Chapter 169

Abby

I sat with Cassandra until the sun went down.

Daphne had moved her to the small room at the back of the clinic, where it was quiet. There was a window onto the garden, and a chair, and the bed, and nothing else. She lay exactly as she had lain all day, on her back, with her hands on the blanket and her face turned a little toward the window. Her color was better. Daphne said so, and I made myself believe it. Her breathing was slow and even. If you didn’t know, you would have thought she was asleep, and about to wake up at any moment and ask what on earth I was doing, sitting there staring at her.

I held her hand.

I didn’t try to reach her. I had wanted to, all day. I could feel her wolf, very faintly, the way I had felt it on the floor of my rooms, an old gray shape lying very still a long way down in the dark. Every time I felt it, my light stirred, and I had to hold it. Imogen had been very clear. Not today. Not one drop. You’ll need every bi