A hand touched her head, whose she didn’t know.

“She burns with fever,” the voice was distinctly female. “I doubt she will last through the night, my lady.”

“She is strong,” she was startled by her mother’s voice. “They could not break her and this will not take her.”

“My lady, it is very likely the infection has gotten into her bloodstream,” the other woman said. “If that is the case, there is little we can do but wait. She may survive. She may not. That is up to God now. All you can do is pray and wait, my lady.”

She heard footsteps retreating and figured it was the woman leaving.

“Mum, will Kira be okay?” Askel’s voice was pitched much deeper than before but he still sounded like he did the day she’d been forced to leave.

Her mother made no reply that she could hear.

“Mummy, is Kira going to die?” his voice was more tremulous than before.

“Do not ask such questions!” her mother snapped.

She heard her brother shuffle away slightly. He was only fourteen but he had never been as strong as her. Without her, he probably wouldn’t survive. He depended on her more than on their mother, which was rather unusual. But their mother worried over even the slightest cough or sneeze or shiver. Even as paranoid as she was about Askel’s health, she’d never snapped at him until today.