Chapter 58 – Ayer
AYER
She saved me.
Why?
The question plays over and over in my mind as I sit beside Rowan’s bed, watching her sleep. Hours have passed since I carried her out of the woods, but she hasn’t stirred. There’s a tension in her face, still guarded even in her sleep.
I lean forward slowly, bracing my forearms against my knees, eyes fixed on the steady rise and fall of her chest as I try—but fail—to make any sense of it.
I took a sword to the ribs—through the ribs. A death wound.
It was over. I’d made my peace with it. And then the scent of wildflowers and honey filled my nose, and I found myself staring up into pools of evergreen.
Rowan.
I thought she was going to run. Stones, I could’ve sworn she would have. I even told her to. So why didn’t she?
I passed out. The next thing I remember is the sharp, metallic scent of her blood as it soaked the leaves between us.
“Please don’t tell anyone.”
One second, I’d been on the gods’ bridge, and the next—
My fingers find the tear in my tunic where the wound should be, but find only a thin, jagged little scar.
Impossible.
I know how deep that blade cut; it sliced straight through me. The blood loss alone…
I should be dead.
Gods, I’m certain I’d be dead if it weren’t for her.
She was still staring into my eyes when she fell, but I caught her. Her face pale even in the dark of the shadows surrounding us, breaths coming slow and blood pouring steadily from her side.
A deep sword gash, located right between her ribs, on her left side…
Just like mine.
Ripping off a piece of my tunic, I applied pressure to the wound, shouting for help, but it was no use. We were too far into the woods for anyone to hear us.
Finding the strength, I pushed myself to my feet, scooping Rowan up and carrying her back to the village, doing my best to keep pressure on her wound.
Theo and Wyatt spotted us immediately.
“What happened?” Theo asked hastily, concern knitting his brows together as he surveyed the bloodied cloth I held tight to Rowan’s side, and the way she lay limp in my arms.
Good question, I thought, but since I didn’t have an answer to give him, I ignored it. “We need Hayes.”
Wyatt nodded in agreement, taking off and returning only minutes later with Hayes in tow.
As gently as I could, I laid Rowan down on a clean patch of grass, stepping back to let Hayes and Wyatt get to work.
Her blood soaked my shirt, coating my arms.
The fear in her eyes still haunts my thoughts—the way she had looked at me.
“Please don’t tell anyone.”
What she did… it shouldn’t be possible, but yet she’d done it. I can’t tell you how. Even now, my eyes flicker to her bare wrist; the dark lines of my rune are still there—still etched into her skin. Unbroken.
She did the same with the baby, I realize—Josi. The princess had been insistent that she hold her. I remember how she stroked the child’s cheek with her fingertips, humming softly. She collapsed not nearly a day later, sick to death, and burning with red fever.
I chalked it up to coincidence. Red fever is going around. I didn’t think fae got sick, but supposing I was wrong, she could’ve contracted it weeks before I took her. The symptoms merely appearing with poor timing.
But now I know. Somehow, she healed us both. Somehow, despite the power-blocking rune, she took the baby’s sickness into herself—and she stole my fatal wound.
I reach forward, my eyes leaving her face to lift the blanket covering her, revealing the clean white bandage I know covers the jagged lines of a cut identical to the brand new scar on my side.
Kent was sure. That baby never should have survived.
And neither should I.
I drop the blanket, leaning back in my chair, arms crossed, as I try to work it out. The rune I put on her wrist works by blocking magic from coming out, but I guess I never thought to imagine she would try to take something in.
But the real question is: why?
The rune’s magic wouldn’t let her kill me herself, but she could have left—could have run. She could have even just stood there and watched me die. The rune couldn’t force her to save me.
She would have been free.
The rune’s power would have broken with my death…
“Did she try to run?”
Theo’s voice pulls me from my thoughts, and I find him leaning up against the doorframe, watching me. Stones know how long he’s been standing there.
“Please don’t tell anyone.”
I know my best friend has picked up on the intensity in my eyes—and the way I haven’t left the princess’ side…
“We saw her run into the woods…” I feel his gaze on the side of my face, and I hear the unspoken question in his words. Did I do this to her?
“Please don’t tell anyone.”
I shake my head slowly. “No,” I confirm quietly, staring down at the little thorn in my side, remembering the look of desperation in her eyes before she passed out.
It doesn’t feel right to keep secrets from Theo, but…
I won’t tell him my suspicions. At least not until I’ve had a chance to speak to her about it. “She saved my life.”
Theo straightens and I can see the question forming in his eyes, but I cut it off before he can ask.
“I don’t know how,” I confess, my voice low. “But whatever she did, she saved me.”
Theo studies me for a long moment before his eyes shift to the princess, his eyes falling to the rune at her wrist.
“She kept her promise,” I say, glancing down at Rowan. “She didn’t run. She came back for me.”
Theo nods just as Hayes brushes past him, coming to check on his patient. Although Kent is our medic, he hates Rowan, so I don’t trust him anywhere near her.
I watch as Hayes removes the dressing from the wound, my eyes dropping to the jagged little cut he stitched up so perfectly. He did a fine job given the circumstances, but it’ll still scar.
Hayes checks his needlework, cleaning the wound and applying more herbal salve before replacing the dressing with clean linen.
“Is she going to be okay?” I ask. It’s been over twenty-four hours, and while she’s breathing and there’s a little more color in her face today, she hasn’t woken up.
Hayes’ eyes lift to mine, exchanging a quick look with Theo behind me before he answers.
“Aye, unfortunately she’ll live to irritate you another day yet.”
A surge of relief ripples through me.
“She’s fae,” Hayes adds. “The rune you put on her won’t impede her innate fae healing.
” My mouth tightens at his words. “But her body is spending a lot of energy in which to do so. She needs rest to recover fully, but she should wake soon.” He finishes packing up the rest of his supplies before taking his leave, Theo quietly exiting with him.
I stay, staring at her for a long moment before reaching forward and brushing a loose strand of dark hair away from her face, letting my fingers linger against the soft skin of her cheek.
“Why?” I ask quietly, knowing she can’t answer, but still needing to know.
The ever-present tension in her face fades away at my touch. My chest tightens violently, and I jerk my hand away, shoving back in my chair and gripping tight the armrest to keep from touching her again. As if she hasn’t already complicated things enough.