Chapter 7
seven
. . .
The first thing I felt was searing pain. The gods sure had a sense of humor. My death was painful, so why not make my afterlife painful as well? Hilarious. I was going to have to talk to whoever was in charge around here.
But first, I noticed it sure was dark.
I opened my mouth to tell them to get some light in here, but I heard a soft but firm voice say, “Drink,” before a vile liquid was poured down my throat.
I tried to spit it out, but a hand was laid over my mouth until I swallowed.
My head was swimming again, but thankfully the pain felt further away as I drifted.
The next time I rolled over, I was a little stiff, but there was no pain. That was much better. Again, it was pitch black. I opened my mouth, but realized before I could say anything that my eyes were still closed.
I opened them a crack, and sunlight came pouring in with a vengeance.
I squinted for a few moments before I got used to the light and repeated the process until I could see enough to look around the room.
I hadn't the faintest idea where I was. If this was the afterlife, it sure smelled a lot like home.
I looked around and noticed there was a bundle of moving blankets in the corner of the room. “Hello?” I called out, not loudly, but the words cut through the silence all the same.
The blankets whipped in the air, and an Astra-shaped blur was across the room at my side before I could blink again.
“Are you okay?” Astra asked quickly, feeling my forehead.
“I'm fine,” I said quickly. I felt mostly fine anyway. “Are you? Are we—?” I couldn't finish my thoughts. Asking her if we were dead felt like it would speak the nightmare into reality. “Where are we?” I asked instead. I tried to sit up, but she pushed me back down. “Hey!”
“You're not fine. You almost died!”
“Almost?” I asked slowly.
“Very nearly! You gave me a magic attack!”
I was alive, but wait, that meant … “That was you back there? You saved us from the—the—” I hesitated, not sure what to call them.
“The winged nightmares? Apparently.”
“I had no idea you were that powerful!”
“Neither did I! I still don't really know what happened, but you were dying and something came over me.”
“You saved me,” I said slowly.
She nodded. “Just barely. I thought you had it under control, and they almost killed you.” I was shocked to see tears were falling from her eyes, even more shocked to see they ran down already laid tear tracks. She had been crying.
At that, I bolted up and was pleasantly surprised that it didn't hurt to do so. “Hey, I'm okay. Really.”
“I know, I know,” she said, putting her hand on my cheek. “But gods, I came so close to losing you.”
“Tris and I were headed that way to find you,” I blurted out.
She sniffled and blinked in surprise at that. “Really?”
I nodded quickly before adding, “Well, I was. Tris was looking for Serena, obviously.”
“But you were looking for me?”
“Of course I was.” I didn't really know what had come over me or how to explain it, but I knew then as surely as I did now that I couldn't let anything happen to her. “Thank the gods they aren't our royals, because I would've let them die if it meant saving you.”
She looked part bewildered, part annoyed, and part hopeful. I focused on that part.
“You're still delirious,” she said.
“Not at all,” I quickly disagreed.
“Well then, you really shouldn't say things like that. Someone might hear you.”
“The part about the royals or the part about you?” I asked.
“Both.” She paused before saying, “But mostly the royals. You weren't awake to see what happened, but a lot's changed while you've been out.”
“What happened? How long was I out?”
“A couple of days, probably. It's hard to tell time without leaving the room.”
“You didn't leave?” I looked around the room again and realized she had set up a mini camp in the corner, and it did look like she had slept there, or rather, barely slept, judging by how tired she looked.
“I couldn't. You weren't awake yet.”
I smiled a little at that.
“You had another day until I shook you awake myself. I was starting to think you were faking it to avoid the trek home.”
I chuckled at that. “I'm not the one who likes to take shortcuts.” I froze the moment the comment left my mouth.
I didn't mean to say it. It was a reflex.
A joke I would have said a few weeks ago, but it was in bad taste.
I held my breath and thanked every god I could name when she laughed a little.
“I suppose not, but I really need to tell you what happened. Somehow, the battle triggered the curse over Sherbrooke being broken.”
“That's good, right?” I asked, but clearly, I was missing something, since she wasn't smiling.
“It would've been if The Murderous King of Bancroft himself hadn't swooped in immediately and stolen the princess right out from under Inez and your other friend’s noses.”
“Bancroft has Princess Serena?”
“They do.”
“And what are we doing about it?”
She looked at me questioningly. “We? I thought you wanted to retire.”
“I did, I do—” I amended, but the thought of Serena out there by herself being tormented by the Bancroft King, the Murderous King Killer himself, while Inez and Tris tore themselves apart trying to save her was horrifying.
“But?”
“But they're my friends.”
She groaned. “How did I know you were going to say that?”
“Because great minds think alike?”
“Great minds would be thinking about going home,” she grumbled, but I knew her well enough to know she was thinking what I was.
“Where are we anyway?”
“The Oasis. It was the furthest I could get you and the rest of the injured. They turned one of the inns into a makeshift healer’s quarters.
Miraculously, everyone made it out alive, but some are in worse shape than others.
” I silently thanked the gods for that miracle.
“Of course, if the barrier were down, we'd be able to heal them much quicker, but as is, we had to make do with the healing potions.”
That explained the foul-tasting liquid and why it had been so familiar. In my youth, I often had to use healing potions. I was a little too wild for my own good. Now, thank the gods, I was less familiar with them.
“So, what's the plan?” If she were the woman I knew her to be, she would already have one.
