“Understood.” She took in the assortment of cups and mugs holding soup, porridge—bloodless, by the looks of it—tea, berries, and even a plate with bread. Turning her head back to Dani took mental strength. It was almost impossible to imagine that the eyes now hidden behind heavy eyelids had stared up at her with desire just a few nights ago.
She reached out to stroke Dani’s cheek but stopped herself. If she touched her now, Kate and Flint would see it. It was one thing to be open with Dani while they were alone, but showing that side of her to Kate, who thought she was a murderer, was far beyond what she was comfortable with. She couldn’t worry about her own comfort, though. If you want her to live, you don’t have a choice. Just forget about them.
She closed her eyes and pictured holding Dani in the bakery, feeding her spoonful after spoonful of blood porridge. Without opening her eyes, she leaned forward and stroked Dani’s cheek. “Hey, Dani.” She swallowed against the rasp in her throat. “We need to have a talk, okay? See, I nearly killed myself trying to get you here, and now you’re being a terrible patient. That’s not the way this works.”
Dani sucked in a shuddering breath. She stirred under the heavy blankets.
The small reactions sent Lynn’s heart soaring, and she opened her eyes to search Dani’s face. She found her vision blurry and realized she was on the verge of tears. With a sniff, she fought the urge to cry. Two pairs of eyes seemed to be burning holes in her as it was; she didn’t want to show that much weakness. “Yeah, you heard me. You have to eat, just like before. That’s your job. You promised me you’d fight to stay alive.”
Dani groaned. The motions behind her eyelids had stopped. She sucked in air, then her lips parted ever so slightly, just as they had done when Lynn had fed her bits of porridge.
Hope soared inside her chest and constricted her breathing. Maybe it was instinct; Dani could just be holding on to memories from before and copying them now that the first part of the routine had been instigated. Or Dani was more aware of her surroundings than everyone thought, and—her heart fluttered—maybe she recognized Lynn and trusted her to take care of her.
Lynn forgot about her onlookers and hurried to grab the closest food item that looked nutritious enough to qualify for this momentous occasion. “Here it comes.” She scooped something thick onto a spoon and took a bite. Oatmeal. That would do. She pushed a small helping between Dani’s lips and watched with bated breath how Dani closed her mouth… and swallowed.
Her lips parted again.
Lynn’s heart continued to gallop as she fed her another spoonful.
Again, Dani ate. It took her a while to swallow the small scoop, but then her lips parted once more.
Lynn prepared another bite.
“Well then.” Flint’s voice didn’t betray any emotions, but Lynn could feel his interest in her renew.
She blushed but ignored it as she fixed Kate with a glare. “I told you I could get her to eat.”
Kate nodded once, then addressed Flint. “Make sure she’s secured in her room when she’s done here.”
“Will do,” Flint said behind Lynn’s back.
With one last look at Dani, Kate turned on her heel and walked away.
Lynn didn’t see her go; her time was better spent watching Dani swallow another bit of oatmeal.
The second the key turned in the lock of her cell, Lynn was wide-awake. Hard-won survival instincts kept her from sleeping more than a few minutes at a time and never deeply, especially now that she was a prisoner again.
Kate closed and locked the door behind her. The key disappeared within the folds of her layered shirts.
Lynn sat up and bit back a groan. A night of interrupted sleep—either because of her own instincts or by getting taken into Dani’s room to feed her every couple of hours—hadn’t done much to heal her battered body.
Her chain rattled against the side of the bed, reminding her of how vulnerable she was.
“Here.” Kate walked over and let a small bag slide from her shoulder onto the bed. “Your food for the day. You’ll get dinner tonight, in addition to this.”
Lynn was famished. She’d been given dinner yesterday, but she had a lot of days—and miles—to make up for. It took all of her self-control to ignore the bag. Not saying thank you was easy, though. “How’s Dani?”
Kate pulled up the chair and sat. “I came to ask you where Richard is.”
“Okay, great. How’s Dani?”
“I would rather not do it this way, but I’ll be taking a team out tomorrow to get his body. I wanted to take you along, but it seems Ren will need you to keep Dani fed and switch out the maggots every twenty-four hours.”
Lynn chose to stay silent. She didn’t want to antagonize Kate further, and she also didn’t want to reveal more knowledge about Richard. That—along with her usefulness to keep Dani alive—was all she had to protect herself.
“Tell me, in detail, where Richard’s body is. If we find him and confirm your story, well, it might help your case. If you lead us into a trap, and we’re not back in two days, Cody will kill you.”
Lynn’s pushed her eyebrow up even higher. “What about Dani? Ren already said she needs me to help Dani get better. If Cody kills me…”
Kate’s jaw set. Something swirled in her eyes that Lynn couldn’t place. “A lot can happen in a few days.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Then the emotions in Kate’s eyes registered. “You think she’s going to die.” It wasn’t a question.
Kate looked down at her hand. She unclenched her fist. “Where is Richard?”
Lynn barely heard her over the cacophony inside her head. Questions tumbled through her mind: Why would she think that? Is it really that bad? One thought quenched all others: I need to be with her. I need to save her! And if Dani was really destined to die, she wanted to spend every moment with her, even if Dani was unconscious for all of it. “I’ll tell you.” Her voice was a rasp. “I’ll tell you exactly where the body is, but I want to move into Dani’s room.”
It seemed as if Kate hadn’t expected that. Her head came up, and she inspected Lynn with a frown. “Lynn…”
Lynn leaned forward, twisting her chained wrist to get more reach. “You want your husband’s body back; I need to be with Dani. It’s a fair trade.”
Kate hesitated.
Lynn could all but see the questions well up. She didn’t want to answer them—didn’t even know if she could. Trading the only trump she had left for time with Dani went against everything Lynn had ever been taught, but there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that it was worth it.
Seconds ticked by.
“Agreed.” Kate’s voice broke over the word, but she got it out. Instantly, her shoulders sagged, and she pressed her lips together when they started to tremble.
Relief and fear spiked through Lynn in equal amounts. “There’s a map in Dani’s backpack. I can point out where he is.”
“I’ll get it.” Kate got up and legged it to the door.
Thinking of Dani’s backpack reminded her of their time together, and another stab of pain caused her heart to contract—for an entirely different reason. “Kate?”
She looked back. “Yes?”
Her heart thumped, and she felt just as naked as when she’d asked Dani for a hug. “Can I see Skeever? Please?”
Kate froze.
Lynn held her breath.
After several seconds of silence, Kate retrieved the key, unlocked the door, and pulled it shut behind her.
A short while later, Cody threw the door open wide. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the flower girl up and about!”