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“I would be too.” Behind her, her own blue wings rustled. I didn’t think she knew she did it, but I suspected she pitied those fae born without wings or those injured by the blight—or, as she believed to be my case, a violent attack prior to my arrival in Guldtown.
When we reached Althea’s workshop, she bustled around a cauldron, popping in two sprigs of juniper before grabbing a jar of berries and pouring a few into the pot.
“Healer?” Clemencia piped up. “Lady Neve is here to see you.”
“Ah!” The half-troll, half-faerie spun and smiled at our arrival. “Come here, my lady. Lie down on your stomach.”
I did as she requested, giving her access to my wings. The bandages peeled off layer by layer. When cool air touched my silver gossamer wings, I held my breath. What would Althea say?
“Good stars, my lady. You’re making a fast recovery!” The healer’s tone was pleased, which made me smile. “We can leave the bandages off from here on out and let your wings breathe and move more freely.” She paused. “Would you like a looking glass to see them?”
“Has the most recent clawing diminished too?” I asked, sitting up and hanging my legs over the side of the bed.
“Very much.” She turned to open a drawer. “You have been taking the elixirs I provided to accelerate healing and reduce scarring?”
“Like clockwork,” I assured her.
Clemencia always carried vials of potions and made sure that I took them at the appropriate time. As with everything else she did, my lady-in-waiting had done her job perfectly.
“It’s nice to have a responsible patient.” Althea rummaged through a second drawer. “Ah! Here it is!”
A mirror appeared in front of me. “Hold it up and look, my lady. I’ll hold another at your back.”
I swallowed and, with a trembling hand, lifted the mirror. It took some angling, but when my mirror caught Althea’s, I gasped.
As we’d suspected, scars marked my wings many times over, but they were also whole. “Thank you so much, Althea.”
“It was nothing, my lady.”
“It’s everything to me.” I dropped the mirror into my lap and swallowed the lump in my throat. The urge to hug the healer washed over me, though I refrained.
Now that I was engaged to Roar, I was a lady fae, and they did not act that way to their servants, which Althea technically was.
“I wish I had some way to repay you.”
“My lord does that.” Althea waved her hand. “It’s good enough to see you thriving, my lady.”
I shifted off the table, still marveling at my wings, stretching them in new ways. Without rods in them, and no bandages covering them, I felt every vein twist, every muscle that supported the membranous tissue move. Before there had only been restrictions, and if I tried to move them too much, pain.
“They feel different,” I marveled.
Althea smiled warmly. “Soon, you’ll be used to them, and perhaps you’ll fly too. Though I can’t say when that will be. Much of it depends on how fast they strengthen.”
I returned her smile with one of my own. “Let’s hope it will be soon.”
A knock came at the door, and all three of us turned to find a brownie standing there, holding a letter. The brownie’s chest heaved with exertion, though he tried to hide it. “Pardon, my lady, the Warden of the West wishes for me to give you this. It took me a while to find you, so he’s been waiting.”
“Thank you.” I walked over and took the letter, breaking the crimson seal. My eyes scanned the parchment, and I smiled. “My lord wishes for me to meet him at the gates right away.”
“Then you shouldn’t keep him waiting,” the healer said.
“Thanks again, Althea.”
If I had been rushing to get to the healing wing before, it paled compared to my pace now. Clemencia had trouble keeping up, and when her breaths became labored, I slowed.
“Sorry,” I said.
“You’re excited to see your fiancé.” She grinned at me in a way that made me think we might be friends one day. “I wish I understood the feeling.”
