The medical ward of the Raven Guild usually smelled of crushed mint, clean linen, and the sharp vinegar used to scrub away the stains of battle.
Tonight, it smelled only of wet ash and raw panic.
Healers rushed across the stone floor in a frantic blur, their faces pale in the torchlight.
In the center of the room, lying on a narrow wooden cot and buried under three heavy wool blankets, was the girl who had brought the entire fortress to a complete stop.
She was shivering so violently that the wooden frame of the bed knocked loudly against the floorboards.
Her quiet, broken sobs filled every corner of the room.
Darius and Varic stood frozen near the doorway.
Darius looked like a man who had just watched a ghost walk out of a grave.
His hands gripped his leather belt so tightly his knuckles turned a bright, bone white.
He had already sent his fastest guards to find Kael, but every single second of waiting felt like an entire lifetime.
