The Warden's condition worsened through the night, and by the time dawn broke over the camp, her breathing had gone so shallow that Shen Yue sat beside her continuously, checking her pulse every few minutes with growing tension.
"She's not going to last much longer," Shen Yue said quietly, pulling Wei Liang aside as the others broke camp around them. "Hours, maybe. Not days."
"Does she know," Wei Liang asked.
"She's known for a while, I think. Longer than she's let on."
He found her awake when he approached, eyes tracking him weakly as he knelt beside her bedroll. "You should be resting," he said.
"I'll have plenty of time for that soon enough," she said, something almost wry in her exhausted voice. "There's something I need to tell you before it's too late to matter."
Xu's attention
