Five days passed. On the second day, the healer returned with an antidote. Evren had barely been awake long enough to swallow it. Her sleep was broken and light. She often woke screaming or crying. Eris stayed by her, leaving only when he had to.

He blinked his eyes open, unsure of when he'd fallen asleep. Eris had never been able to sleep on his back. He always slept on his stomach. That wasn't an option now, seeing as Evren was still asleep with her head tucked against his chest.

A floorboard creaked and he turned his head, spying the healer at Evren's other side. "I was trying not to wake you," she whispered.

"How is she?" Eris asked.

"Doing much better. Her fever has gone down. I'll give her another dose of the antidote when she wakes up, but I think it's safe to say that she'll be out of harm's way soon."

Eris gave a sigh of relief as the healer crept out of the room. He slipped an arm around Evren's shoulders and let his hand grow warm again. Evren's breaths were deep and even. He gritted his teeth and looked away, anger burning in his stomach.

When he found out who was responsible for this, he would gladly issue the order to have them tortured. He would oversee some of it himself. He had to find them first though, and he would start by questioning Celosia when Evren was well enough to be left alone.

"How long has it been?" Evren murmured.

"Five days," Eris replied, glancing back at her. Her eyes were clearer than before. "How do you feel?"

"Tired." She was looking out the window vacantly. "I kept dreaming about my parents. About their deaths. Cadoc. I saw corpses walking around the room. I heard the bugs outside."

"The poison overstimulated your senses and made you hallucinate. The fever made the hallucinations worse."

Evren swallowed and loosed a heavy breath. "My mother wanted us to live in the Fae Lands. She wanted to settle down in one of the Courts. She hoped we'd be able to find work here and live easier than we could in the Mortal Lands. She began talking to Children of the Blessed. You know who they are?"

"They are Humans who still worship Fae as gods," Eris said.

"My father didn't agree with them or Mother. He wanted to stay in the Mortal Lands. He said that if we came here, someone or something would kill us. Mother wouldn't listen. She decided to come with the Children and find a place for us to live anyway."

Eris remained silent as he realized what she was telling him. "Father went after her. I followed him. We found Mother at the border of the Spring and the Autumn Courts. The Children of the Blessed were already being slaughtered by Beron's warriors. Beron slit my mother's throat. My father...he burned my father from the inside out."

Evren's breath shook and she blinked back tears. "They dug a mass grave. The Children of the Blessed and my parents were thrown in it. I tried to attack Beron. He had me whipped and laughed. He pulled a cloak out of the pit. A cloak that was stained by my mother's blood. He wrapped me in it."

She squeezed her eyes shut. "He wrapped it so tightly that I couldn't move. He threw me in that pit on top of those bodies. And then..." Evren curled her hands into fists. "They began to fill in the grave."

Eris was completely still, hardly able to breath. His father had tried to bury her. Alive. She had been ten years old. She had been buried alive.

"I couldn't move. I tried to loosen the cloak. I screamed for help. They didn't listen to me. They just kept throwing dirt onto me until I couldn't even wiggle around. I don't know how long I was down there. I blacked out and the next thing I knew, Cadoc was digging me up."

"He told me I could stay by the grave or go with him. I didn't have a choice. I went with him. I thought I could trust him. He promised to teach me how to kill, so I could avenge my parents. He did teach me. He treated my back so that the scars would heal as well as they could."

Her voice broke. Eris rubbed her shoulder, still saying nothing. "He gave me the bracelet. He made sure I had clothes and some food. A month after he rescued me, he came home from a tavern, drunk out of his mind. I begged and fought and cried and screamed. It did no good. He held me down and..." She had been ten.

"Again and again." She was crying now. "So many times. It became a regular thing and there was nothing I could do. He brought his friends. He let them take turns. They laughed when I cried. When I vomited from sheer terror. And I couldn't leave. I had nowhere to go and no money to live on. I couldn't even find my own jobs. Cadoc always found them for me." He was going to hunt that male down and Eris was going to enjoy killing him. No, he was going to enjoy watching Evren kill him.

