“Dream, that bad?”
“Doesn’t get much worse.”
War didn’t have anything on imagining someone else having your wife.
He grunted, but didn’t pry. That was one of many things I liked about Dekar. He listened better than nearly anyone, but he never tried to force you into saying more than you felt comfortable with.
He stood. “All right then. That bed does sound pretty good right now. I’ll keep the door open in case you need me.”
* * *
I almost called out for Dekar not long after I finished eating. It hit me that I hadn’t relieved myself in quite awhile. Yet, I was stuck in bed, strapped to the arm of my sister, while the chamber pot sat in a corner. It might as well have been leagues away.
It took me a few moments to undo the strap, climb out of bed, and maneuver my sore body around to the corner while also managing to keep a hand on Ava’s leg. Despite the adventure, I managed to take care of business on my own, but it was close.
Once finished, I stretched to get the blood moving about my stiff limbs. I then tended to Ava by spooning more broth down her throat and cleaned her face with a damp towel.
When I could think of nothing else that needed doing, I settled myself in the chair next to the bed.
My eyelids began to drop. I knew I’d have to face sleep again eventually so it would be better to get it over with. After intertwining my fingers with Ava’s and wrapping the leather strap around our wrists I allowed sleep to take me.
CHAPTER 20
Morning arrived for me with a bang. The sound of doors being thrown open and things being dragged across the floor woke me with a start.
“Can you make any more noise?” hissed Myra.
“Maybe if someone got off their high horse and decided to help me bring all this junk inside. Gods, I’m glad you’re not my daughter,” said Ira.
“Trust me, the feeling is mutual.”
Ira started on some tirade when Zadok interrupted. “Will both of you stop? Pa is likely still asleep. Dekar too.”
“Not anymore,” Dekar called out from the other bedroom.
“I’m up too,” I said.
“See what you did,” said Myra.
Heavy footsteps followed, drowning out Ira’s subsequent curses.
“C’mon kid, help me bring up the rest of this stuff since your sister can’t be bothered.”
The door slammed as Ira and Zadok left.
I snorted to myself thinking about all the grief Ira had likely put up with. In some ways it made me feel better about myself. Myra wasn’t just angry with me or even the people in Denu Creek. She seemed to be mad at the entire world.
I checked over Ava, who unsurprisingly, looked no different than she had hours before.
“Any change?” Myra asked as she strode over to the head of the bed. She placed a hand on her aunt’s forehead.
“None.”
“When’s the last time she was fed?”
“I gave her some broth a few hours ago.”
“So she’s probably ready for some more then.”
“Probably.”
She lifted up the sheet on her side of the bed. “I see you didn’t change her bedpan.”
“Hard to do with only one hand. Besides, it didn’t need it last I looked.”
“Well, she needs it now. Lift her up.” She went back to the bedroom door and closed it for privacy, then threw the sheets off Ava completely. I averted my gaze and tried not to think about what I was doing as I lifted my sister so Myra could empty the bedpan and wipe her down.
“All right. I’m done.”
I lowered Ava and Myra threw the covers back on top. To my surprise, Myra wore a smirk.
“What’s so funny?”
“I just think it’s silly how bashful you are about seeing her naked.”
“Are you telling me that seeing Zadok without clothes on wouldn’t make you uncomfortable?”
“I doubt it. I’ve seen him like that when we were younger.”
“Things change.”
The door to the suite opened again and I heard things being jostled around as Ira and Zadok grunted.
“What are they hauling up?”
“Offerings,” she said with disgust.
“Offerings? For whom?”
“Us. You, specifically. The people you healed aren’t sure what to make of us anymore, especially you. Some are saying you’re a priest or a tool of the gods. Some are saying you’re a god yourself, an offspring of Lavi and Prax.”
“You’re joking.”
“Does it look like I’m joking?”
Her eyes narrowed in a way that made it impossible for her to ever deny she was my daughter. It made her look older than her fourteen years. Of course, she didn’t speak like any fourteen year old I had ever met.
Given our current situation, she’d start sounding like an old crone before spring.
“I guess not.”
“People started giving us stuff in thanks as an offering to you or for you to offer to the gods on their behalf.”
“And you accepted it?”
“We healed them despite the way they treated us before. Why shouldn’t we get something out of the deal?”
“That sounds like something Ira would say.”
“It was his suggestion. But, it makes sense.”
“I’m surprised Zadok went along with it.”
“He didn’t want to at first. But once he saw all the things people wanted to give him-things he had always wanted, but never could afford, he came over to our side.” She paused. “I guess you going to help all those people wasn’t so bad after all. We’ve obtained more stuff in one day than you would have earned in a year at any job in town. Even after we split our take with Ira and Dekar, we could go somewhere and maybe buy a place like the one we used to have.”
A part of me saw the logic in what she said. And if someone other than Myra had made the observation, I would have agreed with them, not bothered in the least. But something about hearing my daughter speak like a cynical old woman pained me. It was a complete contradiction to the way I knew Lasha would have wanted her to behave.
“You know your mother wouldn’t approve of hearing you talk like that.”
“Probably not.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“Why should it?” she snapped. “I loved Ma, but helping people out of the kindness of her heart without expecting anything in return didn’t help her, or us.”
I nodded to Ava who she continued to fuss over. “You’ve been taking care of her. She never did anything for you.”
She paused as if I raised a point she hadn’t considered. She pulled away and sat in the other chair.
“I guess I’m just doing it as a favor to you,” she said after a moment.
“How so?”
She nodded to our interlaced hands. “It’s obvious how much she means to you. And even though I still think it was dumb what you did to Jareb at the plantation, you meant well by trying to help us. Plus, Zadok hasn’t been this happy since before we lost the farm. Consider me taking care of her as payment for what you’ve done for him.”
But not her. .
I changed subjects, hoping that by doing so the room might warm from the ice-cold words of my lovely daughter. “So, I guess people no longer believe you and Zadok are cursed?”
“Some still do. Those who are still loyal to Jareb think the eruption was all our fault.” She leaned back in the chair, stretching. “But in the eyes of those we healed, how could we be cursed when we’re apparently the children of a god?”
She had a point.
CHAPTER 21
Doing anything she could to continually show her appreciation, Dinah brought us a hot breakfast of porridge, sausages, and biscuits. Abigail carried the biscuits. Looking at the smile she wore, I’d have never known that just a few days ago, the little girl had been near death. Her current condition gave me some much-needed hope for Ava.
Little Abigail came around a second time with the basket of biscuits and I made sure to snatch up my share before Ira hoarded them. Dinah hadn’t prepared anything complicated for us to eat as of yet, so I wasn’t sure how far her culinary skills extended. However, with another bite of biscuit, it was obvious she had a firm grasp on the basics.