Chapter 28

Anya woke to the smell of acrid smoke and the musk of animal fur. She opened her sore eyes and found that she was slumped over Izrayl"s back, with Cerise on one side of her and Yvan on the other.

"Cerise? Where"s Trajan? What happened to him?" she croaked.

"Try not to talk," she said urgently. "You had a seizure before and coughed up a lot of blood."

"Where"s Trajan?" she murmured.

"Shh! He"s walking a little way back."

"Is he okay?"

Cerise rolled her eyes. "He"s fine, just an idiot. He shouldn"t have fed off that dragon in front of you all, and now he"s embarrassed. Izrayl"s carrying you because Trajan thought when you woke, you may have been frightened of him. Just try to relax. Katya is taking us to her camp. Apparently, they have a wise woman who will be able to help you." Cerise did little to hide her skepticism.

Anya said, "What happened to the dragon?"

"We burned it. Katya didn"t want Vasilli to resurrect it. Don"t worry about it, darling. Just sleep."

Night fell quickly in the forest, and Yvan"s coat had been placed over Anya when she woke again. She could just make out the glimmer of fires through the heavy beech and pine trees.

"You will have to change back here," Katya said to Izrayl. "My tribe doesn"t look kindly on volk krovi." She spoke good English, but she had a thick Eastern European accent and rolled her R"s.

"Is it because we are so handsome and well-hung?" Izrayl asked.

"No, it"s because you"re assholes but your fur makes good cloaks."

Yvan stepped forward and gently lifted Anya from Izrayl"s back. She couldn"t move her arms or legs and started to weep as fear overwhelmed her.

"Don"t cry, shalos?. You"re going to be okay, " Yvan whispered.

"Mischief? That doesn"t sound like me at all," Anya replied, making him smile.

"Ha! You can"t go one day without getting into some kind of trouble," he said.

"We have to hurry. Everything is prepared so my sister and Baba Zosia can work on Anya straight away," Katya interrupted.

Through bleary eyes, Anya saw flames and curious glances from strange faces. Spices and incense filled the air, mixed with the ozone smell of Yvan"s skin. If she could have moved, she would have clung to him and buried her face into his chest like a little child, breathing in his comforting scent of storms and fire.

"This way," Katya said, leading them to a wooden caravan painted yellow and black. The door opened, and a short, squat old woman shuffled out. She moved to grip Anya"s face with her bony hands. Her snapping black eyes looked deep into her before muttering something in a language Anya didn"t know.

"Come," she said in English. Yvan carried Anya up the iron steps and placed her on a narrow bed. "You go."

"But—" Yvan started but was already being pushed outside.

"You here." Trajan ducked into the caravan, followed by a beautiful woman with long black hair. Yvan glared at them but didn"t try and fight his way in.

"Hello, Anya. I"m Aleksandra. Everything is going to be fine," the young woman said calmly. She looked at Trajan standing in the corner and started. "What are you?"

"He com wit her," the old woman said haltingly, her acent thick. "He is moartea spiritului."

"Not anymore," Trajan answered. The old woman rattled a reply to Aleksandra.

"Baba Zosia says you are here so you can feel if we are about to lose Anya"s soul," Aleksandra translated. Baba Zosia started to light the many candles in the cramped space, and Aleksandra quickly moved to help her.

"Trajan?" Anya croaked. He knelt down beside her bed and pushed the damp hair from her face. "Can you feel my death yet?"

"Yes," he answered grimly. "I won"t let you go just yet, not when I"ve finally gotten you back."

The pain was lacing her body, but underneath it was all the emotions that had been building the past few days brought on by her memories of him. She knew what she wanted before she died.

"Can I have a final request in case I don"t make it?" Anya asked.

"Anything."

"Kiss me. I haven"t been kissed in five years, Trajan. I"m s-scared, and it will be a nice way to go," she whispered. It was the first time in months Anya realized she wasn"t ready to die after all, but she wanted a kiss goodbye if she was going to.

"Are you sure? Even after what you saw me do today?" he asked, his eyes filled with conflict.

"Yes. You"re still you. Please."

"Okay, Anya." Trajan stroked her face before he brought his lips softly to hers. They were gentle and warm, sending heat from her lips to her chest. He tasted of autumn and darkness, spice and forbidden things. When he moved back from her, his eyes were filled with amazement.

"Thank you," Anya whispered before a fit of coughing overtook her.

