25. Chapter 25
Isla tensed, instinctively reaching for her blade, but Vaelin held a hand out, his posture relaxing.
A redheaded fae stood at the top of the trail they hiked, wearing only a short-sleeved tunic despite the cold bite of the mountain air. Muscular arms folded across his chest, he leaned casually against the mountain side, an easy grin on his face.
"You waited," Vaelin said. Isla glanced between the two men, until a female voice drew her attention.
"You're late.”
The voice was sharp and laced with irritation. Nearly the same height as Vaelin, she was the picture of classic fae beauty — smooth complexion, long blonde hair that fell in waves down her back, and bright blue eyes.
"Mom's mad," the redheaded fae warned, his amber eyes flashing with amusement.
"We were about to pack up and come looking for you,” the female scolded Vaelin, ignoring the other fae. Her eyes slipped from Vaelin’s to flicker over Isla. “So, you found her?"
Vaelin shifted to the side so that Isla was more visible. “I did. This is Isla, a healer from Rowanmere." He motioned to the others, "This is Aurelia, that's Evric. Friends of mine. He winced, letting his arm fall back to his side.
"You look like shit," Evric observed, still grinning.
Aurelia's eyes narrowed slightly, jumping from Vaelin's shoulder to his bandaged hand. "You're hurt," she clipped, brow knitting with concern, "And you're burnt out. What the hell happened to you?"
"You're the fae healer he mentioned,” Isla said.
The blonde fae slid her eyes back to Isla, offering her a small smile and nod, but a shadow of some other emotion Isla couldn't quite read crossed her face as well.
"We got caught in a flash flood yesterday,” Vaelin explained. “Lost our horses. We’ve been on foot since.”
“Same,” Evric replied. “Not the flood part. We’ve been on foot too. Horses got squirrelly with all the weird weather lately and we decided we’d rather not get thrown off a literal mountain.”
“Come on,” Aurelia said. “Our camp's just ahead. I can see to you both."
Vaelin motioned to Isla. “Her, fine. But not me. I'll be fine come morning."
The fae healer rolled her eyes, "Shut up, Vaelin." Isla felt her brows lift as Aurelia turned on her heel, leaving them all to follow.
Evric took a step towards Vaelin, the two men grasping forearms as Evric pulled him in for a hug, careful to clap him on his good shoulder. “Told you she was mad,” he said cheerfully.
Evric turned to follow Aurelia, and Isla fell into cautious step beside Vaelin as they hiked up the remainder of the trail.
She glanced up at him, muttering quietly, “I thought you said you had no family.”
Vaelin didn’t meet her eyes, but the corner of his mouth curved into one of those rare, true smiles.
“No blood family,” he said.
She looked to the path ahead, warmth flickering in her chest.
It was a short climb to the plateau where Evric and Aurelia had made camp.
Their belongings were neatly stacked by their respective bedrolls, the remnants of a campfire in the centre of the clearing.
As Vaelin had promised, a line of pines along the north side blocked the worst of the winds, while the mountain at their backs provided additional shelter.
Isla watched as Aurelia ordered Vaelin to sit down on a fallen log next to the fire pit, berating him about pushing himself too hard.
Evric, still grinning, chuckled, "It's so nice when it's not me." He flopped down by the fire pit, lounging back against a boulder.
Vaelin glared at him and Aurelia in turn. “Her first,” he said, jerking his chin at Isla.
“No,” Isla said, recoiling as her stomach dropped.
Vaelin glowered at her darkly and Aurelia raised a questioning brow.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I mean, no thank you. I’m really okay,” Isla amended.
Though these last few days with Vaelin had showed her that perhaps not all fae were the same, the thought of being touched by their magic made her feel like something cold was crawling up her legs.
“You are not okay,” Vaelin growled. “You need healing.”
Isla narrowed her eyes at his presumptive, almost possessive tone — as if she was a problem that needed fixing, like she was his responsibility. Then again, he had just saved her life… she fought to bite back her frustration.
“I’m fine,” she insisted. “Really.”
He blinked, a muscle feathering in his jaw. “I assure you, Aurelia is very skilled.”
“I don’t doubt her skill,” Isla said tightly. “Nonetheless, I’ll pass.”
Vaelin shook his head, scoffing darkly. “You can’t keep doing this.”
“You’re the one that insisted on holding off an entire flash flood with your back and sliced open your hand halfway to the bone,” she snapped. “If anyone needs healing it’s you, idiot.”
