Fate and Destiny (The Fated Series, #2)

Chapter 19 - Katarina - Trust

My life couldn't be any more complicated – and more of a headache than it already is. I'm cleaning again, though it isn't because I'm a nervous wreck. Oh no, this time is worse. Roseia threw up. Again. For two days she's been sick with a fever. Siscilla's doing her best, but she herself can't find the cause of the illness.

"It's like a – ghost virus," she said, waving her hands angrily over her head when I asked her about it.

"So what do we do?"

"Same as those without access to a skilled healer."

And that's what we've been doing. Reynald stays at her side day and night, Siscilla tries to ease Roseia's stomach, and the rest of us keep our distance and help where we can. Since I seem to have the strongest stomach – and the iron tough assassins are busy with not wanting to do the dirty work – I'm stuck cleaning up the mess. I'd prefer her gag reflexes were a little stronger so that she could've made it more than three feet from the bed, but I don't have such luck. It'd be nice if I did.

It's mostly water that I'm picking up since she doesn't eat. There's not much odor to it either, but it's still making my head spin every now and then.

It's sometime in the middle of the night, likely early morning based on the moonlight. When you stay up all night for as long as I have, you begin to learn to judge the time based on the moon's position. Odd skill to acquire, but handy if I ever get lost. Then again, I'm lost now and don't find the time of almost three bells to be a comfort. Everyone else – even Roseia, sleeps soundlessly now. I got a glimpse of Melody outside earlier. The only other living thing in our group awake.

Done with cleaning, I grab the towel and bucket now full of murky colored water, and walk outside to dump and hang them. It's not like it could make this barren forest smell any worse, though Melody seems to cringe when I walk past her and toss the water. She's become a warm presence in this cold world. Winter's still in full swing, and it should be calming down, but there's been no indication that it will.

The cold sometimes makes me wonder if Lance and the others are warm. I mean, Darius can control fire, and by the way Ella's been explaining what, exactly, he could do with it, he could warm their coats in a matter of seconds. It's more of a constant cold breeze here than anything. There's no snow, no hail, nothing but the dead trees to tell you the season. And they're like this year-round, or so Lance claimed. I haven't been outside of the castle since I arrived fifteen years ago.

There are more times than not that I pluck the sheathed dagger from my pocket and try to get it open. I scratch, tear, push and pull the hilt, and scream at it to let me succumb to the blade. There's nothing of height to launch me off of here, which I suppose is a good thing, though I already tried scaling the wall of the cabin, but it's impossible. I dared Blight to do it – with a little encouraging and brutal words from Julyan - and she was on the roof dancing her victory within the next minute. I tried memorizing where she placed her hands and feet, but she moved like a damn spider and I couldn't do it.

The trees were just as much a hopeless attempt. I have zilch experience with the tall, nimbly bastards, and every tree has some kind of thorn-filled bush in front of it. You'd have to take a running start and jump to the lowest branch to pull yourself up. Been there, failed that. You can't imagine the idiotic story I had to come up with to explain my bloody legs and arms. At least my face came out unscathed. Every other body part had some kind of scratch or thorn lodged in it. Took Siscilla an entire day to get them all out. She muttered her discontent the whole time.

I honestly have been secretly wishing that Roseia would explode again if only to throw me against another tree. I ended up with blood oozing out of my nose and ears, and a blue and purple back that wouldn't let me move a single muscle until Siscilla fixed it. That took a whole day as well. I tried getting her to leave it alone, thinking that the pain and spinal injuries would soon let me sleep in peace, but she had Blight trick and drug me so I wouldn't attempt to fight as she waved her magical healing hands. I couldn't have fought either way, but I sure would've cursed up a storm if I weren't unconscious.