"They're good at that. Sometimes I think they try to put on shows for me to cheer me up." Not since Adam had left, of course. They'd chosen to keep the priestess company instead of him. He should be angry over that but he was too tired to feel that kind of emotion.

Alec wasn't sure how to answer Adam's comment about dying. There didn't seem to be a right thing to say. The temple needed a guardian so Alec doubted that he'd actually die, but he could be in pain for a long time. Instead of answering, he carefully lifted his hand and placing it on Adam's. The wounds were ugly. Blisters and burns along the palms with deep cuts where his fingers had wrapped around the metal. He tried to flex his fingers, but they barely moved. That scared him more than the burns or the bleeding.

"They won't heal. No matter what happened to me before, I healed. Even when I fell off the temple roof and when I - " Adam didn't want to know about that. No matter how easily his thoughts strayed from lack of sleep, he knew not to tell Adam about that time. "When I was hurt worse than that, I healed. There's been a few times when I didn't think they'd stop bleeding." He almost mentioned that his fingers didn't move when he wanted them to but Alec wasn't sure if he could voice that fear yet.