Chapter 26

Neve

The days in the clinic blur together.

I sleep, and wake, and sleep again. Sometimes it’s light outside the little window, sometimes dark, and I can never remember how I got from one to the other. The fever comes in waves. When it’s high, the room swims and the walls breathe and I hear voices that aren’t there. When it breaks, I lie soaked and shivering under the blankets, too tired to lift my head.

Every time I open my eyes, Ellie is there.

Sitting cross-legged in the chair by the bed with her phone. Curled up at the foot of the mattress with a magazine. Once, asleep with her head on her arms on the edge of the bed, her bracelet glinting by my hand.

The first time I wake up properly, she’s holding a bowl of broth.

“Mercy says you have to eat,” she says. “Healer’s orders.”

I try to sit up. My arms won’t hold me.

Ellie doesn’t make a thing of it. She tucks another pillow behind my back, dips the spoon, and holds it out as if