Broken Aro (The Broken Ones) (25 page)

He caught her watching him and his gaze dropped. He
absently rubbed his chapped, calloused hands together. "Do you love him?"

His whispered question shocked her speechless. She
turned quickly back to the soup. "Of course not," she finally managed
to choke out. "I'm not an idiot."

He snorted and she turned around again to glare at
him. He started coughing again and that was the only thing that saved them from
an argument. By the time he stopped Bo was walking in the door.

"Hey, Bo," she greeted him.

"Hey there, pup." He glanced over at Avery
and frowned.

"So what's the word?"

He coughed, shook his head and cleared his throat.
Avery started coughing again and he grimaced. "Sickness going around it
seems."

"Really?" She sighed to cover her snippy
remark. "Any deaths?"

He nodded. "A few elderly I heard." He
pulled off his hat and added it to the pile by the door. "We'll just have
to wait and see I guess."

She nodded. Elderly and young children dying from
winter illness certainly wasn't uncommon. When healthy young people started to
succumb then it became time to worry. "At least spring is almost here."

Bo and Avery both went to sleep leaving her alone with
her thoughts and worries. She puttered about the room, tidying and doing little
chores.

Eventually she sat herself in the corner trying to
keep quiet as she did mending, occasionally peeking at the boys. Bo and Avery
huddled under their blankets snoring away. Prince rested quietly and she found
herself watching his face as he slept. "Wither me," she muttered.

With a grimace she went back to mending the hole in
Avery's sweater.

Her brothers had talked to her about love. They'd
awkwardly explained the difference between love and lust. They had discussed
how love came in many different forms and how loving someone, and being in love
with them, could be two different things. She'd never much thought about it.
She had certainly never been in love with anyone. There had been local boys she
found sweet or handsome, but she had never followed them around all doe-eyed
and stupid.

She smiled slightly to herself. She was fine then,
because she wasn't doing anything like that now either. Sure, she loved all her
men. They were her family now. She leaned forward and peeked over at Prince
again. He was just a little special because she felt...

"Gah." She raised her hands to her face. "I
am an idiot."

She took a deep breath, trying to sort through her
emotions. No, it wasn't love, not the type Avery thought. Her feelings for
Prince were special, different, but more like a favorite brother. Kei was
special, too, so certainly this was normal. Though of all the men, it would be
like her to fall in love with the one she couldn't have. The one who would
never love her back. He was a prince. She was...nothing.

If she tucked her feelings away in her mind, perhaps
she wouldn't show them as much. She could do that. She had been practicing
after all.

Since they had met the strange man named Damon in the
woods, she had worked on building a wall within her mind. He was insane about
all of the talk of prophecies. However she did agree she should learn to keep
her thoughts from being invaded by others. She didn't want people like him in
her head. Over the long winter months she had built what she hoped was a sturdy
fortress in the back of her mind. Damon had told her to build walls, and she'd
taken his words literally. She didn't know what else to do. Constant practice
at envisioning her fortress seemed to do something though. Luckily she'd grown
up learning to concentrate while practicing with her bow. Of course, she had no
way to tell if her fortress actually existed or if it was any good or not. She
certainly didn't want to seek out Damon to find out and humans and Fey didn't
read minds.

By the time Avery awoke later in the afternoon she had
almost returned to a good mood. He came with her to collect water from the well
and later they practiced sword work in an empty alley tucked behind their
building. They weren't at it long before she called a stop and dragged him back
up their room and put him back in bed. He didn't argue and fell back asleep
quickly.

She waited impatiently for Bo and Prince to wake up,
and for Cain to return home.

When everyone finally woke up she started silently
dishing out soup into crude wooden bowls. She caught Avery still glaring at
Prince. "Avery, pay attention or you're going to spill."

He looked at her sourly before returning his gaze to
his food and keeping it there.

When Cain came in she went to meet him at the door. "What's
going on out there?" She turned back to look at the men as Avery started
coughing again. "Bo said it's getting worse."

Cain shook his head. "Still is. The baker's
daughter died this morning," he paused before adding, "and it's
snowing again."

She grimaced. Children had started dying now, too.
That was a bad sign. "Anyone talking about the symptoms?"

He nodded as he made his way into the room and she
fetched him a bowl of soup. "Starts out like a normal cold. With some
people it stays one. No worries. Others it gets worse, the cough gets worse.
Then the cough goes but a fever comes. If the fever doesn't kill you then the buildup
in the lungs does. Person can't breathe."

She glanced over at Avery and Bo, both of them had
been coughing. As far as she knew, she and Cain only had running noses, and
Prince merely looked like he was going to keel over.

"Seems to happen fast," Cain continued. "Don't
know if that's a good thing or not."

The topics turned to other things and she chatted
along with them as Prince and Bo got ready to leave.

Prince's shift started earlier so she followed him to
the door while the boys kept talking. She waited uneasily as he dressed for the
cold. She tried not to fidget when for some reason she found herself not
wanting to start the ritual she had begun with each of them before they left
for work. Her mind wandered and then suddenly he stood waiting by the door
staring at her.

"What's wrong?" He kept his voice low, his
typical frown crossing his face.

"Nothing." She forced a smile before holding
out her arms. "Hug." She tried not to hold him too tightly, or for
too long, uncomfortably aware of Avery watching her. "Be safe."

