Chapter 3 #2
“All right. I think it’s time we got you off the floor and into a bed.”
The man sat upright. Leaning forward, he placed an unsteady hand on the floor and tried to get up to his knees.
I squatted down and positioned myself just under his arm so I could help him.
Thankfully, he was able to get up on his own with minimal assistance from me once he caught his bearings.
I picked the fallen blanket up off the floor, coming face to face with his …
manhood. The immediate difference I could see between human men and fae men was … sizable.
I blushed as I realized that I had been staring at his privates and hurriedly wrapped the blanket around his waist, trying to preserve whatever shred of dignity he had left.
I walked him to the end of the main hallway and into the spare bedroom—my grandmother’s old bedroom.
I found some clothing that Wyatt had left behind.
Unfortunately, Wyatt was not as tall or muscular as my new house guest. After some squeezing and stretching, we finally managed to get him into some cotton pants that barely covered his ankles, and left nothing to the imagination.
After he settled into bed, I started a fire in the bedroom hearth, warmed up some leftover soup for him to eat, and gave him some tea with moonshade to help him with any pain he may have and get him back to sleep.
“You should be good for now. If you need anything, just holler for me. I’ll come check on you every few hours to make sure everything is all right.”
The man nodded and started to drift away, the moonshade pulling him into a restful sleep.
During the night, I woke up several times to check on the fae man to make sure he wasn’t in any pain or hadn’t started to run a fever.
I was still astounded by just how quickly his wounds had been healing.
I was uncertain as to whether this was due to my healing magic or a perk of being fae.
The wounds on his wrists and ankles had also almost completely healed, which was a relief, and there were no visible signs of a fever.
It was still early, but it looked like all we had to worry about going forward was the lingering effects of his head trauma, which could include a lack of stability, headaches, vision issues, and of course, amnesia.
I wasn’t able to sleep much that night, so I got up early to tidy the house and hid any remaining healing supplies I had left out in the cellar underneath the kitchen—I didn’t want to give the Cult of Children or anyone else a reason to come after me.
After that I made breakfast and went to check on the fae sleeping in my grandmother’s bed.
I knocked on the door before entering and announcing myself, happy to see that he was awake.
“Good morning … you. How are you feeling?”
The fae man rubbed his eyes, stretched his long arms over his head, and replied sleepily, “I’m feeling fine. I think.”
I set the plate of food—scrambled eggs, a few rashers of bacon, toast—and some water on the bedside table. “Do you feel any pain anywhere? Headache? Nausea? Blurry vision?”
“I have a bit of an ache in my head, but otherwise, I feel all right. I still can’t remember anything, though.”
“The headache is to be expected. Hopefully, having something to eat and drink will help a bit. If not, let me know, and we can try something else.” After what had happened in the village square, I was nervous about using my magic, especially on someone I barely knew and had recently discovered existed.
“How long will I be like this?” he asked before he hastily ate a piece of bacon. His appetite clearly had not been affected.
“It’s hard to say. I have a feeling it may take a few days at least for that to resolve, but we’ll work on some light exercises to make sure we’re doing everything we can to speed that recovery up.
” I grabbed the glass of water and handed it to him, urging him to drink.
“I was thinking, in the meantime, until everything comes back to you, that maybe we should give you a name. It would be quite rude of me to go on calling you, you. How does Forrest sound? Since, you know, I found you in the forest.”
He studied me with intent and some emotion I couldn’t quite place as he chewed on a piece of toast. “That would be fine. Sorry, what do I call you again?” The words stumbled over the crumbs tumbling about in his mouth.
“You can call me Aurelia.”
After washing down the toast with some water, he smiled at me as he replied, “Nice to meet you, Aurelia.”
“You too, Forrest. And please, don’t take what I’m about to say the wrong way, but after you finish eating, I think it would be a good idea for you to have a bath. I’m not sure how long you were out there in the forest, but by the smell of things, it might have been at least a few days.”
Forrest looked up at me, clearly horrified that I would even say such a thing.
“I’ll get the bath ready while you eat, and I’ll find you some more clean clothes.” Then I hurried out of the room to get started on bringing hot water to the tub before I could say anything else to offend the poor fae.
After breakfast, I helped Forrest get out of bed.
He was still a bit wobbly on his feet, so I couldn’t trust him to walk fully on his own yet, which meant I was going to have to help him into the tub.
Once in the washroom, I had Forrest sit on a chair while I helped him undress.
He was significantly taller than most of the men in the village, and he had a beautiful olive complexion, not a blemish to be seen anywhere.
His body looked like it had been carved out of stone—every muscle was perfectly chiselled.
I looked up at his face and found piercing azure eyes staring back at me.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that they were right there, staring into my soul, I might not have ever believed that someone’s eyes could be such a vibrant colour.
He also had the most delicate freckles dotted along the tops of his cheeks and nose.
He truly looked like an ethereal being, like he did not belong to this realm.