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‘Shit,’ I hiss, taking off the conjure that I put on her to keep her uncomfortably cold days ago.
Fuck!
Did I cause this? I’m such a bastard.
‘Her breathing is even,’ Grey notes as we watch the rise and fall of her chest. He puts a hand on my shoulder. ‘You have some healer’s training.’
I nod. ‘But not for humans.’
‘Stay with her. Do whatever you can recall that might help.’
‘Where are you going?’ I ask, my eyes not leaving her.
‘To find a healer we can pay to keep their mouth shut.’ He gestures to Kallum, whose eyes dart between her unmoving form and me.
Does he actually care what happens to her?
‘Go,’ I tell him, wondering at the concern that looks so real. ‘You’re better at finding things quickly in new places. My knowledge of her kind is limited, and I’ve never seen this before. We will need a healer, Kallum.’
He nods and follows Grey to the door, albeit reluctantly.
I hear the door close, and I bolt it behind them before I turn back to her.
I put my hand on her forehead and think she might be even hotter than before. She’s still shivering, and her body jerks with the tremors every few seconds.
Perhaps it’s a malady from some wound she’s sustained during our travels. She wouldn’t have told us if she was in pain. Would I have cared if she had complained to me? Or would I have just rolled my eyes and told her she was weak?
I grind my teeth. I should have checked. I should have paid closer attention to her. She hasn’t been right since we left Alcana. In fact, when I think about it, she’s been in steady decline since we left the city.
I unbutton her tunic gently and pull up her limp body carefully to remove it. I take her shirt off at the same time. I hold her under her arms and clutch her to me as I look over her shoulder and down at her back. There’s still bruising from when she was beaten by the City Guard, and some healed over scrapes and scratches, but no open injuries that would cause this fever. I lower her back to the bed, my eyes taking in her torso and straying to her breasts – to make sure I’m not missing any injuries, I tell myself, but besides the bruises on her healing ribs and other minor abrasions, there’s still nothing to account for her state.
I try to focus on the lessons in healing I had, but humans were barely covered. I undo her trousers and ease them down her legs, pulling them and her boots with her socks all at once. Her body is pale and punctuated with areas of purple, blue, and yellow. My brows knit together. It’s been days. I had no idea that humans heal as slowly as this. Guilt wracks me as I remember making her sleep on the floor, putting that cold conjure on her, not giving her a fair share of the food … and the night that Kallum sold her. I push the feelings away.
My eyes find the apex of her thighs. Could the demon have hurt her there? I pull her legs apart with care, but there’s no wound as far as I can see. I catch sight of a red line on her leg that trails to the back, so I turn her to her front and let out a harsh breath. Welts cross over the backs of her legs and her arse, angry and recent.
Fucking Kallum.
I knew I heard something while they were gathering wood for the fire.
I put my hand on her lower back as I inspect them closely but conclude that though they’re new, they’ve been cleaned and taken care of.
But Kal and I will be having words about this. Regardless of the wager, he shouldn’t have done this. I leave her where she is and grab some salves from my pack. One for the welts and healing cuts and the other for the bruising.
I wonder if I should perform a healing conjure over her but decide against it. With my magick so strong and my general lack of human knowledge, I’m afraid I’ll accidentally do more harm than good.
I spread the cremes over her skin and then turn her again, trying to think of her as the Harbinger. I curse my cock when still it springs to attention while I attend to her, feeling like a cunt for reacting like this both because of what she is and that she’s unwell and unconscious.
I snarl at the thought of Kallum being here. Gods only know what he’d do with her while she wasn’t able to fight back.
Except she can barely fight back when she’s awake, either. I’ve gelded her by binding her. I’ve left her helpless.
I let her be sold to that demon.
I sit on the edge of the bed and put my head in my hands. Do I hate her enough to keep hurting her? To keep letting her be hurt?
I thought I did, but the truth is, I don’t think so. I assumed it would be easy to make her suffer, but it’s felt wrong since the moment I destroyed her bracelet and hit her with that very first binding spell.
But I can’t unbind her. That’s not an option. She’ll kill us all with barely a thought after the past few days of ‘revenge’ we’ve put her through.
