Page 45 of Firebird
“She begged for her life,” whispered Enid hoarsely, “when they were loading us into the nets. They killed her with one swipe of a claw.” She sniffed. “Now I wish they’d done the same to me.”
“Please don’t say that,” I begged her, squeezing her cold hand in mine.
“I thank you for getting your master to bring me here. Better to die in this bed looking at your pretty face than in that cold pen or all alone somewhere else.”
“Please don’t give up, Enid.”
“Don’t worry about me.” She gave my fingers a weak squeeze. “You’re in a safe place here. There’s no shame in doing whatever you have to in order to survive, my sweet girl.”
Whether she thought I was using my body to placate the general, I wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter. All I wanted was for her to find some peace.
I sought her core with my magic, connecting easily with her since our souls were so familiar, then pushed a wave of solace through the line.
She stared up at the ceiling, the candlelight casting strange shadows over her face. She winced again in pain.
“Sleep, Enid,” I said softly, pouring tranquility through our tether, giving her spirit the balming peace she needed. “Rest.”
I curled up and laid my head next to hers as we used to do on cold winter nights. Though now I made sure not to jostle her, feeling the excruciating pain bouncing back through our connection. I closed my eyes and wept silently, listening to Enid’s ragged breaths in the dark, pushing my soothing magic into her aching body.
My mind drifted back to my conversation with Julian tonight and his dogged questions. He wanted me to use my power on the emperor? The thought of tethering with that dragon sent a terrifying chillthrough my blood. But Julian didn’t ask me that randomly. He had a purpose, though he refused to confide in me what it was.
Bunica had taught me to have faith in my magic, to rely on it, and now, that inner knowing reached desperately for Julian. Not as a target to vanquish, not as the enemy, but as an ally.
I reached out to that witch who lived inside me, thinking of Julian and all that had passed between us. I clutched the coin around my neck, and a familiar rightness settled deep in my bones. I determined then and there that I must know why he asked me such a question about Caesar.
Dare I hope, was it possible, that my enemy could become my ally?
XI
JULIAN
I awoke well before dawn. My senses prickled again. Something had pulled me from a deep sleep. Pushing my bed curtains aside, I stood and looked around, listening.
A soft whimper on the other side of the house.Malina.I rushed through the dark corridors toward the slave quarters, knowing she was in distress.
Passing her room on the way to the end of the corridor, I pushed open the door that was ajar. She knelt beside the bed, her friend Enid’s hand clutched in her own. I could already smell the first whiff of decay.
By the oil lamp burning, I could see the tears streaking her face when she looked up.
“She’s dead.”
I held myself rigid and witnessed her agony. It wasn’t proper nor was it my place to comfort her. By all means, I was the one who’d killed her friend. It was my army who’d killed her entire clan.
She sniffed and stared at the dead woman. “She told me she was going to die. I just didn’t want to believe it.” Her chin quivered as another tear slid down her cheek. “She was the last person alive who loved me in this world. Now, I have no one.”
I shouldn’t, and yet there was no stopping me. I couldn’t stand there doing nothing and watch my fiery girl consumed with pain and grief.
Moving slowly, I closed the space between us and scooped her into my arms like a child.
“No, I can’t leave her.” She struggled.
“Shh.” I settled in the chair beside the bed, likely where Kara had sat tending to the sick woman.
Malina settled, her gaze turned toward the bed, her chest heaving with each sob. I pressed my chin to the crown of her head, holding her close in my lap, my entire soul engulfed with the small pleasure of it.
“Pluto will take care of her now,” I assured her.
“She doesn’t believe in your Roman gods,” she hissed tightly, body trembling. “Pluto does not wait for her.”
