Aurin nodded, his eyes shining but no tears spilled. “Yes.”
Salem sighed. “Thank the gods.”
Aurin chuckled and sniffled. “Well, yes. You can thank Cern. He saved you. I don’t know what he did, exactly. I mean, I was here. I watched it. I saw the whole thing, but I can’t explain it.” He offered a sad smile. “He made this paste from different plants and mud, and he painted you with it. He put a crown ofherbs of some kind on your head, and he did some weird thing with his necklace pendant. You know the silver thing he wears? He chanted for hours.” His eyes welled again. “He worked very hard.”
The paste.
“That explains the smell,” Salem murmured. He could barely keep his eyes open.
“I’m so used to it now. I can’t smell it anymore.” Aurin tried to smile as he brushed Salem’s hair off his forehead. “You need to sleep some more. Close your eyes. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You need to swim,” Salem mumbled, fighting sleep the best he could.
“I’m okay,” he said, cupping Salem’s cheek. “Sleep, my love.”
Salem used all the strength he could muster to pull the blanket back. “...For you,” he whispered.
Aurin smiled and clambered into the bed, melding himself to Salem’s side. He fit so perfectly, but more than that, Salem could feel himself improving by Aurin’s touch alone. He was so tired, so sore all over, he knew his injuries must have been extensive.
He also knew Cern could heal him.
Cern could do a lot of things.
Except...
“Your consortium knows about me,” Salem mumbled.
Aurin stilled for a beat before he let out a measured breath. “Yes,” he said.
Salem was fast losing the fight to stay awake. “Tobin knows what I am. He saw inside my head.”
“Don’t you worry about them right now. You need to focus on getting better and let me worry about that.”
“But—”
“But nothing,” Aurin said, his voice soft but stern. “They’ll protect you. No one will come for you. I’ll make sure of it.”
Chapter
Two
AURIN
Salem improved greatlyover the next two days.
He was sitting up in bed now, eating and drinking, which Cern reassured Aurin was a very good sign indeed. He was sleeping less and smiling more.
He hadn’t been up yet, though. And he hadn’t morphed at all. Cern had warned against it, but Salem said he doubted he could anyway. He didn’t have the energy, cellular or otherwise. And the idea of his bones rebreaking instead of morphing was a reality he’d rather not endure.
Lusca had done so much damage.
To his organs, to his cartilage, to his brain.
He’d been lucky to be in cephamorphic form for the most part. If he’d been human or cat, his bones would have been pulverised, either from the way she gripped him, squeezed and shook him, or from the immense pressure of the ocean at that depth.
He’d tried morphing into different ocean creature forms, but as the life drained out of him, the ability to morph did too. He’d reverted to his cephamorphic state because it was the most fluid, so he’d sustain less damage as she’d thrashed him around so violently.
Changing back into human form had almost killed him. Aurin could only guess Salem had chosen his human form once on the boat so he could be treated. Kellan was a doctor, not a vet. Or maybe so he’d fit in, not knowing what they’d face when they got back into Tenebrae. In the end, it had been the right choice.
