Chapter 28 Gracie
Gracie
Out of all the guest rooms we’d stayed in, this was possibly the most interesting.
The room was circular and domed, the living space and bed sharing one large open area with no separation in between.
There was only one additional door, off the entrance, that led to a bathroom suite.
The rest of the space gave the sensation of being inside a tree… which, I supposed, we were.
The bark-like walls were covered in murals of battles that seemed to be pulled from mythology, the detail work in each one genuinely fascinating.
Lanterns hung from the curved ceiling, and everything was done in deep purple fabrics that were plush under my fingers.
I’d been sitting in the middle of the room on a chair, looking up at the ceiling, for at least five minutes.
“The healer should be here before we leave for dinner,” Ravik said while running a hand through his damp hair. My mates had let me shower first, all of us wanting to wash the grime of travel off, before leaving me to relax in a comfortable, soft robe.
I’d only recently changed out of it into a dress for the evening.
It was a pale pink chiffon, layers of it wrapping around me, the neckline sitting off the shoulder in a way that was both comfortable and elegant.
Despite how I usually felt in clothes like this, the sensation of being out of place or not worthy didn’t come. I felt beautiful.
“Dinner,” Thornar mused. “Four feels a bit early—makes me think we aren’t eating right away.”
Considering how hungry I was, I hoped that wasn’t the case. Luckily the room had a few snacks, but after taking my tonic it always felt better to have something more substantial.
“We don’t have to spend this dinner convincing anyone to help us, though,” I pointed out. “We can just relax and enjoy ourselves.”
At least for tonight.
I didn’t think any of us had expected the meeting to go the way it did, but I was thankful. With only thirteen days left on the countdown, we would need to move quickly, and having so many allies gave me real hope.
So while we could enjoy ourselves tonight, come morning we would need to push forward and make a plan.
A knock sounded at the door, and Basir, who’d just walked out of the bathroom freshly showered and dressed, made his way to answer it.
“It’s the healer,” he announced. The door opened to reveal two people—an older man and a younger woman who, from looks alone, I assumed was his daughter. He had silver hair and she had blonde, but they shared the same angular face and pink scales near their temples.
“Hi there!” She looked right past my mates to me. “This must be our patient.”
“Yes.” I offered her a smile as she took the lead, breezing past my mates to sit beside me. She extended her hand, and I took it.
“My name’s Lucy; I’m my dad’s assistant. He’ll be the one helping you.” She motioned to her father, who was moving at a slower pace, Basir stepping aside to let him through. When he reached us, the man offered me a friendly smile and settled into the chair across from me.
“Gracie, I’m Healer Thorne.” He nodded in greeting. “I’ve been told you may have a concussion. Can you tell me what happened?”
“She was in a car accident,” Ravik said. “The vehicle slammed into a wall.”
And a person.
Lucy winced. “That sounds awful.”
Her father glanced at her with quiet adoration, as if her concern for others alone made him thankful for her. I got the sense he was just glad to have her alongside him.
“May I have your hand?” Healer Thorne asked. I nodded.
For the next few minutes the room was quiet as his power moved through the space, settling around my head, shifting my hair slightly. When he pulled back he offered a smile. “Good news—I don’t sense any cranial damage and no sign of a concussion.”
“Thank fuck,” Basir said under his breath. I looked up at him and felt our bond pulse with relief so strong it caught me off guard. I had known he was worried, but not to this extent.
Lucy beamed at me. “Is there anything else you’d like to ask while he’s here?”
“I don’t think so,” I told her. She nodded and offered her arm to help her father stand.
“If you think of anything or need anything, don’t hesitate. We’re just down on the third floor.”
I watched them leave after a quick goodbye and sat with the feeling their presence had stirred in me. It made me wonder how my dad and I would have interacted, if he were still alive.
Right at that moment, though, my stomach made it very obvious that I was hungry.
All three of them looked at me in concern, and I couldn’t help but blush. Ravik shook his head, sweeping me up from the couch and heading toward the door.
“Gotta tell us when you’re hungry, little flame,” Thornar pointed out.
