with the sound of the ticking clock.
I didn't know if it was my mother or my grandmother's Chosen who informed them, but Aric and Daniel came to find me eventually.
"Come on, princess. They're about to let the vultures in for viewing," Aric murmured.
Daniel scooped me up from the floor with ease, cradling me to his chest, carrying me into the too-bright sitting room where the others waited. I pressed my face into Daniel's shirt to hide my dry cheeks.
"There's a back hall and stairs we can use," Cress said. "I'll show the way."
In the shelter of the dark hall, with no one but my Chosen around to hear me, I lifted my head and searched the shadows for Aric.
"Here, princess," he said, a soft shredded note in his voice.
"Aric, did I hurt her when I tried to use magic to help her?" I asked.
"Of course you didn't!" Cosmo answered immediately, but I waited for us to reach the light of a lamp on the wall, and then pushed against Daniel's shoulder until he set me on my feet again.
Aric's expression was grim, gaze hovering above my head as he remained silent. I thought he might lie to save my feelings, although that wouldn't be like him, but when he finally looked me in the eye, I straightened my shoulders and prepared for the worst.
"No, princess," he said. "I think her own magic reacted defensively, but I don't think your attempt did her any harm."
There was no exact reason to believe Aric, except maybe that I wanted to and that something in his face promised he would've told me an ugly truth, if only because he knew I trusted him.
His hand reached out, fingertips lifting my chin a little higher. "Whatever struck your grandmother ill did harm that couldn't be undone so far along. There are things magic just can't repair."
I let out a shuddering sigh and nodded, and Aric bent a little to kiss my brow.
"Let's go to the suite. Now isn't the time to analyze what happened," Thao said, stepping up and wrapping an arm around my waist, leading me forward and nodding to Cresswell.
I opened my mouth, the question of what it was time for on my tongue, and then