Catarina looked at her friend’s face.

“He means a great deal to you,” she said.

“Jem—Brother Zachariah—and I have always been close.”

“You love him,” Catarina said. It was not a question.

Tessa squeezed a handful of curtain in her fist. They stood in silence for a moment. Catarina rubbed her friend’s arm consolingly.

“I’ll make the tea,” she said. “I’ll even let you have the last biscuits in the tin.”

Biscuits?

Tessa whirled around. Jem was sitting up. She and Catarina hurried to him. Catarina began checking his pulse, his skin. Tessa looked at his face, his dear and familiar face. Jem was back; he was here.

Her Jem.

“It is healing,” Catarina said. “You’ll need to rest, but you will live. It was a narrow escape, though.”

Which is why I came to the best nurses in London, Jem said.

“Perhaps you can explain that wound you have?” Catarina said. “I know where it comes from. Why were you attacked with a faerie weapon?”

I was looking for information, Jem said, shifting himself painfully to sit up a bit higher. My inquiries were not appreciated.

“Clearly, if you were attacked with a cataplasm. That is intended to kill. It does not wound. It is usually not survivable. Your Silent Brother markings gave you some protection, but …”

Catarina felt his pulse again.

But? Jem said curiously.

“I did not believe you would make it through the night,” she said simply.

Tessa blinked. She’d known it was serious, but the way Catarina said it hit her physically.

“You should perhaps avoid making those inquiries again,” Catarina said, putting the blankets back over Jem. “I’ll go and make the tea.”

She left the room quietly, closing the door behind her, leaving Tessa and Jem together in the darkness.

The raid seems worse than any before tonight, Jem finally said. Sometimes I think the mundanes will do more harm to each other than any demon could ever do to them.

Tessa felt a wave of emotion go through her—everything from the night burst to the surface, and she sank her head into the side of Jem’s bed and wept. Jem sat up and pulled her close, and she rested her head on his chest, now warm, his heart beating strong.

“You might have died,” Tessa said. “I might have lost you, too.”

Tessa, he said. Tessa, it’s me. I am here. I am not gone.

“Jem,” she finally said. “Where have you been? It’s been so long since …”