AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Alaric was just telling me all about Valin,” she said, her brows raising, and lips pressed into a hard line of a smile.
“Was he?” I asked, shooting Alaric a cheeky look, “About how incredibly super great the long lost warrior is, I assume?”
Alaric returned my joking glare with one of his own. Cleared his throat, “The queen and I don’t agree on the subject.”
But I was glad we didn’t have to agree. I accepted that I could be wrong about Valin, and I think Alaric accepted that he too could be wrong. For now we would simply agree to disagree, but it would be fun to tease him a little…
“Did Aisling tell you that she examined Valin? And that his mind held no injury that would account for his loss of memory,” I said sweetly, waiting oh so patiently for a response.
Aisling nodded, “It’s true,” she said, “And just this evening, I spoke with Loris who couldn’t think of a single legitimate reason why his memory hasn’t returned.”
Surprise flickered over Alaric’s features. His lips pursed. He opened his mouth to retort, but…
“Would you mind waiting outside?” I asked him, taking his shoulder into my hand to guide him. He startled at the contact, coming back to himself with one of his rare crooked half smiles, realizing I was only toying with him. I leaned into him. “I can’t focus when you’re in the room,” I whispered cruelly against his neck.
His back went rigid. The soft skin on the back of his neck pricked. He swallowed, nodded once and turned to Aisling. He extended his hand, and she grasped it in her own, “Aisling,” he said, “A pleasure. I apologize for not introducing myself properly the first time we met.”
By Aisling’s expression, I could tell she thought it odd Alaric decided to formally introduce himself right then. But she didn’t know what he was doing. She didn’t know what his Grace was.
He was reading her. Sifting through her emotions and her intentions. Making sure they were pure and posed no threat to his queen.
I quirked a brow at him, and he gave me one slight nod. It was safe. He would leave. But he wouldn’t go far.
“I can see why you like them,” Aisling said, tilting her head towards the now closed door.
My shoulders tensed, “What do you mean?”
Aisling looked away, turning to take a seat in front of the low table, “Never mind, it’s really not my business,” she said.
No, it wasn’t her business. And though my romantic choices would upset my court a trifle less than my Graces, there would still be outrage. Uproar. They expected me to take a mate—onemate, and to produce an heir. If they knew my intentions, or mylackof intention to choose one, they wouldn’t be happy. Because I would never choose just one of my males. And I would never bond myself to a pompous noble just to appease my people.
One day, I would have to admit it. I’d have to tell them—tell everyone. But I wasn’t ready yet.
“Shall we begin?” I said instead, avoiding the masked question in her polite words.
Aisling lifted the hem of her skirt, and I caught a flash of bare ivory skin and scuffed leather boots before she drew a dagger from the left one.
I jumped back, “What are you doing?”
She shook her head at me, a smirk twitching at the corner of her mouth, “Relax,” she said gently, “How do you expect to learn how to heal if there’s no injury to heal?”
That made sense. Though I didn’t expect her to drag the blade across her palm. Didn’t expect to see her wince at the pain, or to see the bright, vibrant crimson of her blood well up and drip, drip onto the polished wood floor.
I bit my lip, “You didn’t have to—”
“Hurry up before I bleed all over the floor,” she said, setting the dagger down on the low table at her front.
I rushed over and knelt before her, “What do I do?”
She grabbed my hand and placed it into her bloody one. It was warm and wet and made my stomach turn. She flinched. “Now focus,” she said, “Like you did with Valin—like you did with Kade.”
I blew out a long breath and sealed my eyes shut, drawing on that inner pool of warmth—not the fire. No. The other kind, the warmth that’s glowing and bright and spreads like the light of the sun when it’s just starting to rise. Aisling grasped my hand tighter and the healing Grace bloomed all once in my core.
It spread and writhed, seeking, but not finding.
“Find the injury,” Aisling’s voice broke through the barrier of light in my mind. I focused. Searched through the light, and within moments, I found the dark spot. Like a small dark tear in an otherwise pristine golden tapestry. I wrapped the light around it, sewing it closed with nothing but my own will.
I couldn’t say how long it took, but when I blinked myself back into myself—into the here and now, Aisling was looking at me with pride. Beaming.
