10. Weak in the Knees – Rosemary
Weak in the Knees
ROSEMARY
Everything hurt.
I lay awake most of the night listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing, trying to ignore how safe I felt with him nearby.
This was madness. Elias was everything I should hate: arrogant, dangerous, unseelie.
Yet when he'd caught me before I could fall yesterday, when he'd looked at me like I was something precious rather than just useful, something inside me had cracked open.
I thought of Briar, trapped in her endless sleep because of unseelie magic. I thought of my parents, killed by unseelie cruelty. Everything logical told me to be wary of him, to keep my distance, to remember what his kind had taken from me.
But when he smiled at me, really smiled and not just that mocking smirk, I forgot to be afraid.
When he touched me, even by accident, my skin came alive in ways I'd never experienced. When he called me princess in that rough, tender voice, I almost believed I could be someone worth protecting. And beneath it all, I couldn’t help but feel a familiar pull toward him despite having no memory of him.
This was how people fell. Not all at once, but piece by piece, moment by stolen moment, until they woke up one day and realized they'd handed their heart to their enemy. I was inexplicably falling for him, and it terrified me more than any monster we might face in these woods.
Spending a night in a tree was one of the worst sleeps I'd ever had, even worse than those early banishment nights from the seelie lands.
Climbing up had been easy; trying to get comfortable had been impossible.
The rough bark had dug into my spine, and every movement had set my tired muscles on fire.
I didn't trust Elias's bindings, so each time exhaustion tried to claim me, I’d jerked awake.
Below, Elias moved as if gravity didn't exist, packing our blankets and rope with calm precision.
He'd fallen asleep the moment his head had hit the branch, evident from his even breathing. I’d watched his sharp jawline, thin lips, and dark hair brushing his pointed ears, feeling a surge of envy I'd never admit.
He glanced up and offered a rare, crooked smile as I climbed down. It caught me off guard. My boot slipped, and in an instant, I was weightless, nails scraping the bark, heart in my throat, plummeting forty feet toward the hard earth.
My back slammed into the ground, and a rain of broken branches and leaves fell around me.
My vision narrowed and darkened, and my pumping blood thudded through my ears in a deafening beat.
From one blink to the next, Elias hovered over my prone form, worry creased across his brow as his silver gaze searched mine.
His fingers gingerly prodded my legs, my arms, my neck.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "Where does it hurt?"
I didn't want to move, but I searched my hip for where my pack should be. "My bag?" I mumbled, still struggling to breathe fully. I lifted my other hand to my head, prodding my scalp to check for injury. I sighed in relief when my fingers came away without any hint of spilled blood.
Elias reluctantly stood, his chin tilting upward to where my bag hung on a branch above. He retrieved it, bringing it to me as he knelt next to me again. "Is there something in here that will help with pain? Are you in pain? What can I do?"
"I think..." I tried to sit up, grunting with the effort. He quickly scooted closer, his hands supporting me with the softest of touches. "...that I’m okay."
I pulled my bag into my lap and opened it, peering inside for one of my remedies.
More than a dozen scratches marred my skin; my arms, legs, and face seemed to have taken the brunt of the damage.
I downed a small vial of my pain reliever, then pulled out a larger jar of medicine that would prevent infection when used to clean wounds.
"Here," I said, passing the jar to him. "You can apply it to my wounds. It will keep them clean and provide protection."
He eagerly took the jar from me and the square of cloth I handed him. I remained where I sat while he worked, hissing as the clear liquid oozed into my deeper cuts. He winced every time I made a pained sound.
"I think that's all of them," he said, twisting the lid back onto the jar. "Do you think you can stand?"
I stifled a whimper as I prepared to rise, pushing through the pain. Using my knee for support, I pushed to my feet. But when I put weight on my right ankle, a sharp cry escaped, and I crashed down onto Elias. My fall knocked him flat on his back, leaving him staring up at me.
"I think I quite like this," he said, unable to keep that wretched smirk from his lips.
Tears sprang to the corners of my eyes as my ankle throbbed. "Quite like what?" I asked between clenched teeth. "You like me falling out of a tree and hurting myself?"
His smile fell, and he scooted out from beneath me. "What? No!" His hands grasped my shoulders, and he eased me back to a sit on the ground. "I didn't mean... Never mind. It's your ankle, isn't it?"