"We need to get started now," Aleksandra said, moving Trajan into the far corner of the hot room. Baba Zosia crouched down next to the bed and removed Anya"s shirt.

"This made by magic. Only magic can un-make," she muttered.

Aleksandra passed a small pestle and mortar to Baba Zosia, and Anya caught the strong smell of spices.

"If I die, give my soul to Tuoni. The bastard got me into this mess, so I"m going to haunt him in the afterlife," Anya said to Trajan.

"I promise," he said with a grim smile.

"You quiet now. Both quiet," Baba Zosia snapped.

Aleksandra came forward and started to pour salt in a circle around Anya"s bed. From the folds of her shawl, Baba Zosia produced some small bells which she rang, filling the tense air with their tinkling. Anya knew Eikki had owned similar bells. He called them bakterismasko bells and had a set on a shelf in his room.

Baba Zosia started to crush herbs and spices in the stone basin slowly and methodically. The rich smell of cloves bombarded Anya"s senses, making her magic spike uneasily as Baba Zosia started to hum a tune. Her heart was racing, but she managed to find Trajan"s face and focus on it.

I kissed him, she thought in a daze, and she liked it.

Anya watched with grim fascination as Baba Zosia took her infected hand, and with two quick flicks of a knife, she opened the inflamed scars. Blood poured from the wounds, and Baba Zosia let it drop into the crushed herbs

Anya could no longer follow the tune she was humming, its rhythm reduced to a buzzing static in her brain. Aleksandra joined in and continued the flow and rhythm of it when Baba Zosia spat into the mixture. A small leather bag appeared in her hand, and she tipped the contents in.

Finally, she lit a small bundle of dried grasses and dropped the ashes into it, grinding the mixture until it became a thick paste. Scooping some into her wrinkled hand, she spread it over Anya"s wound.

Anya screamed as an agonizing burning sensation burst up her arm like a thousand knives scraping through her veins.

Trajan"s eyes flashed red as he rushed to her side. "She"s fading to the afterlife! Do something!"

"Hold her down," Baba Zosia commanded Aleksandra.

She gripped Anya"s shoulders without stopping the incessant humming. Baba Zosia started an incantation in their obscure language. She said it three times, her voice becoming more potent with each telling until she was shouting.

Anya screamed as her power flared hot and mixed with Baba Zosia"s. It roared through her, burning and cleansing the poison from her body. With a final shout, the pain vanished. Baba Zosia ran the rim of a small glass vial over her bloody palm. She held it to Anya"s face so she could see two rose thorns in the congealing mess.

"Bind her hand," Baba Zosia said to Aleksandra.

"I"ll be back with some water to clean the wound," Aleksandra said before helping the older woman down the stairs and out of the caravan.

Trajan moved to Anya"s side, his cold hand resting on her burning head.

"Why is it so dark?" Anya whispered.

"Whatever you and that woman just did melted all the candles," Trajan said, his hands shaking. "I thought I had lost you for a moment."

"I"m not going anywhere. You wasted a kiss for nothing." Anya smiled sleepily.

"It wasn"t a waste. Neither is this one." Trajan kissed her again, his long fingers twisting in her hair. Anya managed to move her good hand, gripping his shirt, his smell and the heat of his body warming her. She should"ve been shocked, but all she felt was relief to be alive, to have him so close to her, his lips on hers.

Aleksandra reappeared with a steaming basin of water and coughed politely. Trajan broke off the embrace at once. Anya touched her lips a little dazed, the sensation of him imprinted on them.

"I see your hands are working again, which is a good sign," Aleksandra commented as she took her place by Anya"s side. "Once we get all of this blood bathed off, we will stitch your hand and get you changed into fresh clothes." She looked at Trajan pointedly.

"I"ll be close if you need me," Trajan said and made for the door.

"The others are eating in the third caravan to the right of this one," Aleksandra said as she started to wash Anya"s skin. "They are expecting you."

Yvan stoodoutside of Baba Zosia"s caravan, arms folded and pissed off that he had been evicted. He had spent an agonizing amount of time listening to Anya scream, unable to help her. The sound of her cries had ripped the heart right out of him. Even the firebird was restless and upset at the thought of Anya in pain.

Yvan was debating whether or not to go in when Trajan came hurrying out, looking flustered.

"I see you have been kicked out as well," Yvan said calmly.

"I"ve served my purpose."

"Which was?"

"To tell them if Anya was dying. She"s fine now, just exhausted. You can stop looking so worried, Yvan."