“Inez and your friend Tris took off for Sherbrooke when Serena was taken. They're raising reinforcements and checking on the Queendom. The Queendom’s been asleep for almost a year. Inez wanted to storm Bancroft to find Serena immediately, but Tris convinced her that Serena's first priority would’ve been her people. Inez promised to come back for us before they made their stand. I told her we would be ready.”
It warmed my heart that Inez knew enough to know I would insist on fighting by her side, but what warmed my heart even more was hearing Astra say she would be with me.
“You're going with me?”
“Of course,” she said quickly. “Who else is going to make sure you don't get yourself killed?”
I laughed at that. Normally, it might’ve annoyed me, but she’d saved my life; she’d earned a few jabs. “Fair enough. I couldn't ask for a sexier protector.”
It was out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying. I froze, praying that she somehow missed what I said, but her smirk told me she hadn't.
“You think I'm sexy?”
My mind raced, looking for a way out. “I— what I meant—the potion has me delirious. I hardly know what I'm saying,” I huffed out dramatically.
Her pealing laughter brought a smile to my face.
“You're feeling better, though?”
“Yes,” I answered quickly, grateful she pitied me enough to change the subject.
“Much. See?” I hadn't tried to move from the bed yet, but twisted my upper body back and forth, stretching.
I was surprised that, aside from my back being a little sore, I didn't feel any pain.
The soreness wasn't unpleasant either, more the soreness of a good workout than the pain I would have expected after almost being gutted by winged demons.
“You're sure?” she asked.
“Positive.”
“Good,” she said before knocking me back onto the bed.
“Oof—” I grunted. “What was that for?”
A moment later, she moved on top of me, straddling my hips. I sucked in a breath.
“You literally scared the magic out of me!”
“Wait,” I looked frantically for her hands, but they were behind her.
“You lost your magic?” I asked quickly. I didn't understand the rest of what she was saying, but if I was somehow the reason she had lost her magic, if I had made her give up that part of herself, I didn't know how she or I would ever forgive me.
“You tell me,” she said with a little smirk as my arms went flying away from her.
I struggled for a moment at the unexpected force before turning my head to see that the bed sheets had grown a mind of their own and were pulling my arms to the bedposts.
I was startled enough that I let them. They wrapped around the posts, securing my arms with a tight tug.
I pulled against them, testing them, but they didn't budge.
I looked back at Astra quickly, who finally showed me her glowing magenta hands. Relief washed through me, and I was sure I had never seen a more beautiful sight.
She wiggled her fingers at me, and a part of the sheets snaked around my ankles, ghosting over my feet for a moment, making a giggle burst out of me.
Astra stopped for a moment, grinning like a cat with a mouse. “Ticklish?”
I narrowed my eyes. “A little.”
“Interesting.” Thankfully, she just bound my ankles instead of testing the theory further.
I pulled against the ankle restraints, but they didn't move either. “Okay, okay. You made your point. Your magic is as strong as ever. You can let go now.”
“I could,” she said with a long pause. “Or—”
“Or?” I asked quickly.
“Or, I can leave you like this, and you can make up for the scare you gave me and reward me for saving your life.”
This couldn't be real. She had to be messing with me, and I should've said that; instead, I asked, “What kind of reward?”
“You'll like it.”
“Will I?”
She nodded. “Do you trust me?”
I was surprised that I didn't hesitate to nod. For better or worse, I trusted her.
“Then ‘Glacian' is the safe word. ‘Glacian’ and I stop and let you go. We won't go any further than you want. I promise, say the word and I'll stop.”
Gods, this was really happening. Heat rushed to my core, and I had to fight not to squirm under her. She hesitated, so I added. “I trust you, and gods, are you beautiful.”
She grinned at that, and her hands ghosted down to my shirt. “You're sure?”
I nodded quickly. “I trust you.”
At that, she stood, and I worried I might've said too much. I almost started pleading for her to come back, but I refused to make her feel guilty. If I scared her off, then I needed to let her go.
Except she didn't go far. She was halfway to the door when she turned back around, giving me a wide-eyed look I'd never seen on her before. “Oh, honey!” she said, rushing to me. “You're hurt! Let me get a good look at you and see what I can do for you.”
I started to protest. I was fine, and she knew it, but she winked at me. Ooooh, she wanted to play healer. Gods, this woman might really be the death of me.
“Let’s see how bad the damage is. You had quite the ordeal.” She lightly ghosted her fingers down my neck and to my shoulders, then slowly trailed over my collarbone, down to the slope of my breasts. I moaned at the contact.
“Oh, honey, clearly you're still in pain. Let's get that shirt off and see what I can do for you.”
Her fingers trailed down to the tunic I had been changed into, but instead of pulling it off my head, she pulled the bottom part over my face, blinding me. I pulled against the restraints, but they didn't budge.
“I think that's supposed to come all the way off,” I huffed.
I heard her chuckle, and then heard her say softly near my ear, “I think this suits our purposes just fine.”
I inhaled sharply when I felt her lips on my collarbone, and then they moved lower.
Her lips ...
And her tongue ...
And her hands ...
They were all over my body until I was sure everyone in the inn had heard me cry out in ecstasy more than once that night.
When she finally released the bindings, I couldn’t do much more than curl up on the bed. She squeezed herself between me and the edge, and I had just enough energy to pull her tightly to me before falling asleep.