The Storm Crow (The Storm Crow, #1)(91)

Samra returned to escort us to our rooms. We’d barely stepped into the hallway when Luan emerged from the surgeon’s room. Her sleeves were stained with blood, her face set in a grim expression that wiped away every ounce of happiness that had welled up inside me.

I lurched forward. “What happened? Is Kiva all right?”

Luan paused. “Your friend is alive, and I’m mostly certain she’ll stay that way.” When I started forward, she held up a hand. “What she needs now is rest. Give her a few hours before you barge in.”

Anxiety twisted in my stomach, but I relented. Samra showed us to our rooms. The one I would share with Kiva was right beside the kitchen, and Res knew it too. He cooed softly, the cord between us humming stronger as the last of the drug faded away.

“Oh, now you’re fine because there’s food nearby,” I said, and he nudged my cheek with his beak. The room was small, with two bunks and a small washstand. The walls had hooks for clothes that I hung my bow on and a small circular window filled with endless ocean blue.

I sat on the bunk, Res bundled in my lap. My eyelids felt heavy, and sleep pulled at me. I fought it, wanting to be awake the moment I was allowed to see Kiva, but in the end, I succumbed.

Gentle hands roused me all too soon. Caylus stood over me. “Kiva’s awake.”

I nearly sprang to my feet before remembering Res in my lap. I prodded him, and he complained but rose with a ruffle of his feathers. The link felt back to normal, and he looked it too as he leapt to the ground and nipped at the feathers beneath his wing. He followed behind me as I slipped past Caylus and down the hallway to the infirmary.

Luan met me at the door. Her gaze dropped to Res, her lips parting, but she said nothing except “Five minutes” before striding out.

I stepped inside to find Kiva lying propped on a thin bed. She was snow-white and bare to the waist save for a band of cloth around her chest and the bandages encasing her shoulder. Her eyes were closed, but they opened as I sat down beside her.

“I was dreaming of punching Shearen in the face,” she murmured, licking her dry lips.

I picked up a glass of water from the bedside table and helped her drink from it. “You need to have better dreams. Try stabbing him next time.”

Kiva laughed, then winced, and I resolved not to make any more jokes.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Weak,” she replied. Her eyes dropped to her bandaged shoulder, and my stomach roiled.

“You can…move it, can’t you?” It was her sword arm.

Her jaw clenched, her voice coming in a whisper. “Barely.” She leaned her head back, staring up at the roof and blinking rapidly. “What if I can’t? I won’t be able to protect you. To help you. Even if I do recover, I’ll be useless the next few weeks. A liability. You and Caylus should just—”

I flicked her in the forehead. She blinked, startled, and I smirked.

“I don’t care if I have to carry you, Kiva. I’m not leaving you behind. I need you.”

She held my gaze a moment, then swallowed hard. “You definitely can’t carry me.”

“Caylus can.”

She laughed weakly, but the threat of tears in her eyes receded, and she relaxed.

I leaned forward. “I have someone for you to meet.”

Her eyes widened. I grinned and leaned aside. Res cocked his head, emitting a low caw.

Kiva’s head dropped back onto the pillow as she let out a laugh. “Thank the Saints. He’s beautiful, Thia.”

I sat back in my chair. “It’s barely two days’ sail to Seahalla, you know. You’d better heal quick.”

“What’s our plan once we’re there?”

A good question. With everything that had happened the last several hours, I hadn’t had the time or foresight to think about it. I doubted Razel’s plans had changed—she would still want me to marry Ericen and to place us on Rhodaire’s throne.

“We’ll have to find somewhere safe to lie low for a few days while you recover,” I said. “Razel can’t hatch those eggs without me, which means she’ll have people looking for us.”

“She might attack Rhodaire to draw you out.”

An image of the army sitting on Rhodaire’s doorstep rose. “Which is why we need to get a letter to Caliza. She needs to be prepared. Once you’re healthy enough, we need to get Res to the meeting in Trendell. Otherwise, they won’t believe we’ve hatched him.” Then we had to recover the remaining eggs.

“Maybe Razel won’t attack,” Kiva said. “She’d lose the chance for a peaceful takeover, and she’d have to pull troops out of Jindae and the Ambriels to manage it.”

“I hope you’re right.” If Razel did attack, how long could Rhodaire hold out?

“Well, at least you don’t have to marry Ericen,” Kiva said.

I sighed, leaning back in my chair and looking at my leather gloves. “He saw us, Kiva. In the courtyard. He could have called the guards, but he didn’t. He let us go.”

And I’d left him behind.

She frowned. “He made his choice.”

I nodded slowly but without conviction. I’d been honest with Ericen when I said I didn’t have feelings for him, but somehow, he’d become my friend, even if that wasn’t what he wanted. I’d told myself he was too consumed by his desire to prove himself, that he couldn’t extricate himself from the web of pride, loneliness, and need he’d woven around himself.