Claire’s recuperating fast after the healer’s miraculous work on her. Everything was so sudden that I felt something terrible would happen if I ever left her side again.

I cannot rush her to go with me. But when I was about to ask for the guard to summon Badj so he could send a message to Jonasegan Whitlock, the Vampire King, that we have to delay a day because of some unexpected occurrence, Claire had already woken up from her deep sleep.

I rushed to her bed and checked her temperature with the back of my hand. She jolted from my warmth and my sudden move but I looked at...