Chapter 15 #5
“Between right and wrong, good and evil,” she answered. “Whatever you want to call it. Nothing is ever black and white. There’s this whole gray area in the middle that we exist in. You’re going to have to figure out where your head’s at, and that’s something I can’t help you with.”
There was a lot of sense in what she was saying.
Since he’d landed in Mercy, he’d seen and felt things he never would have believed possible, but the thing he struggled with most was his feelings for Olivia.
It conflicted with every single thing he’d ever been taught.
The problem was, when he was with her, he didn’t care.
He would take the damnation, and that’s what scared him the most.
“You should take a shower,” he muttered, his expression troubled.
Olivia watched him turn and walk out the room, closing the door quietly behind him, and she sighed.
Stripping off her nightgown and panties, she hobbled forward on sore feet and winced as she eased her aching body under the hot water.
She scrubbed away the dirt, hissing at the sting of the soap against deep scrapes on her hands.
Water pooled pink around her bloodied feet as she let the stream cascade over her, rinsing away the rest of the dirt and dried blood.
When a wave of exhaustion had her almost slumping against the cold tiles she reached out and shut off the rapidly cooling water.
Gingerly stepping out of the shower and trying not to put too much weight on her injured ankle, she wound a towel around her damp hair and lifted her thick, fluffy robe from the back of the door, wrapping it around her trembling body.
She limped into her room to find Theo sat on the edge of her bed, deep in thought. In his hands was a familiar tin. Old and dented, it was the one her grandmother had always used as a first aid kit. Jake must’ve found it and brought it upstairs.
Theo looked up as she sat down on the bed next to him and watched in silence as Olivia pulled the towel from her hair and ran her fingers through the worst of the tangles.
Pooling what little energy she had left, she allowed the heat to travel up her neck to her scalp until it felt like it was tingling with static electricity.
As the warmth of her magic dried her hair it coiled into loose waves that cascaded down her back.
Once she was done, he handed her the small tin box.
Olivia opened it up to find a half-squeezed tube of some sort of suspicious-looking ointment, some bandages, and a nearly empty bottle of cough syrup that expired in 1998.
Shaking her head in amusement, she smiled.
It was exactly like Aunt Evie not to bother to keep a well-stocked first aid kit, preferring her home remedies and simple kitchen magic to modern medicine.
She shuffled aside some evil-looking smelling salts from. .. 1954? Seriously?
Chuckling aloud, she picked up a shiny black jar, sealed with wax. Only to stare at it in astonishment.
“What’s that?” Theo reached over as she handed him the jar.
He turned it over in his hands a couple of times, but seeing nothing remarkable about it, he handed it back.
“If I’m right…” Olivia whispered as she cracked the seal and opened the jar. A strong waft of poppies filled the air, and Olivia smiled. “It’s Aunt Evie’s salve. She used to make it when I was a kid. I remember her putting it on my skinned knees.”
Olivia’s expression was wistful as she thought back to her aunt. “She always had a way with healing,” she murmured.
“Is it any good?” Theo asked curiously.
She smiled. “Watch.” She took a small dollop from the pot.
It was a transparent pink color with the consistency of petroleum jelly.
She rubbed it over her injured palms, releasing an even stronger scent of poppies and comfrey.
The warmth spread through her skin with a curious tingling sensation.
Theo watched in amazement as the skin sealed itself back together, leaving no more than raised red marks.
“Incredible,” Theo breathed out.
Scooping up a little more, she turned toward him.
He was still bare-chested, as his T-shirt was on the floor in the bathroom.
She gently spread the mixture across the deep claw marks on his side.
He hissed as her fingers grazed the wounds, but soon the burning was replaced by a pleasant warmth, and he could almost feel the layers of flesh knitting themselves back together.
He stared down at his now unmarked torso, his expression unreadable.
“Magic can be used for so much good,” Olivia whispered. “It’s the natural state for people to fear what they don’t understand, but what they don’t realize is that our most scared covenant, the oath will all swear to, is do no harm.”
His gaze held hers for several long seconds until, unable to help herself, she yawned.
“You need some sleep,” he rumbled in that deep soothing voice of his. Helping her shift on the bed he drew the covers back for her to slide in.
Her eyelids grew heavy and fluttered closed as she relaxed into the soft mattress.
Theo covered his hands with the salve and gently massaged it into her wounded feet and her swollen ankle.
It felt like she was floating and, lost in the heavy scent of the flowers, she succumbed to her exhaustion.
Theo pulled the quilt over her but as he turned to leave, her hand reached out and grasped his wrist.
“I wish you would stay,” she said sleepily.
He hesitated for a moment, his desire to lie close to her and guard her sleep warring with his strict upbringing.
Finally, his selfish desire to be close to her, coupled with his own exhaustion, won.
He turned off the lamp and climbed onto the bed next to her.
Pulling her back into his chest, his arm curved around her sweetly.
How could this be a sin? Not when having her curled into his arms felt so right.
“Stay with me,” she murmured, her voice heavily laced with sleep.
“Always,” he whispered.
But she never heard his reply; she had already slipped into a deep, dreamless slumber.