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Fen grinned. "You scared to see my breasts?"
"I need to be able to concentrate," Khan replied with a grin. "And I thought to preserve your modesty."
"I'm surprised I have any left after dealing with Ankharian fashion." Fen took the robe, and Khan turned his back. Fen stripped off her shirt and put the robe on backward so she could expose her back properly.
"How is your pain this morning?" Khan asked. He removed the patches, and Fen tried not to think of his hands on her skin.
"It's more like an ache now. Whatever Shala has been using on them has really helped."
"Shala infuses her ointments with magic, so they work fast. You are almost completely healed. These stitches can come out tomorrow." Khan cleaned the first arrow wound, leaning in close enough that his breath tickled her skin. "I was more worried about the magic on the arrows than the wounds themselves."
"There was magic on the arrows? Why didn't you tell me?" Fen tried to think of a way to make such a thing possible.
"Because you were under its enchantment, and then when I managed to wake you, I was more concerned with getting you here and not upsetting you," Khan replied, wiping at the wound before smearing some of Shala's ointment on it.
"Upsetting me? Why would I be upset?" Fen's back straightened. "Khan, what was the enchantment, and how did you break it? Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm…I'm fine. A little shaken up, I suppose." Khan removed the patch over the second wound. "The enchantment was holding you in a nightmare loop, keeping you asleep so that you would eventually starve and die if your wounds didn't kill you first. With Shala's help, I went into your nightmares."
Fen's heart started to race at the possibilities. She knew he was a powerful magician, but walking into another's dreams was a rare ability. "What did you see, Khan?"
"The raid," he replied, voice going soft. He told her about walking through Visby, recounting features of the buildings and the statues dedicated to the gods. He even knew how it smelled. She froze when he told her about waking her up because she hadn't been doing it on her own.
Fen had never known what had quickly brought her out of her dreams that night. Could he have… She shut down the thought. Some things would drive a person mad if they questioned them too much.
Khan's hand rested in between her shoulder blades. "I saw your gods, Fen. Havi and Freya."
The hollow grief in Fen's chest began to ache. "Havi! I never told you that name."
"I know. It's what Freya called him." Khan slowly told her about the conversation he had overheard, how the gods had made a deal when it came to her, and how Havi had walked away from her.
Fen curled in on herself, a sob escaping her before she could try to hold it in. Khan's arms came around her, pulling her close.
"He left me for abet? I've devoted my entire life to him and Freya. Why would they do this?" she cried, smothering her tears into his chest.
"I don't know. I didn't hear what the deal was about, only that he agreed to it. Freya has been watching over you still. Perhaps this is why you have been able to feel her close," Khan replied, rubbing her arm in soothing strokes. "Don't cry, my Fen. We will figure it out. We found each other, didn't we? The gods might have sent you to Aaru, but we chose to become friends and protect each other."
"I've only ever trusted in my gods, Khan." Fen wiped at her cheeks. "I don't know what to believe anymore."
"I know. I suppose we will just have to wait and see what our fates have in store for us," Khan said, stroking her hair. "How can I help with this?"
Fen looked into his dark eyes, a part of her softening that he would ask. "Help me with my back so that we can go out? If I stay here, I will wallow, and I don't want to do that. Show me some of the city?"
Khan kissed the tears off her cheeks. "I can do that."
* * *
Fen was still shaken by the time they were ready to leave Sargon's villa. Khan had coaxed her into eating some fruit and warm flatbread with honey. Mint tea had soothed her ravaged throat and churning stomach.
She had no idea why the gods would abandon her, but Khan was right; they had chosen to be friends and protect each other. The gods hadn't pushed her to take arrows for him; that had been her choice alone.
Khan was tending to her, mindful of anything she might need. Fen couldn't help but remember the twin's comment about him fussing like a worried hen. Fen had never experienced much nurturing, not even from her own mother, and found the experience so endearing that her bruised heart lifted.
Khan knew her wounds prevented her from being able to tend to her hair, so he had sat behind her and braided it while she ate. Sargon had looked in on them and hadn't even raised a brow over it, as if men dressing women's hair was something done all the time in Atrahasis.
"Do you want to walk or ride?" Khan asked her as they stepped out of the door of the villa.
"Walk. My body will explode if I don't wear off some of this energy," Fen replied.
