Heavenly Bodies

Chapter Forty-One

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

The jolt of a carriage. Footsteps. Urgent voices. The sounds drifted to her as she floated, sightless and nameless.

‘It’s bad. Very bad. Gem was involved, as well as Ariete.’

Gem. The name registered. She tried to grasp hold of the memory, but it floated away from her.

‘Wounds from Ariete’s magick…think the bite is infected…’

She frowned, her eyes still screwed tight. She knew she was supposed to feel an emotion. But again, the thought floated away. The darkness shrouding her hushed her, soothing her.

‘Medical attention immediately…I’m not leaving her…’

Another voice whispered something, then came a roar.

‘ I’m not leaving her. ’

She suddenly noticed that she was in someone’s arms, and felt them tighten. She smelled amber, and a drifting thought told her she was home. But the word home felt strange, and so she frowned and forgot it.

‘Take someone with you…food…water…rest…assess her when the wound has been cleaned.’ The cool and stern voice drifted in and out. It was confident, feminine, mature. She liked the sound of that voice.

‘I can do it myself,’ the other voice snapped. ‘No one touches her.’

She lurched in the warm grip around her. A passing thought found it funny, the movement. Then she almost wanted to cry. The darkness hushed her as if she was a child, easing her mind into blankness again. All she knew was that she had to keep her eyes shut so that the darkness would stay with her. The darkness was her friend. The darkness would protect her.

A soft click, and a door was closed. A familiar scent wafted to her, vanilla and something clean.

Safe , the darkness said.

‘Elara.’ A softer, gentler feminine voice made her wince, as did the feel of soft hands taking her own.

She flinched from the touch. Elara. Her name. She was Elara.

‘I managed to get it,’ she heard the softer voice say. The voice was familiar. She wasn’t sure why.

‘How—’

‘I know someone,’ came the quick reply.

Elara shifted as the arms carrying her took something from the woman.

‘Thank you,’ said the voice—the man—carrying her. ‘Leave us now, Merissa.’

Merissa. A friend. Her friend.

Her friend, Sofia.

Blood.

Blood.

She began to hyperventilate as the darkness worked to coax her, her friend’s voice too close.

‘Enzo, I need to make sure—’

‘ Leave. ’

She heard a small sigh and the sound of a door closing firmly.

‘Elara,’ she heard the gentle voice whisper. She murmured at its sound. She liked this voice. She trusted it. This voice made her feel warm.

Safe , the darkness whispered again.

‘Elara, I’m going to need you to wake up so I can get you clean.’

She clutched his neck and kept her eyes squeezed shut. She didn’t want to break the spell just yet. The darkness was so soft, and the world beyond the darkness just seemed so…

‘Shit,’ he muttered, and she felt herself being carried somewhere else. The darkness changed, faint colours and patterns intruding from somewhere. Light behind her eyelids. She was somewhere bright. She squeezed her eyelids tighter. ‘I’m going to put you here as we run a bath, okay?’

She felt softness underneath her—a chair—and the sound of water.

When hands touched her again, she flinched.

‘It’s me, El. It’s Enzo.’

Enzo. That name. She liked that name. She liked him. A lot. The darkness smiled. Safe. Home.

‘It’s just you and me and the warm water.’

Her eyes still closed, she nodded once, her lips trembling, tears threatening to spill from behind her lids.

When arms took her gently again, she melted into them.

‘I’m going to put you in the bath now,’ he said, and she nodded again. Those sure hands lifted her, cradling her, and placed her in the warm water.

Calloused hands, sure and steady, loosened dirty, pitted clips from her hair. She could feel the weight of her undergown against her in the water—clothing that still bore the memories of her friend’s death.

‘I want it off,’ she croaked, the first words she’d uttered, though they crackled, her throat dry from disuse. She yanked at the strap on her shoulder.

Enzo’s hands paused in her hair. ‘Okay,’ he said softly. She felt the horrid fabric slip off her, and sank further beneath the water as she let it cleanse her.

He seemed to disappear momentarily, before returning, and she heard a bottle clinking against the tiles.

‘I need you to drink this now, El.’ She tried to pull away. ‘It’s a Star’s blood. It’s going to hurt—because Ariete only gave you small amounts. This is a lot of it. You need a large amount to cure his venom entirely.’

She began to shake her head, and Enzo stilled her gently. ‘Please, El. I need you to get better.’

Something about the desperation in his voice made her relax, and she parted her lips. A bottle was pressed to them, and she slowly drank.

After a few gulps, she gagged, but Enzo kept the bottle firm. ‘All of it, princess. You can do it.’ She sputtered, but continued to drink. The blood was rich, decadent and sweet—too sweet—and she gagged briefly. But Enzo didn’t let up until she swallowed the last mouthful, as pain lanced through her.

She cried out, bending over in the water as she felt the blood working inside her, felt it fighting against the venom lodged within her body.

The pain was all-encompassing, and she couldn’t stand it, couldn’t grit her teeth through it any more. As she writhed, she felt Enzo step into the bath, his bare skin touching her back as he held her. She convulsed as he stroked her, and she pleaded to the darkness, asking it to stop her feeling. It took her hand and whisked her away from the agony so that she was merely observing.

Finally, the darkness nudged her back towards the world. The pain was beginning to subside. And Enzo was there. And Enzo was home. And she was safe.

She felt warm light sweeping through her, cocooning her and keeping her warm as he hummed a string of soothing notes. She recognized the tune faintly but couldn’t grasp it. His light felt beautiful and warm, like him.

