"Ah," I looked up at him and smiled. "This isn't my blood."
Fenric didn't look comforted. If anything, the sight of me sitting calmly in a pool of gore with a serene smile made him look like he'd just seen a ghost. He reached me in two hurried strides, dropping to his knees so hard the grass divots flew. His large, scarred hands hovered over me, shaking, terrified to touch me and terrified not to.
"Arinya," he choked out, his red eyes darting frantically over the jagged tear on my arm and the blood splattered across my tunic. "When I heard there was a snake in the nursery... I... my heart nearly stopped. I thought I had failed you. I thought—"
"Don't worry," I interrupted, my voice sounding strangely hollow even to my own ears. I gestured vaguely at the decapitated heap a few yards away with a limp hand. "She's dead now. I killed her."
