Chapter 25 #2
Leaving us alone.
I try not to tremble.
My mind empties itself of all coherent thought.
The elf’s hand lifts from mine to slide against the bandage on my arm. When I twitch in surprise, she removes herself, but then her hand is suddenly grazing my face in a caress.
Cold, soft fingers brush gently across my forehead, making their way down my cheek to my chin. She goes over this area, up and down, down and up, a few times as though testing the temperature of my skin. The coolness of her touch is soothing; I could get incurably drunk on it.
“Is something the matter?” I ask, and her fingers disappear. My body reacts to their sudden absence, even when her eluviam flares next to me, reassuring me she hasn’t left.
Her hand returns to cup around mine. She inhales deeply.
“Ramiel, you were attacked by a magical being called a klopse. I did all I could to remove its poison from you, but in the end, we were forced to…let the mages intervene.” Her words are edged with reluctance and pain.
She doesn’t like admitting this to me, as if it’s a memory she’d prefer to erase.
“Can you tell me what this has to do with my loss of sight?”
Addressing it makes my stomach twist.
Ether’s hands tighten, and for an indiscriminate second, we sit motionless. She makes a small sound, something between a gasp and a cry.
“You—they blinded you?” her words cut through the air. “This must be that…that damned dark magic.”
Dark magic?
Ether releases my hand and gently holds my face in her palms. Her thumbs stroke over my cheeks.
“It isn’t something I know a lot about, but I do know it isn’t something we should be messing with. And the mages…it’s all they use.” Her voice shakes, but she braves through it. “Your face has also been marred. I don’t know what they did, but in their process, they must have made a mistake.”
She sucks in a deep breath before dropping her hands from my face, but I catch them as they fall.
“Ronan said dark magic does that,” she mumbles. “It ruins your face, your body, your brain, your memories…and worst of all, it convinces you in the end that it exists for your own good.”
I clench my fist, and her cool fingers wrap around it.
“He said it only happens to humans because your bodies are not meant to carry magic. Your essence doesn’t meld with the essence of Aldorin.”
“Can I get my sight back?” I ask, but it’s more like a statement, an order. “Can you heal me?”
Ether’s hands fidget at my tone, but she doesn’t pull them from mine. If anyone would understand me now, it’s her. I’m thankful for the etching on our arms that binds us together. Even if it may be the only reason she’s expressing empathy at all.
“I can’t heal curses. If I could, I’d have done away with my own long ago,” she says. I hear her take a deep breath in. “I don’t know if your sight will return, but I don’t think that is the most important thing right now, if I’m being honest.”
My eyebrows tighten inward. “What do you mean it’s not important?”
“I said it’s not the most important.” She releases my hand. I try to refuse the instinct to go searching for her. “Ronan gave me a tip about the Feast of Undying.”
My heart trips. I suppose she’d learn about the Feast sooner or later, but the casualness with which she mentions it renders me speechless.
“Because this is such a special event, you are permitted to kill a dragon. One of the most revered creatures of the land. But each time a crown prince has ascended the throne, the dragon’s carcass must have been disposed of, along with its eluviam.
” She quiets. “Humans don’t know the eluviam of a dragon has the power to grant a single wish when swallowed whole. ”
I consider this. Xavelor must have revealed much to Ronan in their time together. I’m surprised he’d share as much with Ether, but perhaps the situation demanded it.
“I will remember that.” I sigh.
“Good. Let us get you cleaned and fed,” she coos, her voice like a mellow harp. “Then,” her voice twangs, “we will continue teaching you how to fight.”
“But I can’t see,” I protest. “I won’t be able to fight a mouse, let alone a beast!”
A quiet laugh billows from the elf. Soft and light, it almost makes me forget what we’re talking about.
It’s the first time I’ve heard her sing-song laughter, the sound of it a little unsteady as though she doesn’t laugh often. I find myself wanting to hear more of it, wishing the moment her voice pings against the walls would last a moment longer.
Her fingers slide through my hair, and I savor the sensation of her nails scraping lightly against my scalp, lifting curls into the air. One falls over my forehead. I shiver.
“I told you. That’s not the most important thing right now. Besides, you can sense me, can’t you? Our bond has some usefulness to it.”
I nod dumbly.
“Then that’s all you need. Now come! We’ve no time to lose.”
