Page 2 of Fated Flames: Volume Two
Tears spring to her eyes, and before I can say anything else, she leaps to her feet and reaches for the bell-pull. “I’m sure you’re hungry. Let me call for some food.”
“Wait. If you don’t mind, I’d rather hear what happened first.”
I want to know how I survived.
Tilly’s eyes fill even faster. Spinning room or not, I sit up.
“Tilly, what’s the matter? Was someone hurt?” I mean someone other than me, of course; I’m neither dead nor appear to be dying at the moment, but someone else was there, someone dear to her.
What if Lord Lyken…?
Her chest heaves in a vain effort to hold back the tears already leaking down her face. I reach for her. I make my voice as gentle as I can. “Tilly, was Lord Lyken hurt?”
She breaks.
“Oh, Serah.” With a wail, she throws herself over my legs. “Youwere hurt, and it’s all my fault.”
She lies there, sobs racking her body.
“What?” I blink down at her. “What are you talking about?”
“You,” she cries. “You wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t asked. I’m so sorry. I just wanted to talk to him, but then I couldn’t, and I ran off and left you there to getshot.”
This sets off a fresh bout of weeping.
“Shh,” I say, stroking her hair. “Now you know it wasn’t your fault.”
“Of course it was. If not for me, you would have been inside with Soren. No one would dare think of attacking you with him.”
I suppose my mind is still foggy and that’s why her words only just now sink in. “So I was shot?”
She raises her head enough to wipe her nose. “No, but it was so close. If Lord Lyken hadn’t stopped the arrow—” She shudders.
“Hestoppedit?”
“He blocked it with his wing, but when he opened it, he also hit you.”
“With his…wing?”
She nods. I’m silent a moment as I try to absorb all this.
I wasn’t shot, but someone tried to kill me. Lord Lykenwasshot, and he saved my life…with his wing. I rub at my throbbing forehead. “How is Lord Lyken?”
“Fine,” she sniffs. “Well, that’s what he said. He wouldn’t let anyone look at his wing.”
“I see. Does anyone know who the archer was?”
I knew there was something off about the archer I saw outside my chambers. I didn’t say it aloud, but my instincts whispered it even as Rally and Ty tried to reassure me. That the archers are one and the same, I have little doubt.
Tilly shakes her head, then hides her face again as the crying starts anew.
“Tilly, I’m fine. Lord Lyken is fine. I’m sure they’ll find the archer and—”
“Kill him?” she says hopefully.
“Um, I suppose.”
The crying lessens, and in time, she peeks up at me. “Just tell me you forgive me.”
