Heir of Pendel (A Pandoran Novel, #4) (62 page)

"I'm so glad you got that fire thing under control," Alex teased.

I chuckled, and the mattress shifted as Alex sat down right beside me, his thigh touching mine. His hair was still damp and he'd flung the linen around his neck, and his arm brushed against mine as he leaned forward and picked the needle off the table. "By the way, have you even done sutures before?"

"No, but I figured you have, so if you need them you can tell me what to do."

He didn't look very convinced.

"Oh, shush, or I'll forget to give you anesthetic."

He laughed lightly as he set the needle back on the table. I turned to face him, one leg bent beneath me and the other hanging over the bed, and I examined the lacerations on his left arm. There were three of them: one across his forearm, one across the space above his elbow, and another across his shoulder. The cuts weren't very wide, but the line above his elbow ran particularly deep. "What do you think? Stitches on this one here?"

"Mm," he bent his head close to mine as he studied it. Now he smelled like winter and incense. "I think so. We'll have to see how it looks once it's clean."

I lightly pressed the skin around the cuts and he flinched.

I gave him a look. "Fine, huh?"

"That's just because you're touching me." He grinned and I grinned back. And then I unscrewed the lid of the salve Thad had given me. Alex promptly grabbed the jar from my hands to read the ingredients. Satisfied, he handed it back.

"Is it to your standards?" I asked.

He grinned. "It'll do."

"Good, may I start now?"

His grin spread, and then it changed a little as he ran his hand through my hair and cupped the back of my head. His eyes flickered over my face, and he slowly leaned forward and kissed me. He pulled back much too quickly, but it left me breathless all the same. He trailed his thumb over my bottom lip. "Now you may start."

Now I didn't want to start. Now I wanted him to kiss me like that, but not stop. By the smile on his face, I knew he sensed that.

Well, then, think about this: blood, pus, lacerations…

Thanks, Conscience. That did the trick.

First, I gave Alex the topical anesthetic, and once he sufficiently couldn't feel my fingertips around the open wounds, I started cleaning. I used a scrap of linen to squeeze fresh water over his cuts, and once I'd gotten out all the dirt and grime and old blood, I poured some of the antiseptic over them. The wounds bubbled and fizzed, and Alex hissed a word I didn't understand as he clenched his fists at his sides.

"More anesthetic?" I asked.

He grit his teeth, his face flushed. "No, that one's just really deep. I shouldn't be able to feel the needle too much."

"You're sure? I've got more."

He shook his head. "It's all right if I feel it."

I held his gaze a long moment, understanding completely. We got to stitching. The one in the middle was the only one that needed it, and Alex instructed me how to tie the knot, where to place the actual stitches, and just how deep I needed to make them. I felt his eyes on me while I sewed, but I focused, trying to keep the stitches small and even, zig-zagging my way through the skin while making sure I kept as close to the edge as possible without hemorrhaging the stitch. Alex flinched only once and when I was about to tie the knot at the end, he asked so softly, "Do you love him?"

I almost dropped the needle. Surprised, I looked up at Alex, but he was staring at my hand resting on his arm.

"I…didn't even think to ask you," he whispered. "Before."

I placed a hand on his cheek, turning his face so that he had to look at me. "No," I said, trying to communicate it with my eyes as well as my words. "I don't love Danton. He was good to me. He was kind…in his way. And he helped me escape. But it's not like that—at least not for me." I dropped my hand from his face, but he kept his gaze fastened on mine. "And just in case you were wondering, he behaved himself."

He grabbed a clump of my hair and twisted it between his fingertips. "That's exactly why I'm worried." His words fell so softly in the small space between us.

"Well, you don't need to be," I said, and then I leaned forward and kissed him. I kissed him because I wanted to, because I loved him, and I kissed him harder so he would know and understand it, but not too hard because he had a newly sewed laceration that still needed bandaging. I pulled back and he rested his forehead on mine with a sigh.

"Are you convinced now?" I asked.

"Getting there." I heard the smile in his voice.

I laughed and then said, "But…we
do
need to tie off this knot and finish bandaging you up before it rips open and I have to start all over again."

