He kept the door between them but reached through and placed two fingers under Kyra’s chin, tipping her face toward him. She tried to meet his gaze as he examined her eyes, but she couldn’t focus. He touched the back of his fingers lightly to her cheek. She flinched away at his icy touch.

“You’re right.” His voice was soft, but his movements now took on a new urgency. He disappeared into his room. When he reappeared, he had thrown on a loose tunic. Tristam stepped into the hallway with no hint of his prior wariness. “Can you walk?”

She nodded and hoped it was still true.

Tristam half supported and half steered her down the corridor. “Who was it?”

“A Red Shield.” She stumbled. Tristam caught her as she pitched forward. Again, he tipped her face up to the candlelight. Kyra wondered just how bad she looked.

“This isn’t working,” Tristam muttered. “You need a healer now.” He reached behind Kyra’s knees and lifted her into his arms. Kyra watched dazedly as blood from her forearm left a streak on his white tunic. In other circumstances, she might have objected to being carried like a child, but now she just let herself crumple.

Candles, doors, stones blurred by. “Do you know the poison?” he asked.

“Lizard skin.”

“What’s the antidote?”

For some reason, it struck Kyra as funny that she didn’t know. She started to chuckle but choked instead.

“Kyra?”

“I don’t…”

He laid her on a soft surface. She heard Tristam pound on a door and call for a healer. She was having trouble breathing now, her lungs expanding only a finger’s width with each breath. Between gasps, she heard a woman asking questions. Cold hands probed her wounded arm, while others raised her head and poured something into her mouth. She choked on the bitter liquid. Soon, the room and voices faded to nothing.

Twenty-three

T W E N T Y - T H R E E

“Do you think this is a genuine assassination attempt?” She recognized that voice, but couldn’t place it.

“Ilona says the poison is almost always lethal,” Tristam replied. “Kyra should be dead.”

“You acted quickly.”

“I’m still impressed that she found me.”

Kyra was slowly gaining control of her eyelids. At first, they fluttered uselessly, but with some effort she forced them open, only to snap them shut at the bright daylight. A moment later, she made a second attempt. This time, the light wasn’t so blinding. She was in a room, sparsely furnished except for jars of herbs stacked around her.

As the memories rushed back, Kyra took an urgent inventory of her limbs. She flexed her fingers. Stiff, but they responded. She could also curl her toes. Relief flooded through her. If she could move her fingers and toes, hopefully she could move everything in between.

“Ilona, she’s awake.”