Evric barked a laugh and Aurelia shot him a look, but Isla didn’t miss the twitch of her lips. Turning away from Vaelin, Isla offered Aurelia a small smile. “Thank you for the offer. Really.”
Aurelia inclined her head politely. Isla could feel Vaelin’s stare needling the back of her neck, sharp with frustration, and she’d be damned if she gave him the satisfaction of averting her eyes.
She dragged her gaze back to his, returning his glare with just as much stubborn indignation.
The silence on the plateau stretched, broken only by Evric’s low whistle.
Isla slid her eyes to the fae, and he winked at her, raising his eyebrows.
She frowned, not sure what to do with that.
The tension now doused, Aurelia turned to Vaelin. “Now, would you sit still so I can see what the hell you’ve done to yourself this time?” she barked as she pushed firmly on Vaelin’s good shoulder, “And take your shirt off.”
“You first,” Evric called over. Aurelia rolled her eyes.
Isla stepped back, lowering herself to the ground as she pressed her back against the smooth stone of the mountain. The cold seeped into her clothing and she sighed, allowing her sore muscles to relax.
Vaelin was still muttering that a bit of rest would be sufficient, but Aurelia was unmoved.
“I am not listening to you grumble your way through the Pass while you juggle burnout with hiking these mountains,” she muttered. “You brood enough as it is.”
“It’s not that bad,” Vaelin argued. “No point in you wasting your strength.”
“Would you shut up?” she snapped, her eyes flaring with annoyance.
“Ah, just like old times,” Evric reminisced, smiling fondly at both fae as they glared at him. Isla couldn’t help the twitch of her lips at the easy exchange between the three of them, reminding her of countless days spent with Oren.
Despite his irritability, the tension seemed to drain out of Vaelin as he surrendered himself to Aurelia’s care.
Curiosity piqued, Isla watched as the fae healer’s hands began to emanate a soft light.
She took Vaelin’s injured hand in her own - the crude bandage Isla had fashioned for him now discarded - intertwining their fingers easily as though they’d done this many times before.
Isla watched with no small amount of awe as the light seemed to sink into Vaelin’s skin, the lines of his face relaxing as he closed his eyes.
Something sharp seemed to lodge itself in Isla’s chest and she looked away, confused.
Desperate to be useful, she looked around, eyes landing on the fire pit. She reached for her satchel, digging around for her flint, then cursed.
“What is it?”
Isla looked up at the sound of Evric’s voice. "I was looking for my flint, but I guess I lost it in the flood,” she said, gesturing to the fire pit.
"I can handle that.” He snapped his fingers, and the fire roared to life, as though it had been burning for hours.
He hadn’t even sat up from where he lounged against a boulder.
Despite herself, Isla felt her lips part as she marvelled at the casual display of power, the sudden heat from the flames wafting over her skin.
Across the clearing, Aurelia muttered something about being a showman, and ordered Vaelin to turn around.
Evric fired a glib response back to Aurelia that Isla missed, distracted as she turned to see the massive bruise that had formed across the expanse of Vaelin’s back and shoulders.
She paled, her throat tightening at the evidence of what he had endured for her.
Why had he done that? She flinched as the memory crashed over her — the smack of the debris hitting him, his grunt of pain, and the feeling of his body flush against hers as he pressed himself closer despite it, shielding her from harm.
Even in the fading daylight, she could see that his back was a canvas of bruises, purple and blue fading into sickly green and yellow at the edges, an angry red gash cutting deep into his right shoulder blade.
Isla’s fingernails dug half moons into her palms as she curled her hands into fists. This was what he called not that bad?
“He’ll be alright,” Aurelia said, and Isla dragged her eyes from the wounds to see the healer smiling at her reassuringly. “Trust me — he’s had worse.”
Isla smiled stiffly and Aurelia returned to examining Vaelin’s wounds, that ethereal light spreading over his upper back like liquid gold.
Isla tried and failed to mask her amazement as the gash across his shoulder knitted itself shut and the bruising faded until all that remained was his unmarred, tanned skin.
Vaelin rolled his neck and shoulders, muscles bunching along his upper back as he muttered his begrudging thanks to Aurelia.
She rolled her eyes at him, shoving him affectionately with one hand, and Isla bit back a smile.
She bit her lip, dropping her gaze to her boots as her thoughts swirled.
Evric and Aurelia were clearly kind, caring people, and Vaelin had done nothing but quietly protect her this past week — even if he had grumbled enough along the way to make her ears ring.
I do not hate the fae, she’d insisted to Blake, to Oren, to Cael… and yet…