He gave me a heart-stopping smile before angling himself away from me so that I could finish. I tied a good knot, cut the string, and trailed my fingers over the tiny stitches. "So, what do you think?"

"I think I'm in trouble."

I glanced up to find him watching me with a look in his eyes that made me feel flush.

"You did a great job." He turned his attention back to my handiwork. "It's almost as good as if I'd done it myself."

I laughed again, and then we wrapped clean linens around each incision, and once we finished, I got up and walked over to the washstand to scrub the blood from my hands. Dark clumps and rusty water swirled down the drain, and once my hands were sufficiently clean, I started scrubbing my face. I was dabbing it dry with a towel when Alex said so quietly, "I'm sorry about Stefan."

Stefan.

The thought of him sobered me immediately.

I set the towel down and took a slow, deep breath.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," he continued. "For him. For you. I hate that I wasn't there."

"It's not your fault," I said, finally turning around and meeting his gaze. He looked as sad as I felt. And then I remembered his father had been there, too. "Have you…heard anything?"

He shook his head and raked a hand through his damp hair. "It's hard not hoping he somehow made it out alive. And my mother…" He sighed. "I don't know where she is, if she knows. This will kill her."

"She didn't leave with Sir Torren?" I asked, suddenly hopeful.

"She may have, but she'd also mentioned the possibility of going somewhere with Arioch Prime." He studied me curiously. "You know something, don't you?"

I hesitated. He didn't know what'd happened to Pendel.

"Daria…?" He sounded anxious now.

I slowly made my way back to the bed and sat down beside him. "Sir Torren isn't coming."

He stared at me, waiting, and I felt his anxiety surge.

"I…Nexus showed me," I said quietly.

"Nexus showed you what, exactly?"

"Sir Torren and his men arrived in Campagna, but…Lord Vega's men were waiting for them. I didn't see it happen…just the aftermath. Nexus flew me to the battlefield."

He sat quiet and still for a very long time. "Were there any survivors?"

"I don't know," I said. "None that I saw, but that doesn't mean some couldn't have snuck away. Maybe you can ask the prisoners."

His throat moved as he swallowed. "Yes, I'll do that first thing in the morning."

"I
did
see Sir Torren." I paused. "I have his sword strapped to Nexus."

Alex stared at the middle-distance, his expression hard as stone, and his desperation drowned out every other emotion. I reached out and grabbed his hand, threading my fingers through his. He shut his eyes and squeezed my hand.

"I worried something terrible had happened," he whispered at last. "I had a feeling deep down, but I didn't want to believe it. I sent ravens to both Mercedes and Sir Torren, asking them to join us here. I heard back from Mercedes almost immediately, but I never heard from Sir Torren, and when Campagna appeared on that rise…" He exhaled and opened his eyes. "But Gesh should be here."

"When did you send the ravens?" I asked.

"A few weeks ago, when I was in Astor. The plan is—was to combine our forces against Eris's shadowguard. We need to keep him from using that shield."

"Wait, does he have the unity stone?" I asked.

Alex shook his head. "At least, I don't believe so—not according to Danton. What I don't know for certain is why Eris hasn't just taken it from Lord Pontefract. The only thing I can think of is that he hasn't needed it yet. That maybe he didn't want to make himself vulnerable by fighting Lord Pontefract and all of Orindor for it, which would've given Valdon more time to assimilate and fight back. Instead, he went straight to Castle Regius. But what's stopping him at this point…I really don't know."

I hesitated before commenting, because I didn't want to make him too uncomfortable by mentioning Danton again. But he'd brought up Danton first, so I went ahead. "I asked Danton why his father hadn't given Eris the stone."

There was no jealousy there. Alex looked genuinely interested. "And? Danton mentioned you spoke with Lord Pontefract, but he didn't share any details."

I told him about my conversation with Lord Pontefract, and all the conclusions Danton had helped me draw afterward, in light of that conversation. When I finished, Alex folded his hands together and took a deep breath. "I guess that relieves me a little. That…maybe Lord Pontefract sees how dangerous and unstable Eris and he's reluctant to hand over that kind of power. Sometimes I forget your fathers and uncles grew up together. It seems Lord Pontefract's
practicality
might work in our favor."

