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I shook my head to clear the fog and took several deep breaths to calm the racing of my heart. “What do you mean, I-I healed one of the dark spots, like you said?”
Loris dropped her mortar and approached the table, laying a tentative hand over Valin’s chest. After a second she jerked her hand back, eyes widening. “That injury should have taken hours to heal—days even.”
If I wasn’t mistaken, it was fear I saw in her eyes as she checked Valin once more for the injury I healed, “So it’s true,” she said, eyes downcast, “You are as strong as the rumors say.”
“I told you,” Aisling said to her superior with a smile, “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
In my frantic state when I helped heal Kade, I hadn’t focused. I couldn’t remember if I sensed any sort of darkness, or wrongness within him. I had simply known I needed him to live and shoved the healing Grace into him, with no direction or purpose other than to force him to live.
Valin stirred on the table, a low moan tumbling from his thin lips, though he didn’t wake.
“You should rest now, majesty,” Loris said, returning to her potions table, “You too, Aisling, return if you’d like once you’ve recovered your strength.”
It upset her—that was easy enough to see. Known for an age as the strongest healer in all the Night Court, I understood her unwillingness to accept that there was someone stronger. Though I couldn’t bring myself to feel proud. If she knew the truth, that I could only access the Grace through the touch of another, she would understand just how useless I was.
There wouldn’t always be a healer at my disposal.
Train. I needed to train. Healing was an invaluable skill, and it would be worth every second spent to learn how to wield it.
“Aisling,” I said to the still smiling Fae, “Could we do this again? Tomorrow, perhaps?”
She nodded, “Of course! And my friends call me Ash, majesty.”
Chapter Four
Iawoke the next morning alone in my bed chamber. Alaric and Tiernan hadn’t returned by the time sleep claimed me. I dreamt of Thana for the third time that week, and for the third time she took my life.
Just a dream, I told myself, but I’d feel a whole lot better if they would find her body… and the Blessed Blade. I dragged myself from the warmth of the covers and stumbled to my dressing table, sighing. I still hadn’t chosen a new handmaid and had grown used to readying myself in the mornings, though corset strings still eluded me. The servants usually helped me with that part.
I decided today was the day I’d tell Alaric and the others what I’d learned of the Mad King, and his plot to take back the Night Court.
Goodbye freedom…
Alaric burst into my bedchamber, Tiernan following close behind him.
“You aren’t dressed yet?” Alaric asked, bemused, but looking dapper in riding leathers and armed with more than a few blades. Beautiful. Dangerous.Mine.
I had half a mind to request Tiernan leave and remind Alaric what he promised me all those days ago. My stomach tightened at the memory. I bit the inside of my cheek, “Why? Should I be?” I said instead.
Alaric rummaged through my wardrobe, selecting a pair of brown colored trousers and a gossamer-light blouse from behind the wall of hanging gowns and dresses.
He set them down on the dressing table and turned to leave without any explanation.
“Training,” Tiernan offered, “We’re going into the woods, away from the prying eyes at court.”
I had forgotten I asked for his help—to see if I could control the element of earth as he did. But, wait, “Outside of the palace?” I couldn’t help the note of high-pitched excitement from entering my voice.
Alaric smiled, “Better hurry,” he said with a wink, “We’ll wait outside.”
We trotted down the main road for a time, me in the saddle with Tiernan, and Alaric on his own steed. Kade and Finn would meet us later after they’d finished whatever task Alaric had requested of them. As we put more distance between us and the palace, the roads became narrower and we passed several sleepy villages, their inhabitants coming out to start their day.
Children played in the fields and dueled in the roadways while parents chastised them. A male kissed his family goodbye, leaving to work in the larger towns, or perhaps to hunt in the woods to the North.
We continued in an easterly direction, and the villages became fewer and farther between. None approached us or paid us any mind, and I realized they didn’t recognize me. In my trousers and blouse with my hair tied back in a simple braid and no jewelry, I could’ve been anyone. It was a joy to see my people in their normal day-to-day workings. Playing. Working. Eating.
It reminded me of my days spent on the Isle of Mist, before I traded in my trousers for constricting gowns, and before I took all the time spent alone for granted.
We veered off the main road and onto a small footpath, having to leave the horses behind, tied to an especially wide tree to continue on foot not far into the trees. My backside was sore from the slow ride. Tiernan helped me down from Marron, his jaw tightening when I winced at the discomfort.