Yvan gripped his hands in his hair. "No, I can"t. Vasilli did that to her through a dream. How in all the worlds are we going to keep her safe from him?"

"Anya won"t make the same mistake twice now. She knows what Vasilli can do. Don"t worry, Yvan, we"ll go to Paris, and call others to help us." Trajan"s voice had grown soft, and Yvan"s frown deepened. He didn"t like the way the thanatos had been looking at Anya.

She doesn"t belong to you, princeling, the firebird reminded him. Like he didn"t know that already. He had seen the way she had been looking at Trajan too.

"You should go and eat something, Trajan. The body you have is still mostly human after all, and it can"t live only off the energy you consumed today from that creature," Yvan said. "I"ll watch over Anya."

"I don"t know if I should," Trajan hesitated.

Yvan folded his arms and stepped between Trajan and the caravan. "She"s important to me and the firebird too, Trajan. You"re not the only one who has the power and duty to protect her." Trajan relented and headed where the others were eating and talking.

When Aleksandra opened the door, Yvan quickly ducked into the shadows and hoped she didn"t spot him. He watched her walk past, the water in the basin alarmingly red. He hurried up the stairs and into the dark caravan.

Anya lay on a bed covered with brightly colored crocheted blankets. Her green eyes flickered open, and she smiled brightly at him.

"I was wondering if you were going to come to visit me," she said as he sat down on the small stools beside her.

"I haven"t been allowed to. I"m still not." Yvan gently took her heavily bandaged hand between his own, his heart shredding seeing what Vasilli had done to her. "How are you?"

Anya pulled a face. "I"m sore, but I can move now, which is a good thing."

Let me help her, the firebird said in his mind. It moved and shifted on Yvan"s chest as warmth flooded down his arms and into her hand.

"Oh, that feels incredible," Anya whispered, her eyes growing wide.

"It wants to do its part to help you. The firebird doesn"t like to see you suffer either."

"Will you stay with me a little while?" Anya asked. Her eyes began to droop.

"If you would like me to."

"Stay. I don"t want to be alone, Yvan." She rolled onto her side and cuddled into their hands before drifting off to sleep. Yvan was nodding off as the door to the caravan opened. Baba Zosia shuffled in and grunted when she saw him.

"I knew you be here," she said quietly.

"I"m not disturbing her," Yvan replied, instantly defensive.

"You and dat burd inside you." Her fingers brushed his face lightly, and the firebird"s power flared. "You make problems for her."

"I know that, but we can help protect her. I can"t leave her now Vasilli is aware of her. I owe her a debt, and he will kill her in case she was the one in Ilya"s prophecy."

"He do this for fun." Baba Zosia held a glass vial in front of him. The bloody thorns were inside, and Yvan flinched.

"I know he did. Anya didn"t know he could harm her in dreams."

"I will show her how to stop dat. I show her some more tings. But not for long. You all must go. He come for her."

"Thank you. We"ll take any help you are willing to give chovihani," he said, bowing his head respectfully.

"Dat other creeture. He care for her." Baba Zosia"s face tightened into a scowl.

"Trajan? Yes, he does." Yvan"s chest tightened that a complete stranger had noticed Trajan"s apparent interest in Anya.

"He fall in love wit her. Bad ting." She tapped her temple. "I see it in vision. He will. She will for him. It is already done. But will you still be there for her?"

Yvan looked down at Anya sleeping beside him. He hadn"t even known he was getting any kind of feelings for her, but he suddenly felt like he"d been hooked in the guts. Despite that, he knew he wouldn"t abandon her.

"She needs hero, not lover. You be her hero and her lovers not matter," Baba Zosia continued with a wave of her hand. "You be whut she need. She loves you differently. She loves you forever and true. Be her hero. Be her champion." Yvan looked down at Anya"s pale face and tangled mass of silvery hair.

"I"m already her champion. I won"t leave her, no matter what," Yvan replied, the words cutting him like broken glass. "Her magic woke me, and she saved me. We are bound together, tighter than lovers, to whatever end."

Baba Zosia patted his shoulder. "Good boy. You grieve for vife?"

Yvan had no idea how she knew about Helena. The fairytale version of her had been told through both worlds, but only Yvan and Vasilli knew the truth of what really happened the night she died. He hadn"t even told Anya the full version of events.

"A part of me has been grieving the whole time I was in the egg, but other things are more important now," Yvan admitted, looking back at Anya. He would protect her, even from herself, and maybe then the past would stop hurting so much.