Chapter 558: While She Sleeps

It took a while.

Sam didn’t stop all at once. The crying tapered slowly, the sobs thinning out until she was just breathing unevenly against Brynhild’s shoulder. The snow around them had packed further into their clothes but no one mentioned it.

Her breathing still came out unevenly but she was calmer than before.

Ronan crouched in front of her. "Let’s get you inside, yeah?" He said softly. "You’ve been out here long enough and while we are all used to the cold, it doesn’t mean we should hurt ourselves and get frostbite."

Sam considered that for a moment. Then she nodded.

Ronan helped her to her feet. She was unsteady for a second, her legs stiff from the cold and from sitting so long on frozen ground. Ronan kept a hand under her arm until she found her balance.

Beside them, Orion had moved to Brynhild, offering his hand. Brynhild took it without argument, which said enough about how her body was feeling. She straightened slowly, brushing snow from her clothes with her free hand.

Then Orion spoke.

"I have to leave now, I need to inform Sophia." He told them.

Brynhild turned her head toward him.

"She’s supposed to be resting," she said. "Telling her now will only make her worry."

"I know that." Orion told her.

"Then perhaps wait until—"

Orion ran a hand through his hair. "She’ll worry anyway," he said. "But the thing is... I’d rather tell her myself. We all know Sophia. She’s stubborn. And if she found out that I knew and didn’t tell her..." He shivered faintly. "It would be me in trouble. I can only imagine what she would do to teach me a lesson."

Brynhild let out a quiet laugh at that.

Ronan grinned. "So you’re scared of my sister-in-law?"

Orion gave him a look. "I wouldn’t say I’m scared of her per se." He said. "It’s more like I’m scared of what she would do if she found out I kept things from her. And I’m not just talking about Tobias’s injury but also the Silver Creek Pack. Imagine when she finds out and confronts me and then I tell her that I did it all because I didn’t want her to worry, when she’s already annoyed that I treat her like an egg due to a twisted ankle."

Sam’s lips tugged into a small smile.

"I can’t imagine it." Ronan told him.

"That’s because she’s kind to you all but not me." Orion argued.

Brynhild laughed at that. "It’s funny actually, how she’s sweet to everyone else and hardly insults them but would call you an oaf..."

"...or an ogre." Ronan added with a laugh.

Brynhild nodded. "That too."

Orion rolled his eyes. "I’m special." He told them with a smile.

"To her at least." Ronan said. "That’s one way of making yourself feel good."

"Anyway, I have to go too. I need to check on Raina. Goddess knows if she has woken up already fussing for Lysander."

Orion gave Sam a look. "He’ll be okay." He told her softly.

Sam nodded, choosing to trust in Lysander.

---

Orion moved through the compound without stopping.

He reached his home and pushed the door open carefully.

The house was quiet.

He moved inside and pulled the door closed behind him.

The main room was dim, the fire in the hearth burned down lower than he’d left it. He crossed toward the bedroom immediately.

Sophia was asleep.

She had made it most of the way under the blanket, her injured ankle resting awkwardly to one side. Her hair had fallen across her face. One hand was curled loosely near her chin.

He had expected to find her reading. She usually did, especially when she couldn’t move around and had nothing to occupy the restlessness she carried. A book propped against her knees, reading until her eyes gave out.

But he wasn’t surprised either, especially after what happened in the council hall.

Orion moved to the hearth first.

The wood had burned low, the warmth it gave already beginning to thin out at the edges of the room. He crouched and picked up a few more logs from the stack beside it and fed them to the fire. The flames took quickly, reaching up and steadying into something strong and even. The warmth pushed back out into the room.

He straightened and then adjusted the window next.

Then he crossed to the bed.

He was quiet about it, careful not to wake her up. He reached her and crouched down, staring at her for a moment.

She looked peaceful when she slept. Her mouth was opened a bit and no matter how many times he stared at her, he was always struck by how beautiful she was. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

He reached down and brushed the hair from her face carefully and quietly. He tucked it back gently and then just stayed there a moment, his hand still.

She sighed into his touch like she knew instinctively that he was there with her even while asleep.

Orion smiled at that and then he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He stayed for a beat longer and then he reached for the blanket and adjusted it, pulling it higher, making sure it covered her properly and didn’t leave her ankle exposed to the chill.

He stood up then. He knew there was every probability she would likely sleep for hours, especially because her body needed it.

He would tell her everything when she woke up. And he hoped that by then they would have gotten news regarding Tobias’s condition, and good news at that.

He turned from the bed and moved back through the room, his hand finding the door handle. He opened it quietly, stepped through, and pulled it closed behind him.

He planned on making his way to the medical facility, to wait until Lysander was done with Tobias, but then remembered that they were putting together the results from the test. He would have to go to the office and also he needed to check up on the Silver Creek members, though he could send Madam Tyler to assist him on that.

There was no way he or Ronan were going to be able to just sit and wait until Lysander finished the surgery. They had work to do after all, and Ethan was going to get grumpy again, not that Orion cared.