Wolfbreed (16 page)

The knight and his men were long gone, and Burthe was using a tin mirror and a knife to even out the violence she had done to her hair. A third of her long blond tresses were now in a pile by the head of Uldolf’s bed.

Gedim admired her quick thinking, and appreciated her distrust of the Germans, but couldn’t help but wonder if concealing their guest was the best decision.

That guest was awake right now, and Hilde was doing her best to spoon the last of the stew into the girl’s mouth.

That was the other thing. They were running out of food.

“What do you mean, do with her?” Uldolf responded.

“Did you see how many men they had looking for her? They’re not going to just go away. And the extra mouth to feed, especially with her appetite …”

“Husband,” Burthe said sharply, “you are
not
suggesting we put out an injured guest?”

Gedim looked at the wounded girl and Hilde. The two of them had made the feeding a game. Hilde would hover the spoon near
the girl’s mouth, and the girl would appear to ignore it for several moments, and then she would try to snap up the spoon before Hilde jerked it away. He would have scolded Hilde for the food that was splattering on the covers, but it had been too long a winter without seeing his daughter smile.

“No, I am concerned about when she heals.” He turned to Burthe. “She
will
heal?”

“The wounds, yes.” She put down the mirror and the knife and looked over at the girl and Hilde. There was an odd expression on her face.

“What is it?” Uldolf asked her.

“It’s just … I’ve never seen anyone heal so well before.”

“Well, that’s good.” Uldolf paused. “Isn’t it?”

“She’s a strange girl,” Burthe responded.

“When do you think she’ll be well enough to move?” Gedim asked.

“The fever’s broken. She could be moved now, but—”

“Please,” Hilde interrupted, “can’t Lilly stay?”

“Lilly?” Gedim and Uldolf said simultaneously.

“Hilde named our guest,” Burthe said.

Hilde looked up at Burthe. “She
told
me her name.”

Uldolf looked across at him and Gedim shrugged. He had a very imaginative daughter. Gedim asked her, “And when did Lilly tell you her name?”

“At night, she talks. Sometimes she sings.” Then, in a very tender gesture, Hilde took her sleeve and wiped the food off the girl’s—off Lilly’s—face. “I think she’s lonely.”

Burthe gave Gedim a look that dared him to talk about moving their guest in front of their daughter.

ater on, Gedim took Burthe outside to talk in private. The sky was purple with twilight, and the air vibrated with the sounds of all the chirping insects and the birds returning to feed on them. Gedim sat on the stone wall closest to the house.

He sighed. “While I see our daughter is attached to her, our guest has become a serious problem.”

“I know.”

“The Germans will be back. Even if they aren’t, someone will eventually come by and see her. Even if they don’t tell the Order or their servants about her. A new member of the household? A new, young, attractive, female member of the household? The rumors will sweep every family in the area.”

Burthe ran her fingers through her newly shortened hair. “You think I haven’t been dwelling on this since that man rode up the road? And I’ve been keeping an eye on our supplies. I don’t know how we’re going to eat.” Her shoulders were shaking. “But …”

“We can’t abandon her.”

“No.”

They both were silent for a long time.

“So, she’s doing better than you expected?”

“Better than anyone has a right to expect. She had a fever, but it was shorter and shallower than anything I’ve seen after such a bad injury, much less two of them. There’s barely any inflammation or drainage from either wound. The flesh is knitting together so well that I’ll be able to take the stitches out in a couple of days. Even her hair’s growing back faster than normal.”

“She has the gods’ favor.”

“At the very least.”

Gedim sighed. “She certainly eats like one of the saga heroes.”

“What do we do?”

Gedim stood up and put his arm around Burthe’s shoulder. “I don’t know.”

ilde hated it when her parents decided to talk around her, as if she was the chair or the table, as if she didn’t know what was going on. She hated it worse when they
did
realize she was there, and decided to go talk about their adult things in private. It was so
hard
to listen, with all the crickets and the birds.

Hilde sat by Lilly and listened anyway. She heard a lot about how Lilly was sick, but she felt a lot better because Mama was still saying that Lilly was doing well. Hilde knew that if Mama didn’t realize Hilde was listening, what she said about someone’s health was much closer to the truth.

She leaned close to Lilly and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. “Mama says you’re going to get all better. She may take the seam out of your head tomorrow.”

Hilde was happy about that. But the other things her parents said weren’t as happy. They were running out of food, because Lilly ate too much. Ulfie might have to go out and find something big—and that would be very dangerous. The Germans might find Ulfie then, and take him away like they tried to take Lilly away. That frightened Hilde.

Hilde looked down at Lilly. Her pretty green eyes were half closed and looking at the ceiling, past Hilde’s head. Hilde remembered how she had felt when she was sick. It was no fun, only being awake enough to know you weren’t quite sleeping.

Hilde now had news, about their food, that she
should
tell Lilly. But that would certainly upset her, and she was sick. Hilde didn’t want to make Lilly upset, or sad, or guilty. Hilde liked her.

But Hilde knew that she hated it when her parents tried to hide those things from her. Lilly was her friend, and as much as Hilde wanted to be nice to her and make sure she was happy, she decided it would be wrong to keep things from her.

Quietly, Hilde told Lilly about the things she had heard her parents say.

ilde kept herself awake that night, hoping that Lilly might wake up and talk to her again. She liked talking to Lilly, even if she never quite knew who Hilde was. Sometimes Lilly called her Rose, sometimes other names.

But as the fever got better, it had been happening less and less. Hilde didn’t know if that was good or bad. Lilly still didn’t speak during the day, but it seemed that she understood everyone more. Tonight, Lilly didn’t speak to her, though she still muttered things in her sleep. Most were too quiet to make out, but she smiled when she heard Lilly’s voice change tone between Ulfie’s snores.

Lilly was singing again. When she thought Hilde was Rose, she had sung it to her, and once she knew the words, Hilde had sung it with her.

Now Hilde sung the words inside her head:

Hilde fell asleep, her head on Uldolf’s chest, and no nightmares came.