Ether leads me to my chambers, and, with her help, I spread a woven rug across the stone floor and cross my legs to sit across from her. Her warm, magical center floats before me, and I relax in its presence. It’s a relief to see something.
After a short discussion about where we should practice, we figured the most privacy we’ll be allowed is in my room.
Our encounter on the training grounds seems like so long ago, and yet it has been mere hours.
Could anyone have seen us? Would a passing soldier think a maid and a prince dueling conspicuous?
“Your hands,” she demands softly.
A hum starts in my arm and spreads to my chest.
We are alone in here, I realize sheepishly.
I straighten. My hesitation to quickly follow her command results in her touching my hands and coaxing them forward.
I am a melting tallow candle, willingly moldable to her will. One touch, and I’ve turned to butter.
“Now,” she begins, her fingers still delicately holding mine, “what do you feel?”
I try not to laugh, but a clipped chuckle slips past anyway. Her silence urges me to explain, so with a shrug, I say, “You wouldn’t be the first elf to ask me that in such a short amount of time.”
Her hands squeeze mine. “What do you mean?”
I brush my thumb once over her knuckles. This is all too intimate, but it doesn’t feel wrong. “I met an acquaintance of yours in the forest. A blond elf. He asked about you. He also helped me find the tallup.”
“Pluto,” she gasps.
The longing in her voice lances through my heart.
“Who is he to you?” The question barrels out before I can stop it, the mark on my arm forcing the words. I already know the answer, but somehow I feel a deep desire to hear it from her lips.
Her fingers attempt to pull away, but I hold her steady. Is it a difficult subject to broach? My heart sinks further.
“Nothing,” she mutters. “Well, he’s sort of like family. I’ve known him since I was a girl. He’s like a brother. He…”
My body instantly relaxes. Between her protectiveness of him and his guardedness when talking about her, both make sense. If I’d had someone I grew up with like that, I’d probably feel the same.
Now I just feel ashamed for being so direct.
“He’s a good man,” I interrupt with a smile.
She makes a small noise as she gently wiggles her fingers from my grasp and clears her throat.
“Aside from the effects of our bond, do you feel any magic coursing through you?”
Try as I might, I don’t register her words right away. The fluidity of her voice alone draws me nearer, so I might taste the breath from her lips as she speaks. The allure pulling me toward her is intoxicating. Almost to a frustrating degree.
Her finger goes to my forehead, pushing me away. I hadn’t realized I’d leaned closer.
My left arm swells to life with magic, battling the indignant warmth in my right. My eluviam groans, but not with the same hunger I felt before.
I slide my right hand up my left arm. Smooth skin meets my fingers at the edges of the cloth bandage.
“This arm feels stronger. And my right is still demanding my attention.” My hand moves over the space where my eluviam is nestled next to my heart.
“I feel magic here too, in my eluviam, but it’s not nearly as noticeable as before. ”
“Good,” she says flatly. “Do you…see anything?”
I consider her floating, glowing essence. Will telling her she’s all I can differentiate in the darkness mean anything? Perhaps, but while she can still see me and the world around us, she is the only thing I see. It’s my one advantage. The one thing I can hold on to.
So, not missing a beat, I shake my head. “Nothing. But I’m sure my vision will be restored. If it’s magic and not my health, it ought to rub off soon.” Her silence hits me. “Right?”
Ether’s hands are on mine again. I shudder at the sudden contact.
“We don’t know why you can’t see, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make progress.
Luckily, our magic is internalized. This is something I wasn’t sure how to teach you, but I honestly think you might concentrate better without the distraction of sight.
” She turns my hands over in hers and presses her thumbs into my palms. “I’m going to send some of my magic to your eluviam.
When you receive it, tell me what it feels like. ”
I nod. Anticipation fills me.
Silence joins us for a long moment as I wait for the sensation. My heart thunders in my ears, but I try to focus on the second vessel pulsing beside it.
My hands grow sweaty, and my cheeks flare with heat. But Ether holds me still, thumbs pressing deeper into my skin.
Just when it becomes too difficult to ignore the instincts whispering in the imprint on my arm, a jolt shocks me stiff. Like lightning has struck me through my center, my vision briefly flashes white, and my hope soars before I’m plunged back into darkness.
My eluviam whirs within me, awake. The thudding weight in my left arm and the warmth in my right simmer down, allowing for the magic at my body’s core to breathe.
I communicate this much to Ether, and she clasps my hands in response.