Chapter 236: Could you stop bringing corpses when you’re courting me?

Nerin stopped functioning.

Completely.

His eyes remained open.

His hands remained frozen at his sides.

His ears went scarlet.

Not pink.

Scarlet.

Swanly pulled back.

“Nerin?”

Nothing.

“Nerin.”

His mouth opened.

Closed.

His broken antler seemed to twitch.

Swanly’s mouth curved.

“Nerin?”

He swallowed.

Then whispered:

“…Again?”

Swanly burst out laughing.

Nerin’s face became even redder.

But he was smiling now.

Not his tiny shy smile.

A helpless one.

Pure happiness.

Like somebody had handed him the moon and told him he could keep it.

Swanly touched his cheek.

“You’re so cute.”

His eyes widened.

That made it worse.

“Nerin?”

He covered half his face.

“I need…”

“What?”

“I don’t know.”

Swanly laughed harder.

Nerin looked like he might collapse into his own garden from happiness.

She let him suffer.

He deserved at least five minutes.

Unfortunately, Ironwood rarely allowed happiness to exist without immediately throwing something terrible at it.

Vida screamed before noon.

Everyone near the treatment shelters knew the sound now.

A mother losing control.

Swanly ran.

Nerin came with her. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Kael was already there.

Soren arrived seconds later.

Vida’s baby was burning again.

Worse.

Much worse.

The child’s little body had gone frighteningly limp.

Vida sat on the raised sleeping platform rocking him.

“No.”

Nahla tried touching the baby’s neck.

Vida slapped her hand away.

Then immediately broke.

“I’m sorry.”

She grabbed Nahla’s wrist.

“I’m sorry, please, please…”

Nahla did not care about the slap.

“Move his cloth.”

Vida obeyed.

Sari pressed a cooled wet cloth against the baby’s chest.

Nothing.

The infant’s breaths were shallow.

Too shallow.

Vida’s mate stood behind her.

Pale.

Silent.

Helpless.

That helplessness was changing him.

Swanly could see it.

Every time the baby made a weaker sound, something inside the male cracked further.

Then a Veskari healer called from outside.

“We can suppress it.”

Everyone turned.

The healer stood beyond the territorial line.

Lyssara beside her.

Soren’s face hardened immediately.

Vida’s mate ran to the wall.

“What?”

The Veskari healer lifted both hands.

“We cannot cure the source.”

Vida’s mate grabbed the wooden barrier.

“But?”

“We can suppress the fever.”

“How?”

“Open the boundary.”

Soren answered before anyone else.

“No.”

Vida’s mate spun.

“Soren.”

“No.”

“My child is dying!”

Soren’s tail struck the dirt once.

“I heard her.”

“Then let her in!”

“No.”

The male stared at him.

Something ugly moved through the nearby crowd.

Not hatred.

Desperation.

Lyssara stepped forward.

“One healer.”

Soren looked at her.

“No warriors.”

“No.”

“No weapons.”

“No.”

Vida’s mate made a broken sound.

Swanly’s chest tightened.

Soren did not look cruel.

That somehow made it harder.

He looked exhausted.

Certain.

Terrified in the way leaders were terrified when they could not show it.

Lyssara’s voice sharpened.

“You would allow an infant to die because you distrust us?”

Soren’s scales lifted faintly along his throat.

“I distrust people who demand access to something beneath my home while refusing to explain what they intend to do with it.”

Vida’s mate shouted:

“HE’S A BABY!”

Silence.

Soren’s silver eyes moved to him.

The male’s chest heaved.

Tears filled his eyes.

“He does not care about your Heart.”

His voice cracked.

“He doesn’t care about your secrets.”

Vida started crying behind him.

“Please.”

Swanly closed her eyes for one second.

This was becoming impossible.

Then the Veskari healer said:

“Bring the child to the boundary.”

Soren looked toward her.

She continued:

“I do not need to cross.”

Vida’s mate nearly collapsed in relief.

They carried the baby.

Nahla went too.

Sari.

Swanly.

Vida refused to release him.

At the boundary, the Veskari healer crouched on the opposite side.

