He understood exactly what kind of will kept her sitting there. He had known that same desperate strength when he had tried to save Eli after the ambush. The memory returned with brutal clarity, broken breathing, dark earth beneath him, the helplessness of knowing there was nothing more he could do. Wade tightened his jaw and forced the images back down where he had kept them buried for years. Then Taza moved suddenly, his small body went rigid as a violent shiver ran through him from head to toe.
Seiya bent over him at once, one hand pressing against his chest while the other swept the hair away from his face. Wade dropped to his knees beside them and placed his palm against the boy's head. He's fighting the fever, Wade murmured, watching the weak muscles tighten beneath his skin. A few moments later, Taza dragged in one sharp breath. Then his body loosened again.
He went limp, but he was still alive. Seiya released a trembling breath. She had been holding it far too long. Wade grabbed another cloth and soaked it in cool water. We have to draw more heat out of him, he said, laying it carefully against the back of Taza's neck.
If he can make it through tonight, he's got a chance. Seiya closed her eyes for one brief second. It was the first time Wade saw the edge of her control begin to crack. Then she gathered herself again and raised her head. Tell me what to do," she said. "
Whatever it takes, I'll do it. There was no pleading in Seiya's voice. What came through instead was pure resolve, hard and steady as iron. Wade respected that kind of strength. Keep his head raised," he told her. "
Make sure he swallows whenever he can. She obeyed without hesitation. Minutes stretched into hours. Night settled so heavily over the cabin that the window showed nothing but blackness. Taza's fever still refused to break, though his breathing had begun to steady little by little.
It was not enough to say he was safe, but it was enough to ease the immediate fear that they might lose him before sunrise. Seiya pulled the blanket more securely around her son, then looked at Wade for the first time since the boy's violent shiver. You never accepted what I offered you earlier. There was no confusion in her voice now, only a need to understand. Wade let out a tired breath, leaned back against the chair, and dragged one hand through his hair.
You said it because you were afraid," he replied. " A decent man has no business accepting something offered that way. Seiya let those words settle. She studied him as though he were speaking a language she had only just begun to understand. She had expected conditions, demands, some sign of what price he intended to collect once her son survived.
Instead, she found restraint, care, and something she had not seen in a very long time. Concern without a hidden purpose behind it. That realization unsettled her more deeply than any threat could have. It forced her to look at the man sitting across from her in a different way. Wade turned his attention back to the stove, keeping the fire strong enough to warm the cabin, but low enough that it would not add more heat around the boy.
Every movement remained deliberate, measured, careful. Without realizing it, Wade had slipped back into a role he had abandoned years earlier. For once, he was no longer simply a drifter who had chosen solitude. He was a man responsible for someone besides himself. By the time a faint wash of blue began creeping through the window, Taza was still breathing, still fighting, still there.