"You, too," he answered. He broke the ritual
with another frown as he stepped away. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

No, she was worried someone would get sick and die.
Worried she would lose him.
She
couldn't tell him such things though, so merely forced another smile. "Just
tired. See you in the morning."

He nodded, though the frown didn't leave his face. "Don't
forget to bolt the door."

"I won't."

She almost sighed with relief when he finally left.
She went back to the others and sat quietly as they continued to talk and Bo
went and shaved with the small, straight razor they'd bought. He nearly slit
his own throat when he suddenly started coughing and she jumped up. "Let
me."

He grimaced, but handed over the razor. "Be
careful with that, pup."

She chuckled. She'd shaved her brothers often enough
in the past, she wasn't worried. "Be careful tonight." She carefully
slid the blade along his skin around his scar. "If you're not feeling well
come home."

A faint smile curved his lip as he struggled not to
move. "Yes, mother."

She grimaced down at him. "I'm serious."

"I know. You don't need to worry about me."

She stuck out her tongue. "I worry about all of
you, idiot. You're my family."

He smiled and closed his eyes for a moment. "I
know what you mean. I'll be careful."

"Good boy," she said with a smirk.

He chuckled.

He left not long afterward and after demanding her hug
and reminding him to be careful she did her evening chores before curling up in
her pile of blankets. She tried not to think of Prince, or of anyone, getting
sick. The last was harder since Avery coughed all through the night.

Chapter 20

Break a Little More

When Prince returned early the next morning she ran to
the door, nearly knocking him over. She didn't even let him take off his snow
covered winter clothes before dragging him to Avery's side.

"Feel his forehead. He's hot isn't he?"

Prince pulled off his mitts and handed them to her as
he crouched down next to the sleeping form of their friend. "Yes."

She raised a hand to her forehead and started to pace.

Prince moved his hand over Avery's face. "He
hasn't woken up?"

She shook her head, trying to keep from panicking. "And
he's not been coughing, not since I woke up. Rot it! I don't know what to do!"

He stood and put his hands on her shoulders, keeping
her in place. "Where is Cain?"

"He went out to see what's going on. If anyone
has anything for the fever."

He nodded his approval. "Good. Calm down."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Prince was
right. She couldn't afford to panic. She had to take care of Avery. She
couldn't let him die. "Sorry," she whispered.

He pulled her into an unexpected embrace. "He
will be fine. Try not to worry."

She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly
for a moment, holding back tears. With a shuddering breath she pushed away. "You're
right. You have something to eat, and get some rest. I'll see if I can get him
to at least have some water."

She couldn't wake Avery to drink and cursed in
frustration. She placed her hand on his forehead again, grimacing at how hot it
felt. Jumping up, she got a wet cloth and wiped his face gently with it before
placing it over his forehead.

Kneeling beside him, she tried to figure out what else
she could do. Maybe colder water would be better. She sprang up again and
grabbed a clean bowl. "I'll be right back," she told a startled
Prince. "I'm getting some snow."

"Good idea," he replied. When she hesitated
he nodded at Avery. "I will watch him."

She ran down the stairs and outside and filled the
bowl quickly with new snow before running back up. She dumped the snow into one
of their water buckets and watched it quickly melt. She tested the water with a
finger and then ran and got more snow. Satisfied the water would be cold enough,
she wet the cloth and again and wiped down Avery's face and neck.

"Should I take the blankets off?"

Prince frowned. "I don't know."

"Gah!" Panic rose within her. She didn't
know what to do. "Where's Bo? Shouldn't he be back by now?"

"Calm down," Prince answered wearily. "He's
not late yet."

Bo had been coughing, too. What if he was lying passed
out from fevers in an alley somewhere? She wished Cain would hurry back. She
took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down.

"Should I open the window? Let some fresh air in.
It's stuffy in here." She was babbling, and knew it, but couldn't seem to
stop herself.

Prince got up. "I will do it. A little fresh air
is a good idea."

He pulled rags out from around the shutters of their
one window. Cool air slowly filled the room as he pulled the shutters open and
she jumped up and started fanning the air with her hands, trying to get it
moving around more quickly.

"Aro."

He walked up and pinned her arms to her sides. She
looked down, trying to keep her lips from trembling.

He pulled her against him, holding her tightly and
stroking the back of her hair. The tears started and she gripped him tightly,
wishing they would stop. "I can't do this. I can't lose someone else."

He rested his cheek on the top of her head. "Falling
apart is not going to help him."

"I know." She closed her eyes and took a
number of deep, shuddering breaths until at least a semblance of control returned.
She pulled away reluctantly. "Thanks."

He smiled. "I'm always here."

She smiled a little in return and turned away before
he could see the blush rising to her cheeks.

She looked at Avery and saw his eyes were open. With a
happy cry she jumped forward and dropped to her knees beside him. Pulling the
cloth away she tested his forehead again. "How are you feeling?"

He stared at her for a moment before closing his eyes.
"Horrid," he whispered.

She leaned forward; his voice had been so quiet she
had barely been able to hear him. "Cain is out looking for something to
help with your fever."

He nodded a little and opened his eyes again. "Don't."

Confused, she shook her head and leaned in closer. "Don't
what?"

"Don't love him." He closed his eyes again
as she stared at him in shock. She jerked her head around to see if Prince had
heard, but he was busy by the stove and apparently had not.