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Bloody hell.She hadn't meant to share any personal details with him. She didn't want to give any signals whatsoever that she wanted to have him as her fated lord in truth.
Then she remembered how he didn't yet know he was her fated one, which calmed her a little.
River tilted his head. "A son, huh? Well, your heart's beating, so you must've found your fated one at some point and had a son right away since you still look so young."
Did he sound a bit cross at that?
She pushed it aside. She couldn't outright lie or she'd feel debilitating pain like all vampires did. And Nora was too tired to try walking the line between truth and lies. "Ambrose is fifty-six years old. I had him long ago, when I was quite young, before I entered my frozen state."
"I see," he said quietly.
Did he? Was it the same in his time? Were female vampires sometimes sold as breeders before they entered their frozen state? It was when they were the most fertile.
Something Nora had hated for each and every child she'd grown in her belly and had been wrenched away from her.
After what seemed like hours but had only been seconds, River's tired voice garnered her attention again. "Just let me heal you, Nora. I've been through some shit over the last few months, things I hope I never have to remember, and being able to heal someone again…well, fuck, it'll make me feel like me again, if that makes any sense?"
She glanced at him. Dedicating herself to learning about healing and then later helping victims similar to herself had given Nora a sense of purpose. Between those and her son, it'd given her a reason to keep moving forward and to find some light among the darkness of her past.
Even if she didn't know exactly what River had endured, his injuries told her it had been bad, quite bad. If healing was such an essential part of who he was—and she suspected it to be true—it could be the light he needed right in this moment.
She played with the button on the cuff of her sleeve. It would mean revealing her hidden scars, though. At least the ones she was most ashamed of.
He asked softly, "If you could eat one thing every day, what would it be? And don't say blood because that's a shitty answer."
She should be appalled at his word choices, although somehow the more she listened to River, the more it seemed likehim, whatever that meant. "Chocolate. Before entering my frozen state, chocolate was my favorite thing."
He grunted. "Then I'll ensure my sister finds you some, after I heal you. I'd do it myself but…" He gestured at his body. "I can't even get up." The corner of his mouth ticked up. "And if this is the past, then I have no money either. So hopefully mooching off my sister won't bother you."
She didn't know what "mooching" was, but she quickly pushed it aside, like she did with Yesenia when Nora could understand the general meaning. "I know this must be difficult for you, suddenly being in the past, as it was for your sister at first too. But my brother will help you until you're well. Then I'm sure he or the fae witch Dark Lord will assist you in setting up a practice. After that, you'll be independent again."
River frowned. "I'm almost afraid to ask about a Dark Lord. But that can wait." He put out his hand. "For now, I'd better dust off my rusty powers again, right? Otherwise I'll never have a chance at opening a practice."
Nora should say no. She didn't owe him anything.
And yet, his eyes were earnest and gentle. A vast improvement over when they'd been filled with hate and pain a little while ago.
He's a doctor from a different time, Nora. Maybe he won't judge you like the others.
Taking a deep breath, she undid her cuff and offered her arm to River.
He slowly pushed up her sleeve and paused when he revealed the thick scar tissue around her wrist, from when she'd been manacled to a bed during the times when her latest buyer had needed to fill her with his seed.
He lightly traced the scars, but then moved to push her sleeve up further, revealing where she'd banged her arm.
Then he closed his eyes and she waited for him to use his magic, never noticing how his touch didn't make her want to run screaming.
* * *
River was doinghis best to hide the anger churning inside him. Some fucker had restrained Nora at some point, long enough for her skin to scar.
And given how thick and extensive the scars were around her wrists, it had been done more than once—the tissue becoming rougher with each new wound.
While history had been tougher for females, and he knew that logically, it was damned well difficult to see it firsthand.
He burned to ask who'd done it and see if they were still alive. Because once River was healthy again and built up his muscle, he wanted to hunt them down and beat the shit out of them.
But it'd taken a hell of a lot of coaxing just to get Nora to reveal her wrist and let him help her. He wasn't going to do anything to spook her.
