Chapter 18
As Cherry stood before the doors to her quarters and asked the guards permission to enter, she felt as she were already dead. Her legs seemed barely able to carry her. Her heart pounding, the only sign that she was still alive, she waited for the guards to open the door. Swaying, she entered the room. Merlon was lying on the bed with his eyes closed. She didn’t know whether he was sleeping or just resting. He did not move and she didn’t have the courage to say a word, for fear that her voice would let her down.
She approached the bed slowly and at last stood still in front of it. Normally Merlon’s face was relaxed when he was asleep, but now there was a look of pain in his familiar traits. She tentatively reached out and stopped just before his face. She was trembling. Tears f
