Strangely enough, the first thing Irene heard was her heartbeat before she realized she was awake and didn’t realize where she was.
The bed was different than the one in her barrack. Even the way the sun beat down on her face was different than her room.
There was a dicinal sll she couldn’t quite place.
Her hands were lying at her sides and her fingers began to move before her eyes could even open. The bedding was soft. Her hands moved inwards over her body and she felt clothing she wasn’t familiar with.
So soft.
However, her confusion was cleared away like the sun burning away clouds in the morning and she was suddenly very alard.
The forest. The winterization.
They were under attack.
Who had dressed her if she was in a bed in clothes she didn’t recognize? Who discovered her secrets?
The girl sat up suddenly but cried out in pain. The muscles required to sit up were compromised by the hole in her side that seed to be festering because of whatever the arrow had put inside of it. She held her side and felt feverish due to the pain.
Her eyes were squeezed shut but snapped open as soone ran into the room she was in and she pulled her blankets closer to herself.
"You’re awake," Felix spoke breathlessly.
Irene realized he looked miserable. There was darkness under his eyes which was a sure sign that he hadn’t slept much—if at all—in a long ti.
Was it because of how alarming her secret was? She was figured out and he hated it.
All she could do was search his face for an answer, hoping she read nothing about his anger in being deceived for so long. Her pulse was racing.
Considering Irene refused to respond and stared at him with her posture as rigid as she could make it with an alard expression on her face, the older apprentice walked forward and took a seat at her bedside.
"You really know how to scare us," Felix explained, only skirting over what he had been feeling for over a day.
He was miserable and blad himself for not taking the arrow out sooner. He thought she was going to die at the beginning. When he returned from explaining the situation to Gunnar, the younger apprentice looked as white as snow and lifeless. Sweat had been pouring out of Iro’s hairline whenever Felix was able to visit.
Irene needed the courage to get the answers she was seeking. She swallowed hard even though her throat felt dry and it felt like she had eaten gravel.
"What happened?" she asked, her voice hoarse. "I rember the attack and not much else."
Felix had to straighten his posture out as he took a deep breath. He didn’t particularly care to relive the past day and a half.
"After you were shot, you began declining quickly," he admitted. "No one is sure what was on the arrow. It was a grey substance that spread underneath your skin. The last ti you were even remotely conscious was over a day ago."
Irene’s eyes were wide.
"Is everyone else—"
However, the girl began coughing and the feeling in her throat beca raw. It was no longer only rough. As she covered her mouth with her arm, she pulled away to see grey flecks on the white sleeve. Her eyes widened.
Felix looked on sympathetically with a sad smile.
"Everyone is fine except for you," he admitted. "Of course, I was paired with the only person to get hurt on the winterization trip."
Irene’s eyes narrowed but she was only t with Felix’s smile as he tried to lighten the situation in the best way he knew how. Humor was his crutch when it ca to most things.
Irene’s coughing had alerted others though and she soon saw Agnes run into the room with her shoulders heaving as if she had co from far away. The older girl let go of her skirts and smoothed out her apron once she was inside the room.
She looked shyly towards Felix but continued forward until she was at Irene’s opposite bedside.
"Allow to get you so water," she said. "You haven’t drunk nearly enough while you have been asleep."
She wouldn’t admit that she thought Irene was dehydrated because she had been throwing up in her sleep and there were many posted nearby to listen in and make sure she wasn’t suffocating. It was only in the last few hours that Irene was stable enough to lay on her back and the cleanest she had remained as well.
Irene only nodded. The coughing fit made it even harder to talk.
Only when she had a small wooden cup held to her lips did she feel herself be soothed. The water wasn’t cold and was taken from a clay pot sitting on a stove.
"Felix, could you please give a few monts with our patient?" Agnes asked.
The teenager t Agnes’ eyes and he beca rigid but he was beyond the point of asking questions. It wasn’t the first ti Agnes had asked him to leave while she cared for the patient. If he didn’t already know that Agnes was a pure soul with the best intentions at heart, he would wonder why she needed to be with Iro alone so often.
"Fine," Felix said. "I will be back shortly. I ought to tell the others that you’re awake."
He stood up and stalked forward quickly, leaving just as he was asked.
When he was gone, Agnes shut the door and she gave her patient a sympathetic smile. Her hands never stopped moving as she first wrung them together then she wiped her hands on her apron.
"Iro..." she trailed off and walked to the opposite side of the bed so she could sit down. "I know that you are truly a girl. The head maid, Ingrid, knows this as well."
Irene’s eyes practically fell out of her head as she widened them so much.
"Who else knows?" she asked, horrified, but happy that her voice was more clear after drinking the warm water.
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