Arthur pulled the chair from the corner of the room and sat beside Theodore's bed and said nothing for a while.
Theodore was awake but barely. His eyes were open and tracking but the weight behind them was the weight of someone whose body had been through something fundamental and was still tallying the full cost of it. The linen wrapping at his side had been changed while he slept. Clean and tight. The bruising was still visible at the edges but the deep crisis color had pulled back to something that looked more like damage and less like a countdown.
Vexis sat on the windowsill with his arms crossed and said nothing.
Outside the fortress walls the forest was dark and completely still.
Arthur looked at his hands. The knuckles were split in three places from the rock face. He hadn't noticed during the climb. He noticed now.
"Theodore."
Theodore turned his head on the pillow. Slow. Like the motion cost something.
