The Prison Healer (The Prison Healer #1)(92)
“Frankly, I don’t want to think about it,” Naari said, a shudder in her normally unwavering voice. Seeing Kiva’s expression, she hastily added, “But I’m sure it won’t take too long, if that’s what you have to do. And it’s freshwater, so there’s nothing nasty living down here, no sea monsters or crocodilians or any other saltwater beasts.”
That idea hadn’t even crossed Kiva’s mind. She yanked her hand from the water and backed away quickly, half expecting a maw full of teeth to come raging out of the surface.
“At least the water’s drinkable,” Naari tried when she realized she’d only added to Kiva’s distress. “You won’t get thirsty if you have to swim for hours.”
“You think you’re helping, but you’re not,” Kiva said flatly.
Naari remained blessedly quiet as Kiva collected the rest of her samples, after which they retraced their steps along the narrow passageway. Both were lost in their own thoughts, with Kiva’s lingering back at the aquifer and worrying about what she’d have to do the next day. Obsessing over it failed to provide her with any answers as they passed the pumping station and headed back to the entrance shaft.
Their intent had been to venture down the larger passageway into the tunnel labyrinth next so that Kiva could collect the last of her samples, but that plan changed when they found Olisha waiting for them at the base of the ladders.
“I didn’t know which way you’d gone, so I thought it best if I stayed here until you returned,” the woman explained, wringing her hands.
Kiva couldn’t think past the panic that sprang to life within her, all thoughts of tomorrow’s Trial fleeing her mind. “Is it Tipp? Is he sick again?”
“Oh! No, dear, it’s not Tipp.”
“Is it his stomach?” Kiva asked, not listening, just reaching for the bottom rungs of the ladder and preparing to bolt up them and back to the infirmary. “Did his fever come back?”
“Kiva, sweets,” Olisha said, stopping her with a hand on her arm. “It’s not Tipp. It’s Tilda.”
A wave of relief flooded Kiva, before it was swept away by one of dread. “Did she have another convulsion? Is she— Has she—”
“She’s fine, she’s fine,” Olisha interrupted in a calming voice.
Confused, Kiva released the ladder and looked to Naari, who appeared equally perplexed. Turning back to Olisha, Kiva asked, “Then why are you here?”
“Because she’s awake. Tilda’s awake.”
Even more confused, Kiva said, “She wakes up a few times every day.” She paused, then added, “See if you can feed her some broth before she goes back to sleep. We need to keep up her fluids.”
“No, dear, you don’t understand,” Olisha said impatiently. She held Kiva’s eyes as she explained, “Tilda’s awake—and she’s lucid.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kiva struggled to control her breathing as she, Naari, and Olisha climbed up the ladder shaft, having determined to come back later for the remaining tunnel samples.
Finally, the three of them reached the surface, panting and sweating with their muscles on fire. Or, Kiva and Olisha, at least. Naari was barely out of breath, the picture of physical fitness. If Kiva hadn’t been in such a rush to get back to the infirmary, she would have asked for more details about her prosthesis and how it worked so effortlessly, the guard having had no trouble gripping the ladder, nor anything else she set her hand to do.
Ignoring her body’s need for a moment of respite, Kiva strode out of the domed building with Naari at her side, Olisha breathlessly calling that she’d catch up.
Unsure what she would find, unsure what she wanted to find, Kiva’s mind was awhirl with thoughts, concerns, and questions by the time they arrived at the infirmary and stepped inside.
“Kiva! You’re b-back!” Tipp called, sitting beside Tilda’s bed, holding one of her hands.
Kiva’s heart gave a pang as the woman’s face turned, not quite in the right direction owing to her blindness, but close.
Swallowing, Kiva moved first to place her samples from the pumping station and aquifer on the workbench, finding Nergal on a stool there, right where she’d left him.
“You can go,” she said to him. “Tell Olisha, too—she’s on her way back from the tunnels.”
The man was up and out of the infirmary so fast that it was as if he feared she’d change her mind. But Kiva didn’t want him here for this. Nor Olisha. In an ideal world, Tipp and Naari wouldn’t even be in the room, allowing Kiva a private moment with her patient. But Tipp was already quietly talking to Tilda, and Naari was striding toward her bed, the guard’s features wary enough that Kiva assumed she was recalling the Rebel Queen’s unprovoked attack soon after her arrival. Tilda had been restrained ever since, but Naari was no doubt still on high alert.
Kiva’s heart was thundering in her ears as she walked on wooden legs over to Tilda’s bedside. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous. No, that wasn’t true—there were so many reasons, not the least of which was if Tilda remembered anything from before she’d arrived at Zalindov. Did she know about the note from Kiva’s sister? Did she know Zuleeka had sent it, that Kiva had risked everything, and was still risking everything, to keep her alive? And what about her followers outside the walls—did she know they’d tried to free her? That they’d failed? Did she know if they had a backup plan? Or was that just a fool’s hope on Kiva’s part?