“Youfell from the cliff during your escape.Avlynrescued you and brought you back here.”
Hereyes seemed to gain back an ember of her fire from before, “Iwon’t apologize for that.”Thereshe was.Icouldn’t help the true, rolling laugh that escaped me.BothToriandOryxlocked their eyes on me as ifIhad gone mad.
“Hereyou are, laid up in bed on the edge of death whileIheal you back to health, and still, you must defy me.”
Hereyes shifted, that beautiful slate turning from the hard grey of the sea to something softer, like the tones of the sky as the sun just breaks the horizon in the morning.
“You…healed me?”Herface was soft, perhaps the softestIhad ever seen.Iignored her question.
“Whenyou fell, you almost completely severed your left arm.Itis still healing, but so far, we have not seen an acute infection.Thehealers were able to recover enough of the bone to set the arm back in place, and you should regain a great deal of your function.Therest of your body was battered as well, but nothing so severe as your arm.”Hereyes drifted down to her injury, andIcould see her trying to move her finger.
“No,YourHighness,”Oryxpiped in, setting his hand gently on her arm. “Youmust not move yet.Theligaments and muscles are still regrowing.”
“Yeah,Ican feel that,” she huffed as her face turned red from the pain.
“Nowthat you are awake, we can give you more potions that will significantly speed the recovery of your arm, as well as your ribs and other injuries.Ihave one here for you, and one for the pain.”Heheld up two small cups that smelled of the herbs he had been crushing.
Torilooked toOryx, and spoke with a tone more vulnerable thanIcould bear, “Itwon’t put me back to sleep, will it?”
“No,YourHighness, although you should rest, we will let your body decide when to sleep.Thisshould just reduce the pain of your bones regrowing.”Shegrunted at that, the pain obviously front and center of her mind.
Shemoved to lift her head to take the medicine, but she couldn’t.Beforeshe could object,Iunlaced my fingers from hers, and slid my hand under her head to help lift her.Shegroaned again, but then drank the potions down, gagging.
“Yes, they taste terrible, butIfind it’s better not to mention that first.”Oryxwinked at her.Thebeast in my chest stirred, butItamped him down.
“Thanksfor that,” she mumbled as she drank some water offered by the healer.
Ilowered her back to the bed softly, and she locked her eyes with mine, something in her gazeIcouldn’t read.
“Oryxtells me you will need to be in bed at least a week more for your injuries to heal well.”Istood, knowingOryxwould have much work to do, andIwould likely now only get in the way as a few of his assistants entered the room.AsImoved away,Isaw her flexing the fingers on the handI’dheld, as if adjusting to their emptiness.
“You’releaving?”Thevulnerability there cut straight into me.Ilonged to hold her in my arms and tell her she would be safe with me, andIwould stay until the breaking of the world.ButIneeded her to fight.
“Youare my ward.Andmy responsibility.Iwill be here to provide whatever assistance is needed in your healing.”Thetiniest of smirks crossed her lips, “Good,Ican’t wait to see you in one of those little outfits.”Itruly laughed again asIstepped out of the room, comforted by the embersIcould see kindling in her again.
Chapter30
Tori
Thewarmth that filled my heart at hearing the king’s laugh almost made up for the completely agonizing pain coming from my arm and the rest of me.Whilemy body felt like it had been pressed under a giant vice, my arm flared with hot white pain any timeIeven thought about moving it.Itwas the muscles regrowing, and a good sign, according toOryx.Ithink we had very different perspectives on this.
ButIwas happy to be awake.Iwas toldIhad been unconscious for six days, and the thought made me sick.HowcloseImust have been to death, and how luckyItruly was to be alive.Ihad longed for freedom, but the freedom of death was something else.Itold myself over and over thatIdidn’t want that.Ialmost believed it.
Intruth,Ihad thoughtIwas dead, my coma had been filled with dreams of flight, whichIhad admitted to the king.ButIhadn’t told him of the other dreams.Everythinghad been blurred and dark, butIhad felt warm as if wrapped in a tight embrace, supported and floating weightlessly.Adeep voice had called to me, calling mehome.NotNiata, but my true home, where my soul was full.Ithought if this was death, then perhaps it wasn’t so bad.
Butwith every hourIwas awake, the warm feeling drifted further and further away, the way that dreams fled the morning light.Forthat was all they had been, dreams.NowallIfelt was the slow and steady pain of my body regrowing itself.Oryxwas kind, a half-fae male knowledgeable in medicinal herbs and healing.Hisshort-cut red hair bobbed around the room all day as he worked, gently moving me to change my bandages and check my wounds.Healso had me run a series of strange tests, holding a candle in front of my eyes, and asking me questions about various events in my life.ItseemedIpassed, as he smiled and jotted some things down in his little notebook.
Whateverhe was happy about,Iwasn’t in on it.Hehesitated but let me look at my injured arm when he changed my bandages.Justabove the elbow was the gaping wound whereIhad fallen on a sharp rock.Angryred and purple striations still ran up and down from the injury, and huge stitches still held my arm together.Icould see scar tissue already forming, and every time he rewrapped it, the redness seemed to decrease.Theworst part was when he massaged the wound to prevent too much scar tissue from building up.Thatsent lightning from my head to my toes, andIground my teeth to keep from screaming.Itdidn’t always work.
Mybody seemed to only grow more painful.Thepotions helped a bit, but not enough for me to fall back asleep.Partof me was grateful for the pain for grounding me back to the earth, but after being awake almost a full day,Icould hearOryxand his assistants whispering worriedly.
Theking had stopped by a few times already to check on me, but not much had changed in my recovery, so he stepped out quickly.Thelittle voice inside me bubbled up gleefully whenever he would appear, butIlet the pain drown it out.Itwas easy to do.ButIcouldn’t stop thinking of the feeling of his hand intertwined in mine whenIhad first woken, holding on to me as if he could anchor me to this plane.
Oryxhad called him in again sinceIcould not sleep, whispering to him and making frantic hand gestures that did nothing to calm me.Isaw him turn towards me, that regal nose cutting a handsome profile against the light of the apothecary table.Hewalked towards me then, andIcursed my stomach for clenching.Butit didn’t feel like it was clenching with fear.
Heknelt down beside my bed, his face very close to my own.
“Can’tsleep?Oryxtells me you have nothing to fear from sleeping now.Thetests he ran today indicate your brain is almost completely healed from the bruising.”
