She was scared. And hurt by my question.
I put my hand on her back, lightly stroking her spine. Her cheeks flushed a beautiful pink at the contact, and I continued to rub comforting circles.
“I trust you, Faylinn. And no matter what happens, you’re incredibly smart and capable.” She smiled softly at me, some of her defensiveness melting away at my touch and words. Alois chose that moment to come around the corner and he raised his brows at my hand.
I dropped it from her back like she was on fire and took a healthy step away.
Alois, thankfully, didn’t say anything, he just looked at the two of us.
“Well?” he asked, crossing his arms across his chest. Somehow, he was fully dressed and completely put together.
Does he ever sleep?I was starting to think that the answer to that question was no.
Faylinn didn’t speak up, so I took the opportunity to fill Alois in. He nodded as I explained the situation before unlocking the door and ushering us inside.
The room was dark, a low fire lit in the fireplace. The steady rise and fall of the sheets over the lump on the mattress was the only sign of life in the room. We approached the bed cautiously, and I saw Faylinn start to fidget with the notebook in her hands.
She sucked in a breath when she saw the Earth Mage—Ben—in the bed. He was smaller than when he first arrived, his muscleshad atrophied from lack of use. His skin was pale and dry, his lips cracked, and there was a steady stream of blood that leaked from his nose and ears. Faylinn cautiously reached out to brush his hair away from his forehead, an almost inaudible whimper leaving her.
I watched as she delicately wiped the blood from his nose and ears, softly murmuring something as she did. And my heart ached.
It ached for Faylinn and the loss she had already endured.
It ached for the love she clearly held for Ben.
And it ached for me, for the longing I felt for a woman who wasn’t—and never would be—mine.
I rubbed my sternum, trying to soothe the organ underneath, and stepped back from the bed, giving Faylinn and Ben a modicum of privacy.
Alois cleared his throat, his gaze jumping from me to Fay. I shook my head slightly, I didn’t want to talk about it and there was nothing there to talk about, anyway.
Faylinn’s head shot up like she forgot we were in the room.
“What do you need, Rune Master?” Alois asked, not unkindly.
“An Earth Vessel,” she said confidently. “I have everything else that I will need.” She removed her hands from Ben’s head and placed the notebook on the table next to the bed, open to the page she showed me. She procured a knife from a sheath on her thigh, and I noticed that it was etched with runes.
It looked old, though the craftsmanship was impeccable. It was something I’d never seen before, and I knew that it piqued Alois’ interest as well.
So many secrets.
Alois spun on his heel, his gaze connecting with mine before he left the room.
Yes, we’d be discussing those secrets soon enough.
The silence in the room was deafening without Alois, and I sunk into a chair near the fireplace, content to just watch her work.
That’s all I’d ever be able to do, once her love was awake again. Just watch her work from afar.
“Why do you need an Earth Vessel, Faylinn?” I asked. She stopped her preparations to regard me, her expression shifted, and she looked almost guilty. My heart raced for a moment, afraid of her answer. “Faylinn,” I tried again, my voice harder, “why do you need an Earth Vessel?”
She opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by the arrival of Alois and a servant girl. She was younger, probably in her mid-twenties, and her eyes were wild. She was dressed for sleep, her threadbare nightgown doing little to hide her frame.
“W-what is happening?” she croaked, her shaking hands held tight to the end of her auburn hair and her golden eyes flicked about from Alois to me to Faylinn. Her eyes widened impossibly further when she noticed the knife in Faylinn’s hand and she started to shake, slowly backing up toward the door.
“Wait!” Faylinn called, dropping the knife with a clatter on the night table as she reached for the girl. Her hand closed around the girl’s wrist, halting her progress. “What’s your name?” Faylinn asked softly.
“A-Asha,” the girl’s voice cracked, and Faylinn gave her an encouraging smile, gently petting her hair.