She was back in her body now, Enzo’s voice murmuring to her. She caught words. ‘So brave…you’re doing so well, princess.’

She was panting heavily, her eyelids fluttering as the last shocks of pain left her. She heard the water swirl noisily down a drain, leaving her cold. But then the tap ran again, and her mind eased as warm water filled the small pool back up again. She felt Enzo’s body move behind her, and his hands started to wash her, the scent of eucalyptus soap around them.

‘Now this hair,’ he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

Whatever it was about that smile became her undoing, and the darkness gave her another nudge. Safe to see , it whispered. And so, as water ran down her hair, wiping away the horrors, the poison and the dirt, she took another breath and opened her eyes, turning around.

Enzo stilled.

She searched his face, seeing every feature she’d held on to when Gem had torn her mind apart. Hoop. Freckle. Frown. Finally, she looked into his eyes, the flecked gold warmth that she’d locked eyes with first in the throne room, what seemed like a lifetime ago. He was kneeling in front of her in the small pool, shirtless. He brought his wet hand to her face, behind her ear, stroked his thumb over her temple.

‘I’ve missed those eyes,’ he murmured. She closed them again as tears ran freely.

‘El,’ he said. ‘Please don’t cry. You’re safe. I promise.’

She opened them again, and he was still there. His hands in her wet hair, stroking and soothing.

‘You’re real?’ she whispered, the tears still streaming.

‘I’m real,’ he whispered back and took her face in his other hand.

He leaned forwards and kissed one of her tears. She cried more at that, and he bent to kiss the other tear gently off her cheek. And the next. There was just the sound of his soft kisses soaking her pain and the drip of water. He moved her away once her sobs had quieted, running oils through her hair, humming that same gentle melody.

‘I loved him more than the Dark loves the night,’ he sang, ‘and he loved me more than the day loves the Light—’

‘Lions may fly, and lovers will die, but my love—that will live on,’ she sang along quietly, her voice cracking as she finished the verse.

His hands stilled in her hair. ‘How do you know that song?’

She frowned. ‘It’s an Asterian lullaby.’

A look passed over his face. ‘Strange,’ he said quietly. ‘I thought I’d dreamed it a long time ago.’

She wasn’t sure what to say, so she said nothing at all.

He reached for some oils as she drank in his details. His forearms, the way they looked when the muscles and veins were taut. The slant of his strong brows. The impatient flick he gave when his curls fell over his eyes. She studied him silently, pliable in his hands, tipping her head back as he ran oil through the ends, as he lifted her arms to rinse off the suds, as he scrubbed the awful memories off her.

Then he lifted himself out, trousers sodden as he grabbed a warm fluffy towel and bundled her in it, picking her up and carrying her back to the bedroom. She felt herself land on pillows, a soft cotton nightgown shrugged over her, before sheets smelling like vanilla were pulled into place. Enzo disappeared into the bathroom for a moment, returning in dry loose trousers, his chest bare. He walked towards the door, and she saw a glimpse of Leo standing guard as Enzo murmured something to him, before he closed the door and settled into a chair beside her.

Elara reached out blindly for his hand, emotions chattering at the outskirts of her mind. She focused on his thumb stroking the back of her hand, and it seemed to quiet them for a moment.

A soft click, and a healer entered. She recognized the cool, stern voice she’d liked and looked up. A woman stood before her, hair hanging in straight copper sheets down her sides. Her eyes were clear blue, her face open.

‘It’s good to see you’re more aware of yourself, Your Majesty.’ The healer nodded and sank down on to the bed. She pressed tentative hands to Elara’s neck. ‘This wound’s looking much better. Looks like His Highness did a good job.’

Elara looked again at Enzo and saw his face completely blank. She squinted and saw the tick of his jaw. His eyes were ablaze as he stared at her wound.

‘I’ll make them both beg for death.’ The words were ice. Then reining himself in, he plastered a smile on for Elara and squeezed her hand.

Cool magick washed over her like a salve, as the healer scanned her body. ‘The venom has gone,’ she said, then opened her eyes. ‘And the wound at her neck will heal.’ She looked at Enzo. ‘It’s her mind that we need to worry about.’

‘You need not talk as if I am not here,’ Elara muttered.

Enzo hid a smile. ‘I think perhaps we need not worry as much as we thought.’

The healer gave a small smile as she opened a bag, pulling out two jars of liquid. As she tinkered with them, Elara saw that the contents of one were pale blue, the other darker in the falling Light streaming through the balcony doors. ‘This will help you sleep.’ Having finished mixing the vials, she gently prised Elara’s jaw open. Elara flinched at the direct contact, and she saw Enzo shift closer.

But the healer had already dispensed two drops of the potion on to her tongue, before packing up her kit. ‘Plenty of rest, plenty of food and fluids. I entrust her into your care.’ She looked sharply to Enzo.

‘I will be the finest nursemaid she’s ever had.’ He gave a tight smile, stretching in his chair. Elara’s lips twitched as the healer nodded and the door clicked softly closed behind her.

‘I’m scared to fall asleep.’ Her voice was barely a whisper. Enzo frowned, leaning down next to her. ‘I can feel the pain at bay. My thoughts crowding against the darkness. I’m worried I’ll dream.’

His face softened. ‘I can’t keep what you’ve endured at bay, but I promise you I will be here for you when you wake. I’m not leaving you.’

Elara grasped his hand once more and held on to it tightly—her anchor in tempestuous seas as she fell beneath the waves.