“Fuck this shit,” I said as she turned down a trodden collection of weeds and stepped over a hole in the porch of a ramshackle structure. It wasn’t much more than a lean-to. “Fuck all of this shit. We have some empty places in my village. You could go there.”
“We can’t visit other villages. The demons will kill us. Only the prince moves between villages, from what I’ve heard, and he does it within the shadows.”
“I doubt the demons will give two shits about you, to be honest. No offense.”
She looked at me like I’d grown a third eye, then glanced down at my clothes. “I’ve never heard such a fine lady…”
“With a mouth like mine?” I grinned and waved her away as I pushed open the wobbly door. “Don’t mind my clothing. The prince insisted that I dress up before visiting the villages. I was wearing his childhood clothing for a while. I was wearing plain men’s clothing before that, made by my mom or brother.”
“But you’re so pretty.”
“You can’t help the face you were born with. It doesn’t make me who I am. Now, show me your mother.”
She led me through the dimly lit interior and into the back bedroom—actually, the only bedroom. It held an empty cot and a sickbed. A woman lay in the bed, her arm thrown to the side and her breathing shallow. She didn’t open her eyes or show any sign that she knew someone had come into the house.
I felt her pulse, then her head. Burning up. Her face wasn’t sallow, though. She wasn’t wheezing. No coughing.
“She’s got time. It’s not going to be fun for her, but she’s got…a couple of months, at least.”
The girl sucked in a shaking breath and held it, her eyes shimmering with emotion.
I put my hand on her shoulder. “Sorry. I’m not the bedside nurse of my family. I’m the jerk who talks to herself out in the yard and hands off the nursing to others. You can see why. A couple months is very good news. I’d thought the situation was dire. It isn’t. We’ll save your mom for the time being, no problem, okay? Then we’ll save her for good. You’re not going to lose her.”
A tear leaked out, and she wiped it away, nodding.
“Okay.” I patted her. I needed Hannon. He was the other half to this healing team.
I braced my hands on my hips, looking around. No fireplace in this room.
Out in the living room, the ground beneath the small pot in the hearth was cold. I pointed at it.
“What’s the deal with no fire?”
“We don’t have money for fuel. With Momma not working, and me not getting much for my sewing…”
I nodded and stepped out of the house, looking down the lane. “What about your neighbors? What kind of situation are they in?”
“Um…”
I stepped forward and went to the next house over, opening the door without ceremony and popping my head in. “Official business. Right ball of the prince.” No one sat in the living room. The single bedroom in the back held three beds, one of them occupied by a man who could barely take a breath. Liquid had collected in his lungs. He didn’t have long. “Crap.”
I pushed my way out, heading down to the next house. Dabnye followed, probably not knowing what else to do.
“How many in this village are sicker than your mother?”
“I don’t know. There are about a dozen in this section.”
I pushed my way into the next house. A little boy looked up from two blocks on the floor. His eyes took in my clothes and he froze.
“Where’s your—”
“What is this? We’ve paid our rent.” A woman in a mustard-yellow apron thundered from the kitchen so quickly that she still had flour on her face. Her scowl etched deep lines in her face, and bags circled her eyes. She wiped her slick forehead. Someone groaned from the back room.
“Damn it, you’re sick, too. Is this whole fucking village sick?”
Her demeanor changed, her expression turning desperate. “It’s not me. We don’t need the potion for me. It’s for Rufus. Please help him.”
He was in one of the two bedrooms, coughing into a napkin. I stopped by his side and took the napkin away, startling him. No blood. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes reddish.
“Nah, he’s good for a month or more.” I walked by her, ignoring her confused expression, then stopped at the door and turned back. “Does anyone in this area have access to a large fire? We need a cauldron over a large fire, inside or outside, doesn’t matter.”
“Uh…Maryanne down at the corner house. She has a cauldron in her backyard. They say she dances naked in the moonlight. She’s not in her right head.”
“She sounds like she’s about to be the most liked person in this area of the village, actually.” I met Dabnye at the door. “Show me to her house.”