“We held a funeral rite at dawn,” she explained.
His smile dimmed. “Yes . . . I heard what happened.”
She sat down on a stool beside the cot. “She came to me. The least I could do was send her off properly.”
Conrad studied her, brown eyes steady. “Thanks to you, she’s at peace now. If her kin ever finds out, it’ll comfort them.”
JingYi lowered her eyes. Would it, truly, when their loved one died alone so far from home, her funeral attended only by strangers? But she said nothing of it, only lifted her gaze with a small smile. “You look well. I’m glad to see you sitting up.”
His smile widened. JingYi could already see how, in a few years, he’d leave a trail of broken hearts behind him.
“With your tender care, Princess, how could I not feel better?”
Her cheeks warmed. “You flatter me too much.”
“Flatter?” He clutched his chest theatrically. “Never. It’s the solemn truth. I owe you a life-debt. And my father always says a Reave never forgets a debt. My mother will insist on meeting you when she hears the tale, and my brothers too. Thank Soltharyou’re pretty much married to Lord Wulfbane, else he’d have real cause to worry. My brothers, you see?—”
“I take it,” came a dry, gravelled voice from the tent’s opening, “if you’re well enough to chatter, you’re well enough to ride, pup.”
Conrad flushed to the tips of his ears. “Merely making sure the princess knows how grateful I am, my lord wolf.”
Lord Wulfbane arched a brow as he stepped fully inside. “Commendable. But save your tales for the wedding feast. Your sire and dam can hear them then.”
“We’re leaving now?”
“Should’ve left already.” His gaze swept over the younger man, measuring. “How do you feel, pup? Can you stay upright?”
Conrad winced, fingers gingerly pressing his sternum. “My chest feels like my horse danced on it, but I’ll manage.”
JingYi turned and asked, “May I assist, my lord? I have a treatment that may help lessen the pain.”
The tent fell quiet. Conrad looked at her, hand resting over his ribs, eyes wide with no small amount of awe. “You can do that too? Is there anything youcan’tdo, Princess?”
Heat surged to JingYi’s cheeks. She lowered her gaze again and focused on taking a hold of her medicine chest.
“This is a common treatment where I’m from,” she explained. “We use it for pain relief and to support healing. I hope it will offer some comfort during our journey.”
JingYi watched Conrad turn to his guardian. The Alpha gave a subtle nod, and she took it as her cue to motion the boy to lie down on the cot.
“Are you using herbs or numbing salves to lessen the pain?” Lord Wulfbane asked. Hands clasped behind his back, his posture was relaxed, but interest shone in those blue eyes.
“Neither.” JingYi placed the chest at the end of the cot and fetched the leather sleeve. “I use these limyerite needles to directfresh blood and energy flow to the injury, which aids healing and reduces the pain.”
He rubbed his dimpled chin with his knuckles, looking quite engrossed while he studied them. “I have heard Xûen-Sarai transforms limyerite crystals into needles for healing therapy, but I have never seen the practice in person.”
“Limyerite crystals are hard materials. They are unyielding, easy to clean before and after use. It holds heat where you need it.” She turned the crystal in her fingers, wiping it with a cloth soaked with distilled rice wine. “But its true gift is absorption. It draws impurities from the flesh into its own structure, cleansing as it works.”
She caught herself speaking more words than she usually spoke at once. Her gaze darted between them. Lord Wulfbane’s eyes were fixed on the crystal, intent. Conrad, too, leaned forward slightly. She waited for the dismissal—the impatient sigh, the turned shoulder. It never came.
They were . . . listening.
JingYi began to work, heating long, slim needles over a candle flame before sliding them into pressure points across Conrad’s chest and abdomen. Lord Wulfbane observed. Silent though he was, the weight of his gaze was palpable, steady as she moved.
How strange this was—being watched without mockery or scorn. At the palace, people had only sought her out to jeer, to feel better at her expense.
When she finished, Conrad loudly declared himself a brand-new man. Apparently, the needle therapy had taken away not just yesterday’s battle pains but the aches from months of training.
Jing Yi’s lips twitched as she watched the boy stagger out of the tent.
