wrath of the Sea Queen (87 page)

"
Yes, there is, but there is still a small chance that I'm wrong
,
" C
a
eli answered.  She did not want to get his hopes up only to find out later that it wasn't true.

"
If you are wrong, then you are wrong
.  Go ahead and tell me
.
"

"
I would
prefer to
tell you in person,
" C
a
eli
was having trouble
bring
ing
herself to tell him
in this manner
, but she desperately wanted to get it out in the open
. 

"
Shall I sneak into your room and risk getting caught by your warden
?
"
Vin added with a little humor.

"
I
would very much like
t
hat,
" C
a
eli replied with a touch of amusement, which Vin appreciated.

"
Alas, the gates are barred on this side as well.  Ben seems to have fallen asleep in a chair right outside your door.  Your aunt is one crafty lady.  Perhaps we better wait to have this chat until
later
.
"

"
That's an excellent idea.  Vin, will you wrap this up so that C
a
eli can rest
,
please?
"  Salma
had
placed her hand on C
a
eli's arm
shortly after
C
a
eli stopped talking to her.  She
assumed that C
a
eli was talking to Vin
again
and gave them a minute before intruding. 
When
Salma caught Vin's last comment
, it was time to intervene
.

"
Sorry Salma
.  Good night, C
a
eli
.
"

"Do you want some more water, C
a
eli?"  Salma noticed the empty bottle in C
a
eli's hand again.  When C
a
eli nodded, Salma
took the bottle and refilled it a second time from the sink in the kitchenette. 
C
a
eli had one final question for Vin while Salma was away.

"
Vin, I was wondering,
" C
a
eli began as if she wanted to ask an important question.

"
Yes?
"

"
How would you feel about…well, I know how you would feel, but the timing…would you be ready…?
"  C
a
eli could not believe
the
difficult
y she had
approach
ing
Vin about th
e
subject.  She
knew
he already suspected.  He had offered her every opportunity to mention it.  Vin was the easiest person in the world to talk to about everything else.  They had talked about this
very
possibility many times.  So why was it so difficult for her to tell him now?
  Perhaps the circumstances were getting the best of her.

"
C
a
eli
,
it's
ok.  Whatever you are trying to ask me, just ask,
" Vin encouraged her
, but she still couldn't do it
.

"
I
want to, but I can't.  Not like this.  I
t
will have to
wait
until I can see you
. 
P
romise me that you will go to the levee tomorrow.
"  C
a
eli
replied.  She really did need to say this
face to face.  She could not talk about it without seeing Vin's handsome face in front of her. 

Vin did not respon
d
right away.  He
remained
silent for several moments.  He could
n
o
t help wonder
ing
what C
a
eli's question was going to be.  At this point, there were multiple possibilities.

"
Vin?
"

"
Ok, I will go. 
When I get back, we are going to have a
long
talk
, even if I have to lock Salma out of the room
.
  I will only be
away
for the morning, and I
wi
ll probably be gone before you get up.
"

"
I seriously doubt that, Eyvindr Harding.  The day when you are more of an early bird than I am is when you can truly start to worry about me.  I will see you off in the morning.  Good night, Vin.  I love you.
"  C
a
eli could not remember the last of the rare times that Vin woke up before her or that she slept in late.  She yawned as Vin broke their connection and Salma returned with the freshly refilled water bottle.

CHAPTER
20

The next morning, Vin looked through tired eyes at the
large, sun-shaped
clock hanging on the wall by the
exterior
lounge
door.  Six forty five Monday morning, and the sun was
beginning to
lighten the horizon. 
It
had been
almost t
wo
in the morning when
he last spoke with C
a
eli.  After their conversation, he overhead
Salma
offering to help
C
a
eli
get a bath
. 
A
n
hour later, C
a
eli was back in bed, in less pain, and sleeping
at last
.

S
alma
conversed
privately
with
Vin
, explaining what she believed was happening to C
a
eli.  Since the hospital could do nothing different than she was doing for
C
a
eli
, Salma wanted to keep her at the hotel unless her condition worsened or until the
test results
provided an answer
that
required the move
.  Vin agreed that it would be better
for everyone
to stay at the hotel unless C
a
eli's condition took a
nother
turn for the worse.

After that, Vin
barely slept at all
.  He was
too worried about C
a
eli to rest soundly
and
surprised
himself by
fall
ing
asleep
for even a brief nap
. 
It was
difficult for Vin
to
accept that C
a
eli's
health
had
change
d so drastically in the last
twenty four hours. 

C
a
eli still slep
t
as Vin sat up
on the couch and did a quick mental check on her
, careful not to disturb her
.  She
had
ha
r
d
ly
moved all night
, probably because of the medicine Salma gave her
. 
He concluded that all the water she drank
earlier yesterday
must have
masked
the medicine's
early effects, but
then
it
eventually
took hold
and forced her
in
to
a deep
sleep
.  Once it did,
C
a
eli
hardly even twitched, which was completely unlike her.  C
a
eli had a tendency to toss and turn in her sleep.  They never could figure out why her sleep was
so
routinely
disturbed, though they
had
tried many times over the years.  Eventually, they gave up, deciding it was he
r body's way of unwinding
.