The Flames That Bind Us (Daughter of Fire #1)

✔Chapter Thirty Six: Aftermath

Lydia Voltaire

I had no idea how long I'd been cramped up in this room.

It might have been a week or more. Or perhaps it's been only a few hours, although my healing injuries suggest that it's been longer. Either way, I didn't really have a mind for it. All I knew was that I was sitting on my bed, staring at the wall before me and refusing to acknowledge the empty presence glued to my back.

I would only rise to go to the bathroom and then eat what my stomach could suffice when the servants would come in with trays and trays of food that I left mainly untouched.

Then I would sleep and sleep until I had no sense of time and place. Until that horrible void in my gut faded bit by bit -although its existence remained lingering.

And day by day, I would repeat that cycle.

However, there came moments when I would gaze too long at the vacant space of the pillow Luxus usually slept on, and that void would fill up temporarily with a raging fire that exploded out of my chest and swept half the bed, burning through the fireproofing charms.

Not willingly. I hated it -hated the sheer force of it.

I had lost count of the number of times the servants had brought in a completely new bed.

And when Gabriel offered to put me in another room, I almost threatened to scorch the entire thing.

So I sat here every day, the softness of the new mattress underneath me, in a room with blackened walls and the smell of burnt sheets not entirely gone no matter how many times the maids aired it out.

Sometimes I would come up the balcony, but only the wreckage of what remained of the garden greeted me. Guards and servants have worked day and night to get it back to its original state, and the royals and the rest of the Slifers gave their assistance.

But no matter what, even with Redmond replanting almost half of it, the garden didn't live up to the brilliance it once had. Almost like the spirits of those who died provided an eerie hollowness.

Imarnia had a memorial service for those whose lives were lost in the attack, and to my knowledge from the servants' whispers, it was held in the Cemetery of the Nobly Remembered.

I didn't attend it, not even when I learned that Luxus was buried there. It was strange-knowing that a cat earned a place in the burial grounds of those who fought for Imarnia.

This room had been my self-made prison and sanctuary, and I wasn't going anywhere. Not yet, at least.

A soft knock sounded at the door, and when it jarred open, Gabriel let himself in.

He's been visiting me every day during whatever free time he could manage between his sister and the damage control.

Oddly, he was the only one I really talked to. Lucius had tried, but he had the door slammed in his face. Ayana, Redmond, and Lysa had come the very first day I woke back from unconsciousness due to my wounds.

"You're not eating," he stated, glancing at the still steaming plate of porridge on the dresser. Then those grey eyes narrowed at me.

"That's not true," I said, avoiding those grey eyes that surveyed every inch of my sunken face. It's clear he saw the dark circles underneath my eyes, the way my cheeks appeared gaunt, and the obvious weight drop. "I did eat -a little."

I wasn't sure if two spoonfuls of porridge were considered eating.

He shook his head at me and moved to pick up the tray. I felt bad watching him fuss over my health when he had so much on his hands. I could notice that he wasn't getting as much sleep, letting his stubble grow while he seemed to wear whatever clothes he could grab.