Broken Aro (The Broken Ones) (26 page)

She turned back to Avery, trying to think of a response,
but saw he had fallen asleep again. She bit her lip as she placed the cloth
back on his forehead. His even breathing suddenly quickened for a moment before
settling back. Worried she lay her head on his chest, listening.

She sat up quickly as tears blinded her. A whimper
escaped before she could stop it.

"What is it?"

Unable to speak she waved a hand at Avery. Prince
hurried over and dropped to his knees, bending to listen for a moment before
sitting up with a sigh.

She choked on a sob before turning suddenly at the
sound of coughing outside the door. She sprang to her feet and rushed over,
jerking the door open just as Bo was reaching for it.

She saw Cain stood behind him and quickly moved out of
the way as Bo nodded and they came in.

"Did you find anything?"

Bo looked at her quickly. "What's going on?"

Cain handed her a small packet. "You grind this
up and make tea. It's supposed to bring the fever down."

She rushed across the room and busied herself making
the tea. "I need more water. And snow." She glanced over at the
others. "Cain you're late for work."

He grimaced but nodded. "Come get me if..."
He trailed off as he looked at Avery.

She nodded sharply and looked away. "We will."

"I'll go get your water," Bo said, grabbing
an empty bucket and following Cain out.

She could hear him asking for details as they went
down the stairs. Waiting for water to boil she checked Avery again. Resting a
hand on his chest she could feel the heat radiating from it. "Prince, help
me get his shirt off."

Without comment he did, and she busied herself wiping
Avery down with cool water over and over again as if she could wipe the sickness
out of him.

Bo returned with the bucket full of water and snow and
she made him eat and rest.

Near noon, loud bumping sounds coming up the stairs
signaled the return of Kei. She met him at the door, wishing she could hug him.
She waited impatiently as he removed the ax from his belt and set it by the
door. He untied a bulging bag made from an old shirt at his waist and handed it
to her. "Workers are digging," he said as he struggled to tip the
large bundle of wood strapped to his back onto the floor. "Just outside
the city."

Tears started to streak her cheeks as she nodded. "There's
a sickness going around."

He looked up at her, worry clouding his face. "I
can smell it." He froze. "Avery!"

She stepped out of the way as he raced past her to
drop to his friend's side. She carried the bag he'd given her over to the stove
and dragged out a large pan. With shaking hands she started putting the skinned
and gutted small birds and animals into it, added water, and then shoved it
into the side compartment of the stove to bake. She tried not to cry as Bo
spoke quietly to Kei, telling him what had happened.

Tears did spring to her eyes when Kei started talking
gently to his friend, telling him he had to get better, begging him to wake up.

She prepared another cup of tea and took it to Kei. "Here,
see if you can get him to drink some. It's supposed to help with the fever."
She left him to go sit with Bo and Prince.

The day passed with agonizing slowness as they sat and
listened to Avery's labored breathing. She took turns with Kei wiping him down
and trying to get him to drink water and tea. Cain came home early and quietly
joined their silent vigil.

She knew Avery wasn't getting any better, but it still
shocked her to the core when he just suddenly stopped breathing as she wiped
his face.

She stared at his face, resting a hand on his bare
chest, waiting for him to take another breath. "Avery," she
whispered, patting his cheek lightly. "Avery!"

Kei suddenly appeared at her side, pushing her away as
he reached for his friend. "No no no no no no..."

She turned and stared blankly across the room. Her
breath came in ragged gasps. She raised her hands to cover her face. This
couldn't be happening. He couldn't have died. She couldn't have lost someone
else. She'd built herself a new family to replace the one taken from her and
now they were dying, too. First Kendric, and now Avery.

Something between a wail and a scream tore itself from
her throat as she scrambled to her feet. She pushed past the men milling around
Avery's body and stumbled to the far corner, as far as she could get from him.

Leaning her forehead on the rough wood she banged her
fist against it as sobs tore out of her. The pain was so good she started
hitting the wall over and over again as hard as she could. The pain felt better
than the agony that screamed through her, unraveling her from the inside out.

It was so easy to fall apart completely. The sobs, the
pain inside, became too much and she slid to her knees and just cried.

Kei's arms wrapped around her and she didn't protest
as he pulled her over onto his lap. They were nearly the same height now. He'd
grown a little over the winter, but she had more. Somehow, she still fit
perfectly against him.

He didn't say anything, merely held her and rocked her
and let her cry. When she could finally look up at him she saw lines of tears
down his cheeks as well. "Don't die," she choked out quietly. "Don't
die, too."

He held her tighter as he dipped his head to rest it
against hers. "I won't. We Fey are immune to human sickness." He
gently kissed her forehead. "You don't have to worry about me. Understand?"

She nodded as he brushed tears from her cheeks. She
sniffled and when she moved to get up he let her. She fumbled in her pocket for
a cloth to blow her nose, turning her head to cough.

She looked up at Kei's swift intake of breath and
grimaced. "I'm fine. It's just from crying." She sucked in a breath
suddenly, as she noticed everyone else was gone. Her eyes went to where Avery
had slept and saw only a rumbled blanket. "Kei?" Her voice came out a
frantic screech.

He sprang up and put his arms around her again. "He
couldn't stay here. You know that."

She nodded and lowered her head as the tears came
again. She hadn't really gotten to say goodbye. She sniffled and coughed again.

"You need to lie down."

She grimaced. "I need to check on dinner."

He shook his head vehemently and forced her to bed. "Stay.
Rest. I'll finish dinner."