She could not touch the baby directly.

Instead she instructed Nahla.

Crush this.

Mix that.

Press there.

Cool the neck.

Apply a specific wing-born resin they passed beneath a neutral section only after Soren authorized the object itself.

Minutes passed.

The baby’s breathing changed.

Vida froze.

“Did you…”

Another breath.

Stronger.

Vida screamed and began sobbing.

The fever dropped.

Not gone.

But enough.

Enough for the baby to open his eyes weakly.

Vida kissed him everywhere.

His forehead.

Cheeks.

Tiny hands.

“My baby.”

The crowd watched.

That was when everything changed.

Whispers started before Vida even left the boundary.

“She helped.”

“The Veskari helped.”

“Soren wouldn’t let her inside.”

“But she still helped.”

“What if she could do more inside?”

Swanly heard every word.

Soren did too.

Nobody confronted the whispers.

Not yet.

That evening, the whispers became conversations.

Near the water shelter:

“What if they’re telling the truth?”

A male looked around nervously.

“About what?”

“That they can help.”

“They want the Heart.”

“So?”

The other male’s expression sharpened.

“So what if whatever they do with it stops this?”

“You don’t know that.”

“Neither does Soren.”

A female carrying two bowls slowed.

“Keep your voice down.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s the ruler.”

“And rulers cannot be wrong?”

She stared at him.

He immediately lowered his voice.

But he did not take the words back.

Near the food fires, another conversation began.

“My sister has had a fever for two days.”

“The raised bed helped.”

“Not enough.”

“They said the Veskari healer cannot cure it.”

“She suppressed the baby’s fever.”

“What if she could suppress my sister’s too?”

“And if they get inside and do something worse?”

“What could be worse than watching her die?”

Silence.

That question spread.

Tilla heard it.

She found Swanly later.

“People are talking.”

Swanly rubbed her forehead.

“I know.”

“They think Soren is refusing help because of pride.”

“He isn’t.”

“I know.”

Tilla’s ears lowered.

“But scared people don’t care why somebody says no.”

Swanly looked toward the treatment shelters.

Vida’s mate was standing outside.

Looking toward the Veskari camp.

Again.

Longer this time.

And outside the boundary, Veyra noticed him.

The next day, Swanly found Azren beside two corpses.

Not one.

Two.

He dropped the second infected body outside the wall.

Wet organs spilled from a torn abdomen.

Swanly stopped walking.

“What the fuck?”

Azren looked up.

“Good morning.”

“Could you stop bringing corpses when you’re courting me?”

“I brought information.”

“It has intestines.”

Azren looked down.

“Very informative intestines.”

Swanly stared.

He pointed toward the first body.

“This one followed us for half a day.”

Her expression changed.

“Followed?”

“Did not attack.”

“And the other?”

“Stayed behind it.”

Her stomach tightened.

Azren crouched.

“Watch.”

He kicked the first corpse onto its back.

The skull had been crushed.

The fingers were worn raw.

Not from clawing people.

From digging.

Swanly’s ears flattened.

“What was it digging?”

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“It scratched at empty earth whenever the Heart pulsed.”

Azren stood.

“The others do it too.”

Swanly looked toward the forest.

“Directional obsession.”

“Yes.”

“Not intelligence.”

“Not exactly.”

Azren’s wings folded.

“They are being pulled.”

“By the Heart.”

“Likely.”

A herd of normal forest animals suddenly burst through distant brush.

Small horned grazers.

Birdlike runners.

Even two little burrowing creatures.

They raced past the Veskari camp.

Terrified.

Behind them?

Movement.

Too many shadows.

Infected.

Not attacking the Veskari.

Following the direction.

Ironwood.

Swanly’s stomach turned.

Azren looked at her.

“If you leave now with children, you will not get far.”

She knew.

Hearing him say it made the truth heavier.

Five children.

Elderly people.

Sick people.

Food.

Water.

Pregnant females.

Wounded warriors.

There was nowhere to run.

Azren watched her expression.

Then, because seriousness apparently made him uncomfortable:

“So you are trapped here with me.”