“We’ve been busy!” I said in my defense. The fresh coastal breeze hit us the moment we stepped out of the suite into the open-aired hallway. I tapped Ravik’s hand, and he let me slip down. “Plus, until we sat down I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
“I’m honestly surprised we were invited,” Thornar said. “It seemed like a family thing. I won’t say no, though—the food looked amazing earlier.”
It had. My stomach almost grumbled again as we followed the hallway down two sets of stairs before turning left.
Earlier, while being escorted to our suite by Bishu herself, she had shown us where the garden dinner would be held and promised to send up clothes.
Walking through these halls now, I felt like I fit in more comfortably than when we had arrived.
I was significantly more thankful for the invitation as we reached the large bone archway that led out into a raised garden overlooking the ocean.
This was beautiful. I had no idea what was supporting it structurally, but as I stepped through I was caught between two things at once: the tree rising behind us toward the sky and the ocean sprawling out below and around us.
It wasn’t a view I could ever fully get over.
The air was warm against my skin, conversation and laughter carrying across it, as we made our way toward a gathering of nearly fifty people—all lounging, enjoying drinks, and listening to music.
There was no announcement or greeting; we simply arrived and melted into the crowd.
I allowed myself a steadying breath as the tension in my shoulders began to release.
There had been enough announcements in the past week to last a lifetime.
There was no call for when food began, either.
Platters and trays simply appeared at the table we had claimed, comfortably seating the four of us with one spot open.
Up front, only ten feet away, a series of performers recited poetry against a backdrop of classical music.
It was a little too quiet to hear easily from where we sat, but it added to the sense that despite being surrounded by people, we could just be ourselves.
“Where are our hosts?” Thornar asked, handing me a small plate of three different items. I didn’t hesitate to try all of them. The first was some type of bread topped with vegetables and a kind of seafood, the flavor both salty and earthy.
“Over there, I think,” Ravik said, looking toward the far end of the garden where the largest cluster of people had gathered. “They must really enjoy a good party if this is their regular dinner.”
“And considering the lunch they already had,” Basir agreed.
I found it special. If I ever had a family of my own, I hoped I’d be surrounded by them just like this.
The atmosphere settled between the four of us, our bond humming with both contentment and something a little wistful.
Thornar leaned forward to listen to the poetry.
Ravik put his arm around my chair and pressed a kiss to the side of my head.
Even Basir seemed at ease, his hand reaching out to intertwine with mine.
None of them had said so, but I suspected the wistfulness came from missing home.
I was starting to miss Ironsun myself, and I’d only just begun to find my place there.
Stark Flight territory was special, but much like my mates, Ironsun grounded me in a way I wasn’t sure could be replicated anywhere else.
For nearly an hour the party moved around us. I had managed to eat enough that I was significantly full, and my mates were happy…except for Basir.
“I’m going to grab more of those,” he said, his tone brooking no disagreement. I had mentioned I liked one of the dishes—thin slices of fish grilled with pineapple on a skewer—and now he wanted an entire plate of them for me. I didn’t bother arguing, just reached up and squeezed his hand in thanks.
I watched him round the table toward the tree wall where the staff were gathering and had just begun to turn back to Thornar when my wolf went rigid.
It wasn’t a sound. It wasn’t something I saw.
There was a distinct change in the air, a sensation of terror building in my chest before I knew why. My wolf didn’t warn me. She just moved and took me with her.
I was jumping over the chair before I knew it.
The shift overtook me without warning, fur and bone replacing chiffon and flesh, as I tackled Basir. Taken off guard, he stumbled forward and out of the way.
I felt the impact before I understood it. My body jolted as the air cracked around us.
I hit the ground.
“She’s been shot!” The voice came from somewhere distant, already fading.
Shot? Is that what I’d intercepted? I had stopped Basir from being shot.
The ground was hard and my body felt cold, my wolf unable to hold our form as she melted away, my human form reclaiming me.
It wasn’t agony. It was an icy numbness.
The bond between my mates and I felt unstable, as if it couldn’t hold its shape any better than my wolf could.
All I could see above me was the evening sky.
Then two warm, rough hands found my face, a voice cutting through everything else.
“Glow.”
I tried to find Basir’s eyes…I finally found them.
Then the garden, the lanterns, the warmth of the evening…all of it folded in at the edges.
And then darkness—