Grimacing again, she nodded. His eyes had started
glowing a faint orange. She wasn't about to argue with him. Her own eyes sore
and burning from crying, she found she couldn't keep them open no matter how
hard she tried. With another cough she rolled over and tried to think of
anything other than Avery.

Tossing and turning, she absently heard the others
return and snuggled further down into her blanket. She didn't want to talk to
them. She awoke slightly when Kei took her hand before passing again into
sleep.

* * *

When she cracked her crusty eyes open again she
groaned and then sat up as coughs suddenly wracked her body.

A hand tentatively touched her thigh and she slapped
it away.

"Aro?"

She grimaced over at Kei. "What?"

He sat up, a worry line between his brows. "You're
sick."

She glared at him. "I know."

His cheeks flushed as he looked down and she scrambled
out of bed, too annoyed to apologize. She quickly saw Cain curled up asleep,
everyone else was gone. Panic set in before she realized Prince and Bo must
have gone to work and weren't back yet, and Avery...

She choked and started coughing again. Ignoring Kei,
she set about her morning chores. Cain woke up, Prince returned, Cain left, Bo
returned. So their little world went.

She worked silently, and for the most part everyone
else remained quiet as well. Except for her and Bo coughing. At least Bo still
was; it was when the cough suddenly disappeared you had to worry.

No one spoke about Avery, about his sudden death. She
didn't try to delude herself they wouldn't. They just all needed time to deal
with it in their own way.

Sometime after Cain had returned and they had eaten
dinner she realized she hadn't coughed for a while. She paused as she washed
dishes in one of the buckets and bit her lip. Surely a cough didn't come and go
so quickly. But she couldn't be sick like Avery, it couldn't be that fast.

She squeezed her eyes closed, holding in tears, before
taking a deep breath and faking a cough. She continued to do so until Prince
and Bo both left for work and she curled up in bed. She'd be fine. She had to
be. Her men needed her. As Kei joined her she squeezed his hand tightly.

Hopefully she'd wake up in the morning.

* * *

She had strange dreams. It took her a long to time to
realize she wasn't dreaming at all, but drifting in and out of consciousness.
She'd gotten sick then, like Avery had been.

Sometimes she could feel cold on her face and neck.
She drank when someone urged her to do so. She wanted to talk to them, to be
able to understand what they were saying, but their voices remained distant
mutterings. At least the cough stayed away.

She found it odd she didn't mind being sick. It felt
like she simply drifted along. Perhaps it was the tea, or just the fever
itself. As the fever grew, the voices fell away entirely and became replaced by
old familiar nightmares of slavers and the ship and chains. She dreamed of the
wreck and their escape, and being thrown into the cold waters. She could feel
the water around her, pushing her down, dragging her deeper. The water crushed
her, making it hard to breathe as she struggled against it. Prince didn't come
to save her and she panicked, thrashing in the water, calling his name. She
didn't want to die. She didn't want to be fish food.

"I'm here, Aro."

She relaxed immediately at his voice, but the crushing
weight, the inability to breathe still remained. "Help me," she
begged him.

"I can't help you this time."

She whimpered at his words and because his voice had
started growing more distant. He couldn't help her and she was drifting away.

"Wake up," he told her. "Wake up and
Kei will help you. Wake up."

Kei. He wasn't trapped. He had escaped. She fought
against the water, struggling to rise above it, to find Kei. Kei lived, he
would save her. She just had to get to him. When she finally broke the surface,
gasping for breath and opening her eyes, she was surprised to find herself in
bed, Prince holding her.

"That's my girl," he whispered, gently
stroking her face.

She stared up at his sad face. Why was he so sad? His
eyes were red rimmed, glassy, almost as if he were about to cry. She realized
despite everything they had been through, all the pain he had endured, she had
never seen him cry.

He leaned down, briefly resting his cheek on her
forehead and squeezing her tightly before she had the strange sensation of falling.

He turned his head away from her as he sat back. "This
had better work," he said sharply.

"We don't have anything to lose do we?" Kei's
voice cracked, gruff and angry.

Were they fighting again? The last few months they had
been so good, too. Everything started to drift away once more.

"Aro! Stay with me," Kei called to her.

She opened her eyes again. "Strange Fey. I'm
right here." His face now filled her view and she saw he had been crying,
and recently.

He turned his head. "I need you all to leave now."

She could hear voices answer, but couldn't make out
who it was or what they said.

"Now!"

She started under Kei, fear starting to rise within
her as she stared up at his blazing red eyes. "Kei?"

He turned back to her, his eyes immediately fading to
a golden light as he smiled. "Don't be afraid."

She suddenly was, but she nodded. She trusted Kei,
always.

"Do you remember the magic we did together?"
His eyes searched hers.

"Fey magic," she answered quietly, no longer
afraid. "A magic of the heart and soul. A magic of binding and promise and
intent."

He grinned. "Yes. Good memory." His face
grew serious. "There are three such bindings. What we did was the first.
It was the bond of friendship. I want to do the second with you, Aro. The bond
of family. Will you allow me to?"

She stared up at his hopeful eyes, stunned. He wanted
to be family? "Yes!"

He let out a deep sigh of relief, briefly closing his
eyes. "Thank you." He reached out and pulled up her hands.

She remembered and opened them, palms facing him.

"Good girl." He placed his palms against hers;
however instead of keeping them flat together he threaded his fingers through
hers. "It's only a little different," he explained as he shifted over
her and pulled their linked hands together and placed them at level with their
hearts. "I'll say the words, and you repeat, but change brother for
sister. Understand?"