"Hopefully," I added. "So what's your plan now?"

"Well." He rubbed his thumbs together. "I'll speak with the prisoners first—thanks for that, by the way."

I nodded.

"And then…I'd like to wait here another day or so, as long as the people of Rex Cross don't mind. The men could use some rest, and I'd like to give Mercedes some more time."

"And if she doesn't show?"

His shoulders rose and fell with a deep breath. "We'll discuss that then. For now, I'm still holding out hope she's coming."

"Does she know you're fighting as the Estroian heir?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, and then he went on to tell me everything. How he'd found out about the sword, and his journey to get it mended. It made me so sad about Clara. She'd been innocent, like so many others who had been killed in this war, but I'd known Clara well. Her death felt like the death of my childhood, and my heart was pained at the loss of both.

And then he mentioned Operation Ark.

"Wait, what?" I stared at Alex, baffled. "Stefan notified the President? As in the President of the United States?"

"As in the President of the United States," he repeated.

"What, like…with a cell phone?"

He nodded. "With a cell phone."

"Those work here?"

"Sometimes. The signal can be pretty erratic, and you have to be standing right next to a portal, but since the veil is so thin, Stefan was able to make a phone call from inside the castle."

I just couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of Stefan, using a cell phone, in the middle of a castle in Valdon to call the White House. It was like picturing Gandalf calling Frodo on a cell phone to warn him about the Nazgul. Just…no.

"He's called me from here before, Daria. Remember?" Alex looked ruefully at me.

He was referring to the day I'd overheard him talking to my brother, only I hadn't known Stefan was my brother at the time, and I'd made the unfortunate mistake of thinking Alex hated me. I pinched my lips together. "Yeah, that was definitely not my best moment."

He squeezed my hand gently as he grinned. "Anyway, there are protocols in place on both planets in the event of any major threat. Considering the condition of King Darius and the size of Eris's army, Stefan had the foresight to realize the threat, and he warned the President to be ready should our war bleed to their side. From there, it's the President's job to notify those responsible in each corresponding country that the people of Gaia might be evacuating to Earth."

I told Alex what Nexus had told me—about Eris's endgame.

Alex's brow furrowed. "Lord Dommelier told me that too."

"Lord…who?" I asked.

Alex went on to tell me about the Arborenne and Ravenshelm and his cousin. I'd had no idea he had extended family in this world. Of course, it made sense I wouldn't know. It wasn't like he could've told me about them without also telling me about Gaia. But hearing what'd happened to them made my gut turn.

I placed my hand on his arm. "Alex…I'm so sorry."

He chewed on his bottom lip and stared at the ground. "There's…something else."

I waited, wondering what else in the world there could possibly be.

"Meira's baby…" He hesitated then looked back at me, unsure. "She was…Danton was the father."

I blinked. Had I heard him correctly? By the look on Alex's face, I knew I had. Danton had fathered a child, and with Alex's cousin. I glanced down at my hand on Alex's arm, feeling…I wasn't sure how I felt. Surprised? Disappointed? Deceived? I wanted to think the best of Danton—he'd done nothing but help me, in his way. But hearing this…well, it made it difficult. He would've married me without ever disclosing the fact he'd had a child out there in this world—a child related to Alex. That seemed all kinds of twisted to me. And if Danton had managed to keep this from me, what else had he conveniently kept quiet about? Unless…

"Does Danton know?" I whispered.

"Yes."

I felt Alex watching me, though I didn't glance up to meet his gaze. I didn't want him seeing my eyes just yet, because I wasn't sure what he'd find there. "Lord Pontefract hushed it up, didn't he?" I asked.

"He did."

I took a slow, steadying breath, gathered myself, then looked back up into Alex's eyes, where nothing but comfort and understanding awaited me. I loved him even more for it. "Is that why you don't like him?" I asked.

Alex's gaze moved over my face, and his fingertips followed. "No. I didn't know this about my cousin until a few weeks ago. The news sharpened my dislike, yes. But…I disliked him before because I didn't respect his more…cavalier attitude, toward women in particular, and that dislike intensified when I realized he was intended for you." He rubbed his thumb along my jaw, and we held each other's gazes another long moment.