A Court of Bastards [ACOTAR]

Chapter 16

Riordan was the first by her bedside the next morning, and when Fiona woke, it was to the sight of him pressing herb poultices against her wounds. The sunlight streaming in from the window above caught the platinum streaks in his hair and set him alight as he worked, a frown denting his brow. He caught her eye and straightened, smiling.

"What a dutiful brother." he tutted, tossing his hair ceremoniously.

"I'm not dying, Dan." Fiona sat up a little, relieved to feel no protest from her ribs. She lifted the poultice linen, leaving an oily green sheen across her skin. "I hardly think this is necessary."

Riordan snatched the linen back and pressed it delicately against her side. "Madja says it is."

"Who's Madja?"

"A very, very old woman."

"Right." Fiona snorted. Dan's gaze remained glued to her bruises, which had faded to a yellowish hue overnight. He frowned.

"Dan-"

"I'm really sorry, Fiona."

Her cousin's glassy golden eyes caught her off guard, and she felt a pang as she noticed the hurt in them. "I tried to come and see you, I knew something was wrong but they said you weren't in." he began to ramble. "They told me you never come to meals, so it was normal that you missed them, and they wouldn't let me in – but it was still my fault."

He hung his head, shaking it. "I pushed you so hard to go after Baird...and I'd forgotten how bad it is there, what they were like..." his eyes darkened. "Aidan, that bastard-"

Fiona placed a hand on the fist that he'd formed beside her bed. When Dan met her gaze she could see the fear underlining his words.

"It's not your fault," she told him softly. He looked like he might protest, but she sighed. "I knew better than anyone how thin a line I was walking. This was bound to happen at some point."

Riordan looked shocked. "You can't be serious," he spat. "That scumbag-"

"Whatever he did doesn't really matter." Fiona forced a smile, made herself bite around his name. "Aidan was just one head on the snake – I forgot too. I forgot how many pairs of eyes Eris has, how many vicious little copies he's bred."

The silence lengthened between them, broken only by the squall of seagulls overhead, and the distant call of sailors in the bay. Once again, they were reminded of the shadow of their friendship, the thorn in their bond that cursed the passage of time. As children they had been inseparable, one and the same person, but Fiona kept forgetting that she wasn't like him anymore. That was what the Autumn Court had reminded her – that their lives had forked indefinitely, and they would forever be set on different paths, bound by different rules. Dan had got out. Fiona had not. Ultimately, things could not be the same, and neither could they.

Riordan kept his hands busy wringing out the linen in a little wooden bowl. Fiona's eyes softened as she watched. "It's not your fault," she repeated. "You were the one working so hard to find me a way out, remember?" she smiled encouragingly at him. "By the way, how is my little princeling?"

Riordan raised a russet eyebrow. "He's downstairs."

Fiona rolled her eyes as he managed a smirk. "You know very well I didn't mean Xander."

"Of course, of course," Dan's smile widened. "The other princeling you're entangled with."

Fiona's lips parted and her cheeks heated but he barrelled on. "I wasn't going to bring him up. I have been pushing you too hard into the match, and I'm sorry."