Chapter 20: Warm Hands

I did not wait for the Council to rise.

I went down the gallery steps against the crowd.

Corwin met me in the corridor with two Guards already behind him.

"Bridie's dose," I said. "He's holding it back tonight to make me give in. I heard him say so."

Corwin did not ask how I had heard.

"Harbor Street," he said, and we ran.

The green door of the Southbay house stood shut, and the brass plate had been polished that morning.

A Guard hammered on the wood until it opened.

The gray-aproned nurse stood on the threshold with her hands twisted in front of her.

"The Alpha has gone," she said. "He took the key to the dispensary with him."

"I'm not allowed to give her anything, miss. He said you'd come."

"Where is she?"

"Upstairs. She won't wake."

I took the stairs three at a time.

Bridie lay on top of the quilt in her nightgown with her hair stuck to her forehead.

Her breath came shallow and quick.

Her skin was gray. I had never seen a living face that color.

Under her closed lids her eyes were moving, fast and without rest.

"Bridie."

She did not answer.

Her fingers were curled against her chest.

When I touched them they were colder than my hands had ever been.

"The wolf is failing," the nurse said from the door. "It takes the body when it goes."

"The doses hold it off."

"How long does she have?"

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