Chapter 96

Arya

Tears start to run down my cheeks. I wipe it furiously and look at Gammie. “That’s not . . . that’s not good. That’s not acceptable. We have to do something about it. We can’t possibly just sit here and do nothing while he’s. . . .”

Dying. I meant to say dying. It’s the truth and I can’t deny that, but it’s the hardest thing I have to say and for the life of me, I can’t voice it out.

Nancy steps forward and puts her arm around me, patting me softly and whispering comforting things that I can no longer hear.

“She’s right,” Duke Basset puts in. His eyes are shining and his voice is unsteady, but I can see him trying to keep it together. “Leaving him to it is just cruel and wrong. You’re a skilled sorceress from what I heard. Is there something we can do to aid him at least?”

Gammie looks at him and to me, her wrinkled face contorting in thought and confusion. For a while the only sound in the room is the heart monitor, then she speaks.

“There really is nothing we can do,” she