Chapter 128

Dane There was blood everywhere. Blood flows on the floor, blood on her hands, blood all around her. Lusia lay sprawled, gasping for breath, ungainly, suspended, with uneven breaths. The other body's corpse lay nearby, neck laid open, and the sword she had thrust in him sprightly glinting under torchlight. My head hurt. Unconsciously, the image of my dead mother flickered behind my closed eyes, but I crushed it and focused on the task ahead. The healer lay dead outside; Kiara was gone.  Lusia—damn it, she was something! I kneeled beside her, the cold stone floor chilling me through the trousers, and slid my hands beneath her shoulders. She was limp and slack against me as I hoisted her upright to a sitting position. Her head lolled forward, dark strands of hair sticking to her sweat-slicked face, all too in tune with her dying strength: slack muscles that seemed barely able to hold her together. I braced her all the more firmly in my grip, her blood warmly flowing into my palms. She we