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Jasmine
WE QUICKLY SET UP Afire to ward off the chill of the forest. Brigid and I had a change of dry clothes in our packs, and we put them on while Kieran and Dearen went into the woods to hunt. I sat beside Brigid, resting until the aching of my muscles calmed down. Fiona stayed with us and worked on the fire.
“How are you feeling?” I asked Brigid.
“Better,” she replied.
Her eyes were closed still, but she tried to straighten where she lay.
“Don’t!” I said, urgency flaring in me. “You should rest.”
“I feel fine, really,” Brigid replied. “My eyes feel weird, but nothing else.”
Instinctually, I cautiously reached within her. She was right. The swelling of her head had reversed. A faint mark would be left where the river rocks hit, but the wound was healed completely. The only clue to the horrible injury was the dried blood left behind.
I helped her sit. She leaned against the tree trunk behind her and opened her eyes to guide her movement. She flinched when she looked toward the fire that Fiona was setting up. Her eyes narrowed.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Does it hurt to look at the fire, too?”
“Don’t guilt yourself over it,” Brigid replied, forcing a smile on her lips. “You jumped in after me. You saved me. I don’t remember any of it, but I was under the water, unconscious. If it weren’t for you, I would be dead.”
“She likes blaming herself for things that aren’t her fault,” Fiona said, dropping a thick branch on the fire and turning to us as the fire crackled. The flames engulfed the branch, illuminating the forest behind her. “And she ignores the things that are her fault.”
If it weren’t for the little smirk that accompanied her harsh words, I would think she was scolding me.
“I told you,” I replied. “You shouldn’t trust me. The girl is...”
“We shouldn’t trust you,” Fiona repeated. “And you don’t trust us. Is that how friendships work? How can we do this if we don’t trust each other?”
“You can trust each other,” I replied. “Just not me...”
“You are glad we have a reason to stop trusting you, are you not?” Fiona asked as she walked over to Brigid and me. Before she resumed her words, Fiona sat across from Brigid and put her back to the fire. Brigid stopped narrowing her eyes as soon as the fire was out of her sight. “First, we were not supposed to trust you because you were a human changeling. Then, it was because you are a light fae. Now, it is because a girl is haunting your mind. Or is it because you want to feel less guilty about never trusting anyone other than yourself?”
“No,” I replied. “No... I...”
“You did not tell us about the girl and her access to the weapon,” Fiona started counting as I felt my cheeks burning. “You did not tell us you have healing magic. I don’t have to think too hard to remember the many instances where you showed us that you do not trust us enough to share your secrets.”
She was right. And if she had gone back in time to remember, she would have found many more examples. I knew.
“She trusts us,” Brigid intervened when it became clear that I could not defend myself. “She just tries to protect us all.”
There was a brief pause. I could not find the words to explain myself.
“I know,” Fiona said.
I looked up at her with confusion.
“Then, why did you say she doesn’t trust us?” Brigid pushed.
Fiona smirked. “I was trying to guilt her into including us in her plans next time she decides to do something.”
Brigid chuckled. Fiona’s expression had softened as though she had been joking all along. I could not be sure if she had been.
“I trust you,” I mumbled.
“I know,” Fiona replied, reaching forward and patting me on the knee. “I lived with monsters for ten years. It turned me into a fearful mess when the monsters attacked my home. You never held it against me. You did trust me to get a hold of myself and thanks to you, I did, albeit with a little delay. Yet, you never mentioned it again.”
I knew what she was talking about. When the attack at the ball happened, Fiona had been too scared to fight the monsters at first. She had come to me, crying and frightened.
