Hope

I stared at him with round eyes, terrified that drinking in such haste would trigger another episode of coughing for him. Fortunately, he seemed to have handled it well enough, and he simply leaned back onto the pillows defeatedly after he was done.

Was feeding him really that bad? I took the bowl from his hand speechlessly, rinsing it clean and refilled it with water. "Do you want a candied date?" I asked as I passed him the bowl again. I remembered how bitter that potion was, and I had always chewed a candied date afterward to cover up the taste.

He took a sip of the water. "I'm not a child," he said flatly.

He sure acted like one though. Even more headstrong and impossible to reason with than most … But I kept that thought to myself. Putting everything away, I reheated the bed-warming stones and replaced them, then slid under the blankets next to him.