Chapter 7
The light rap at the door jolted me awake. I’d been so exhausted that I’d fallen asleep on top of the blankets before dressing. As the door swung open, I yanked the towel back up, clutching it tight around myself.
Hamish stepped inside, the healer close behind him—Saerena, the one who’d treated Aedric.
He was clean now, his long brown hair brushed and tied neatly back. Fresh leathers hugged his broad frame, the flame sigil of his Court emblazoned over his heart.
His gaze went to me instantly and then darted away just as fast, dropping to the floor between his boots.
“Apologies, Elowen,” Hamish muttered gruffly. “I did not expect…” His voice trailed off, the color blooming beneath his beard nearly matching the heat flooding my own face.
“Stay undressed,” Saerena said calmly as she drifted forward, her orb of light floating obediently at her side.
Hamish coughed and turned to face the wall.
Saerena stopped beside the bed as I swung my legs over the edge. She waved a hand in a silent command. Open the towel. Stand.
My cheeks burned so fiercely I thought they might ignite, but I obeyed. The towel slipped from my frame and fell to the floor.
She examined me first with her hands. Beneath her hood, she was striking in the way all Fae were, tall and unnervingly symmetrical, her features angular and inhumanly perfect. Her long, deft fingers traced over my skin as she circled me, probing gently.
“How do you feel?” her brows drew together with mild concern.
“Fine,” I said. “Just tired.”
She nodded, her gaze assessing. She swallowed, almost imperceptibly. “You are not Fae.”
“No,” Apprehension curled in my chest. “I’m not.” Would she be afraid of me? Would she insist I be shackled in iron, the way Sairus had?
She studied me with faint curiosity before replying evenly. “It’s been a long time since I examined one of your kind. A rare opportunity.”
I stared. I wondered, briefly, if she’d ever healed my mother. I didn’t ask.
At last she stepped back. With a crook of her long index finger, she beckoned, and the orb of light floated toward me.
“You were burned by dragonfire?” She sounded skeptical.
I nodded.
“I see no trace of injury.” She gestured at my body. “Not a single mark.”
“I healed,” I said weakly.
“Yes,” she clicked her tongue. “That much is evident. The question is: how?”
The orb spread outward in the air, blooming like a living stain suspended before me. I shrank back instinctively as the light pulsed, eager and curious, hovering closer as though it wanted to touch me.
“Stay very still,” she instructed. “Try not to move. My Lumen will examine you internally, for anything I’ve failed to sense or see.
” She stepped back, clasping her hands before her.
“The sensation is not altogether comfortable, nor is it painful. You will temporarily lose the use of your senses. Do not panic. Do not move.”
I nodded, my unease sharpening.
She lifted a graceful hand, and directed the light into me.
Through my eyes, my nose, my ears, my mouth, it poured in all at once. I couldn’t see or hear, couldn’t even draw breath. It was like drowning in cold mercury. I fought the instinct to thrash, forcing myself still as it invaded me.
A strange sensation coursed through my body, slick and alien, sentient. It moved with intention, sliding through my veins, skimming my bones and joints, passing over my organs with intimate precision. It didn’t hurt, but it felt profoundly wrong, like a living thing burrowing through me.
It drifted deeper, circling toward my core, slowing as it approached the place where my magic lay resting. For a heartbeat, everything inside me went taut.
The Lumen recoiled.
It flared sharply, a sudden sting slicing through me like a paper cut, and then it tore free, fleeing my body as though pursued. My breath slammed back into me all at once. I sucked in air, staggering as my vision returned.
The orb snapped into place between us, its glow erratic, unstable.
Saerena frowned. “Peculiar.”
She lifted her hand, palm up, and the Lumen drifted obediently to hover above it. It rolled and flared, agitated, its light buckling in on itself.
Then it condensed.
Shrinking rapidly, it collapsed to the size of an acorn and turned black.
Saerena gasped and staggered back, clutching Hamish’s arm. “This examination is concluded.”
Before I could speak, the door opened.
Aedric sauntered in, relaxed, a smile already forming as his gaze found me. His eyes roved over my naked form with open appreciation, a suggestive smirk tilting the corner of his mouth.
“Well?” he asked lightly, amusement warming his eyes. “Did she pass her examination with flying colors?”
The smile slipped from his face the moment he saw the blackened orb.
Aedric straightened. “What’s wrong?”
Saerena hesitated, flustered. “My Lumen discovered the manner by which she healed, my Lord.”
“And?”
She was silent for what felt like an eternity before her lips finally parted. “Siphoning.”
