The Shadow Wanderers

Chapter 16

Calista couldn't help but feel an odd throb in her heart when she saw Zayden sleeping by her side, his head down on the mattress, sitting on the floor. The candlelight from the bedside table made his hair look orange in the dark. When she lifted her arm, she noticed it covered in bandages all the way to her wrist, the worst of the pain now gone.

She patted Zayden on his head, ruffling his hair playfully under her fingers. She didn't think much of the gesture when he was asleep, but when in the next moment, he awoke with a start, looking at her with distant eyes, Calista couldn't help but flush with embarrassment. As soon as recognition sunk into his eyes, Zayden smiled, easing himself again, crossing his arms under his chin.

"Hi," he said, blinking at her with sleepy eyes.

Something tugged at her stomach watching his playful smile and his ruffled hair. She cleared her throat. "Hi," she said back.

"Sorry I didn't take you home. You weren't in the condition—"

Calista shook him off. "It's fine. I wouldn't want my father to see me this way too."

Zayden nodded. Calista made a move to sit up and he gathered the pillows behind her, adjusting them so she could sit comfortably. As Zayden sat back down beside her, a heavy silence lingered in the dark room. Calista fidgeted with her fingers on her lap; the weight of the silence now dawning on her.

"I can understand if you're angry," she said before she could stop herself.

"About what?" he said, as though pointless.

"That I left the palace unsupervised." She saw his expression darken a bit but he recovered quickly, sighing.

"I can't really blame you, Calista. Vakenes was supposed to be safe for you whether you stepped out of the palace or not. Believe it or not, it's my fault you're hurt in the first place."

"Zayden, I understand I was being stupid. I don't know what I was thinking, defying you like that—"

"Anything could've happened to you, Calista, and it would've all been my fault. And it's my fault you're hurt right now."

At his glance at her arm, a slight fear rose inside her. She hadn't even inspected her arm on waking up. She'd just been satisfied with the ebb of pain. She leaned forward to unwrap the fabric around it, Zayden watching her cautiously all the while. As the fabric unwrapped, a yellow-colored gauze appeared that stuck on her infected skin. She hoped it was the color of the gauze and hadn't caught it because of what it touched. As she removed the last layer of the gauze, she blinked at what she saw, and then her breath hitched.

Her arm was black; black as the night and as the nothingness of the universe. It felt like the blackness of her skin was trying to crawl its way up to her forearm and to her wrist and so the nerves nearing her wrist appeared the darkest blue she'd ever seen. This wasn't just an outer layer of injury, something that will peel itself off and reveal new skin beneath. It was inside her—like poison, something that injected itself in her and refused to leave. It rendered her skin cells dead, replacing them with utter blackness for life.

She scoffed at the horribleness of her own skin and looked at Zayden, demanding him to say something, anything for the sake of her own comfort.

"Their fists are like flames. It burnt your skin and killed the upper layer of the cells. This is... it's irreparable, but... it could've gotten worse. Had it reached all the way to your hand, we would have had to go for amputation. Thankfully, the healers were able to restrain the curse. It moves no more."

Perhaps he thought going for the worst possible scenario that hadn't happened to her would cause her a bit of comfort, instead, it made her intrusive thoughts go all over the place. She didn't realize her breaths were coming loud and shaky until Zayden scooted closer to her, rubbing his hand softly at her back.