The Way We Fall

Chapter 114 (Dual)

The night had been long, the day even longer. Tigris was kept busy by her father's orders, organising repairs and barricading rooms in the castle for nobles to hide in at midnight. Now that the creature had tasted flesh within the building, it would most likely return for easy targets.

Tigris spent the day, ordering scores of knights, teaching them the swing of her sword that had pierced the monster's scales and left a mark. She spoke to nobles, assuring them of safety that she couldn't promise. She spoke to Aodh, recovering in his patient cot and too weak to fight. She even spoke to Sir Harold, who was slowly coming around from his injuries. But the only person who she really wanted to speak to was unconscious.

Tigris sat in the seat next to Kai's cot, watching the weak rise and fall of his chest.

"Leinos says you need anti-venom to survive," Tigris said, holding his hand tightly. His fingers were limp and clammy in her grip, but she let herself pretend that they were warm and strong, just like him. She swallowed. It felt strange talking to him like this, but if there was any chance that he could hear her, she wouldn't squander this chance.

"That means I need to slice off one of those ugly snake heads to bring to Leinos. He'll use it to brew the antivenom and then you'll be as right as rain, won't you?"

His silence choked her, but she pretended he replied with his usual, Kai-like response: something concerned and gentle.

"Don't you worry. I'll be careful," she promised, patting her sword with her free hand, "But maybe you could wake up and tell me that yourself, eh?"

Kai remained stubbornly unconscious. Tigris sighed, her breath burning against the walls of her throat like the tears she'd spent hours swallowing back. Her fingers twitched, a desperate longing to caress the man's grey cheek overwhelming her. Her hand paused a hairbreadth away from his usually rich skin, a flash of green eyes filling her mind.

Her fingers faltered. She settled for gripping his hand tightly, all that she was allowed to do. It wasn't just Finn holding her back.

"My father would have both of our heads if he knew the truth of what I felt for you," she murmured, comforted by the emptiness of the infirmary. She squeezed his hand hard. "Yet I can't stop myself from feeling. I don't think Finn can either."

A lump formed in her throat, momentarily stopping her ability to speak. She swallowed it away, tracing Kai's still form.

"You need to wake up," she whispered, leaning closer just to feel the waning heat of his skin, "There's so much we need to talk about.You and me. Finn and you. You, me, and Finn. We can't do this without you, Kai. You can't die, not yet."

Her hair tickled his cheek. He didn't stir, not even a little bit.

"He won't," a soft voice filtered through the still air of the empty infirmary. Tigris leapt to her feet, fearing that her father had found her for a moment before she saw Roche leaning against the doorway with a sad smile. Her hands were stained grey with flecks of stone from the dead, undoubtedly from the clean up effort she'd been a part of.

Tigris stood, her cheeks flooding with heat. "What are you doing here?" she asked. The words were meant to have more bite, but they fell flat.

Roche's face softened. She shrugged off the wall and padded into the room. "I came to check on my best friend," she said quietly. It was then that Tigris noticed that her eyes were puffy and red.

"Were you in the tavern again?" she asked, dumbfounded. Roche chuckled, sitting on the edge of Kai's cot.

"Nope. Just tired," Roche tilted her head, eyes glinting with a knowing kind of light. "You look like you could use some rest too."