The word landed like a weight dropped into water. The air in the room seemed to thicken at once. Hamish stiffened, still facing the wall, his shoulders locking tight.
Aedric blinked. Then an uncertain smile tugged at his mouth, as though she’d told a poor joke. “That’s not possible.”
“It is,” Saerena’s face was etched with fear.
His gaze moved to me, the last trace of ease gone.
“El…?” he said carefully.
I shook my head, suddenly acutely aware of my nakedness. “I don’t know what she’s talking about.”
“Siphoning,” Saerena’s tone betrayed her apprehension. “The absorption of another’s magic to strengthen one’s own. It’s unholy. A banned practice.”
“It’s impossible,” Aedric said again, shaking his head. “Siphoning can only ever occur between bonded pairs.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
“I would have felt it.” Strain threaded his voice. “I would feel the loss of my magic even now.”
“My Lord…” Saerena looked near-terrified to continue. “It was not your magic she siphoned.”
“Then whose?” Confusion crossed his features. “Who could she have siphoned from? There was no one else with us but—”
He stopped.
His head whipped toward me.
“No,” he breathed.
Saerena swallowed and lowered her gaze. “There are still traces of him inside her,” she said, her fingers twisting at her waist. “His magic’s signature is unmistakable.”
The floor seemed to drop away beneath my feet, a sickening sense of free fall opening inside my chest. I wished, absurdly, that the Vein could swallow me whole as dread flooded through me.
“My Lord—” Saerena began.
“You’re certain?” His head jerked sharply to the side to address her, though his eyes never left me.
“I am.”
“Thank you, Saerena,” he said curtly. “That will be all.”
Hamish opened the door for her, but she hesitated again at the threshold.
“The Warden—”
“I will tell the Warden,” Aedric cut in dangerously. “Not a word to anyone.”
“Yes, my Lord,” she murmured. She closed her fingers around the brittle orb, gathered her skirts, and hurried out.
Hamish shut the door behind her.
The silence left in her wake was unbearable.
I stood there breathing too fast, my chest rising and falling as though I were winded. The room felt stuffy, too small, the air heavy and stale in my lungs. My ears rang, a dull rushing sound that swallowed everything else, even my own thoughts.
This had to be a nightmare.
That was the only explanation. A fever dream. A punishment for believing, even for a moment, that I was safe.
Aedric couldn’t look at me. His head was turned away, tilted slightly down, his mouth set in a hard line.
I yearned to reach for him, to bury my face in the crook of his neck.
The tension in his jaw was so severe it looked painful, the muscles standing out as though he were doing everything in his power to hold himself together.
And then I felt it through the pull between us. Distress. Turmoil.
Hamish stared straight ahead, a silent soldier guarding the door. I wished he would spare me even a single comforting glance. Some softness in his eyes would have been enough to tell me everything was going to be all right. But he didn’t look at me either.
I didn’t dare move. I didn’t dare reach for the towel to cover myself. I simply stood there, naked and waiting. Waiting for the axe to fall. For Aedric to shout, to lash out, to show me the full force of his anger.
I shivered, goosebumps prickling over my skin despite the warmth of the room.
“Aedric—”
“Did you know?” His voice was low, more growl than speech, something animal beneath it.
“N—no,” I stammered.
“Don’t lie to me.”
The words were barely louder than a murmur, but when he finally turned and his gaze locked onto mine, it felt like being burned alive. Worse than the dragonfire.
He’d never looked at me like that. Not even at his angriest.
“Aedric—” I tried again.
“You’re bonded to a monster.”
Hamish shifted, watching Aedric from the corner of his eye. The movement was minuscule, but it spoke volumes. His fingers twitched near his belt, where his iron blade hung sheathed.
“When?” Aedric demanded, his fists curling tight at his sides. “When did it happen?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think!”
“I am thinking!” Did he think I wanted this? That I would ever choose something like this? To be bonded to the most monstrous being ever to walk Elantis? The male who had brought endless suffering to the Fae when he reigned?
“He tricked me,” I whispered. “I didn’t know—”
Aedric bared his teeth, his body wound so tightly I thought he might spring at me. The fury pouring from him was so intense my magic stirred in answer. It surged protectively from my core, spreading hot across my chest and down my arms as sparks flickered at my fingertips.
He saw it.
His lips pulled back slightly. “You want to fight me?”
“I want to defend myself,” I shot back. “You look like you want to kill me.”
The words hit him like a blow. He blinked, and the anger receded as swiftly as a wave dragged back out to sea. “I would never,” he said hoarsely.