"There was only one thing I could do. I gave in. I let him do what he wanted and he left me alone. I quit fighting. I quit screaming. I quit feeling. Eventually, I got to the point where I hardly even felt ashamed, hurt, or broken by what kept happening. I became a creature with a heart of stone. I just killed and ate and slept and..." She swallowed another sob.

"And I decided that after I avenged my parents, I didn't want to stay here anymore. I wanted out. I wanted to go somewhere where I couldn't be hurt anymore. I made my decision and I've lived every day with my end in mind."

"Death is like a vulture that follows me. Every day, my body leaves scraps behind for it to gnaw on. It circles over my head. It watches everything I do, waiting for me to finally collapse. Waiting for its chance to claim me. I've escaped its grasp too many times. Death was waiting for me to come to it. I think that now, it has decided to come to me."

"It will be forced to wait a while longer," Eris said at last. "I don't plan on watching you die any time soon."

Evren lifted her gaze to his. "Why do you care? Why are you here?"

"Because I cannot stay away," Eris whispered. "I tried. I couldn't stay away for more than ten minutes. My instincts were screaming at me to return. To not let you out of my sight. To find what was hurting you and make it stop. When you screamed and cried in your sleep, there was nothing I could do and my mind was tearing itself apart trying to figure out how I could help you."

"Why?" She asked again.

Eris hesitated. "I don't know. Perhaps it's just the monster in me reaching out to the monster in you. Like calls to like."

"Celosia told me you are not kind. She was wrong. You are arrogant and cruel and cunning. You are mean and spiteful, but you're still kind. You still care. You are still kind. You still feel."

"So do you." Eris wiped a tear from her cheek. "You still feel all of the emotions you tried to make yourself stop feeling."

"We made a promise."

"We did."

"I am feeling tired," Evren said softly. "And sad and angry. Ashamed and confused. Hurt. Lonely and mistreated." She uncurled her fists, spreading one hand over his. "But...safe."

"I'm feeling angry and determined. Relieved, worried, and confused. And..." he knit his brows. "I feel like I've failed."

Evren flipped his hand over. He tensed as she traced the scars on his wrist, now tender with new marks. "Why did you do this? Did you need to see that you weren't a monster?"

"No." Eris stared at the ceiling. "No, this time it was because I was angry and felt like I needed to hurt."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't protect you." Eris closed his eyes. "Because I failed you and I failed myself. I promised myself that I would not let you die feeling like some worthless monster. I promised I would help you find somewhere you belong."

"That is not a reason to punish yourself." Evren brought his wrist to her lips. Her touch was gentle and weak. "Not for me. Never for me. I am not worth it. I am not worth your blood."

Evren met his gaze. He felt something spark within his chest. It was faint. It was unclear. He didn't know what it was, but he did know one thing. "You are worth every drop of my blood," Eris said. "You are worth my life."

"I am a Human."

"You are Evren Bastile. You are my promise."

"What do you mean?"

He couldn't explain what he meant. There were no words that could describe the promise he was making. The promise he felt. "You are my promise," Eris repeated. "If I only accomplish one meaningful thing in my life, it will be this. I will convince you not to die."

"Then you have a lot of work to do." Evren closed her eyes. "But I think I am willing to help. And I will convince you not to punish yourself for things that are beyond your control." She pulled his wrist to her lips again. Her grip loosened and her breaths became deep with sleep. Eris watched her and tried to ignore the burning in his eyes and the lump that had formed in his throat.

•~ ❘ ۞ ❘ ~•

When Evren woke next, Eris was gone. She was wearing a thin shirt and a pair of shorts. She felt cool and calm. Her sleep had been deep and dreamless. Evren sat up gingerly and combed her fingers through her curls.

The door opened, revealing the healer. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Better. Where's Eris?"

"The High Lord had business to attend to."

She approached the bed, holding out a vial. Evren swallowed the contents obediently. The healer passed her a cup of water next. She drank it slowly and didn't stop until the cup was empty.

"You'll start feeling more like yourself soon," the healer promised. She left the room and closed the door softly.

Evren crossed her legs and looked out the window. Good, she thought. I have promises to keep. Her heart fluttered with anticipation.