The return to the mansion was slow.
Not because there was no urgency. There was too much urgency. The problem was that Toma could barely stay awake, Elin trembled every time anyone mentioned a bell, Vara Leth was unconscious and bound, Maeve Korrin remained far too silent for someone captured in the middle of a ritual, and Damon needed to stop every few minutes so he would not fall.
Ester hated every stop.
Not out of impatience. Out of fear.
She did not say that, of course. Ester turned fear into orders, medicine, and medical threats. But Damon could already recognize the difference. When she was merely irritated, her sentences had poison. When she was afraid, they became short.
"Breathe."
He breathed.
"Slowly."
He obeyed.
"Do not pull through the root."
"I know."
"Then stop doing it."
"I am trying."