I nodded, worrying my lower lip between my teeth. My ankle felt swollen. We would need to wrap it, but even so, I wouldn't be able to walk far or fast.
"Do you have a remedy for it?" he asked, a flash of hope behind his worried gaze.
"There should be a pale pink cream in one of my vials. You can rub that into the swollen skin, then wrap the ankle. It will still need time to heal, but less than if we didn't use the cream," I explained.
"This will probably hurt some, but I will try to be as gentle as possible," he warned me as his fingers gripped the heel of my boot.
I sucked in a breath and held it, nodding for him to continue.
In one fluid motion that was somehow both quick and gentle, he pulled my boot from my foot, baring my swollen ankle to the morning light.
It was, indeed, quite swollen. Another tear slid down my cheek, and I turned my face away from him.
Whether he saw my tears or not, he didn't let on.
He worked to apply the healing cream to my ankle before firmly wrapping it with the bandage.
"It isn't broken at least," he said as he put away my things.
He sat close, his hip against my leg, and his silver eyes held such emotion that my breath caught for reasons beyond the pain of my fall. Warmth spread within me as his gaze, usually masked by snarky remarks, showed unexpected tenderness.
"I think I'm ready to try standing again," I said, looking away from his penetrating stare.
Elias extended a hand to support me as I stood.
I could manage if I leaned heavily on my left leg, but the instant I shifted weight onto my injured ankle, pain shot through me, and I almost collapsed.
Elias caught me just in time, his strong arms holding me close.
He bent to grab my pack, slinging it over his shoulder alongside his own.
Then, without missing a beat, he moved forward, leaving the shelter of the tree and venturing deeper into the woods.
When I got over my shock of him carrying me like a child, I exclaimed, "You can't carry me the entire way!"
"I will carry you for a bit," he replied, lifting my arms until they circled his neck. "You can hold onto me. It will make it easier on us both."
We walked for a short distance in awkward silence. When I thought I couldn't endure the silence anymore, Elias broke it with an asinine question.
"Have you any males who will miss you during our travels?"
There was something hidden within his tone that reminded me of jealousy, though that made no sense.
"Not that it is any of your business, but no. There are no males who will miss me during our journey."
He smirked. "Females then?"
I swatted his chest as I rolled my eyes. "No. There was a male once, some time ago, but there's no one currently."
A muscle twitched along his jaw. "And where is this male now?"
"He was a man, and he passed away from old age about twenty years ago." I shrugged, not really wanting to discuss my romantic history with this unseelie fae.
Elias, however, couldn't take a hint. "How long were you together?"
When I said nothing, he prodded further. "It will be a long day if I am to carry you while your ankle heals. It will feel far shorter if you distract me with your story."
"There is no story," I replied.
"Oh, there is always a story," he said. His chin grazed the top of my head as he spoke. "How about I tell you a story of my own, and in return, you give me one of yours?"
"Mine is too sad to share," I answered, unable to keep the hurt from my tone.
"I have a sad tale as well." He shrugged, my body lifting against his chest with the motion. "As sad as it is, though, I think it gives us strength to live even more."
"Fine. If for no other reason than to pass the time." I let out a slow breath. "You first. Have you ever fallen in love with someone?" I asked, wanting to go deeper than something superficial. Were the unseelie even capable of love?
He didn't respond for quite some time. After several minutes passed, I finally said, "Elias?"
There was a faraway look behind his silver-gray eyes when he said, "I did once, yes."
"Tell me that story then," I demanded.
"I fell in love at a very young age. Back then, when I was just a wee lad, I didn't know it was love," he began, a sad smile pulling at the corners of his lips.
"I was so mean to her at first. I teased her almost constantly, played cruel tricks on her.
I did whatever I could to capture her attention. "
"Why?" I asked, letting my head rest against his shoulder.
"It was all I knew to do back then." He sighed. "My family didn't know much about love. It wasn't something freely given."
"So, you didn't know how to act toward this female that you fell in love with," I said. When he nodded, I asked, "What did you do then?"
A wicked grin cut across his lips. "It wasn't what I did, but what she did."
"Well, what did she do?"
"She tried to drown me," he admitted, laughing at the look of shock that crossed my features.