Chapter 13
My palm pressed into the wooden infirmary door.
“Aelira,” Lioran called from behind me.
“What are you doing out of the infirmary?” I spun to face him.
His body towered over mine again. Warmth surged through me as his gaze met mine.
“Oh…He’s simply defying what’s recommended as always.” Fyn stood beside him. “He’s just been standing here waiting for…” Fyn smirked. “Who were you waiting for?”
Lioran wouldn’t even look at Fyn. “I didn’t expect to see you.”
“You should be resting,” I said.
“Fae heal faster than humans.” Lioran crossed his arms over his chest, wincing.
“Rowena’s healing magic may have had something to do with it. Or maybe the fact that we dragged your lifeless body back here. But sure…go with the fae heal fast explanation.”
“I owe the three of you my gratitude.” Lioran’s tone softened.
“True.” Fyn leaned back into the stone wall. “Rowena did say you’re supposed to rest, though. So maybe you should go do that now.”
“I said I would.” Lioran winced as he shifted his body weight.
“What you told her you’d do and what you’re planning to do are two different things.” Fyn rolled his eyes. “I’ve known you too long.”
Their banter brought warmth back to the chilled corridor.
“I was just going to check on you before training with Cora,” I said.
“Oh? Let me walk you.” Lioran stood tall, but his breathing was uneven.
“You will not walk her.” Fyn slid in between us. “I will walk her. You will go sit somewhere and read some boring prince paperwork, or whatever it is you do around here.”
Lioran laughed through gritted teeth. “Fine. You walk her.” He leaned back into the wall. “I will see you both later.” He braced his body against the wall, his face growing paler.
“Are you okay?” I reached for his arm to brace him but drew my hand back to my side.
“Your Highness, it’s good to see you up.” A fae male as tall as Lioran with silver-streaked hair approached him before he could answer me.
“What news do you have of the borders, Lord Elric?” Lioran’s tone shifted.
“Borders are all secure,” Lord Elric responded.
“No signs of the riders crossing into the Heart?” Lioran’s eyes narrowed.
“No. My men and I rode out on your return and have not spotted them anywhere.” Lord Elric shifted slightly until he faced me. “You must be Lady Aelira.” Lord Elric raised an eyebrow.
He took my hand and planted a kiss on it as his gaze lingered. I shuddered with his touch. Thalen was the only one to ever kiss my hand like that.
“Who knew a disturbance would be so beautiful?” His tone grew so soft I struggled to make out his words.
He knew I crossed the divide. Lioran must have trusted him—he sent him searching for our attackers in the woods. Had he told him who I was?
Lioran’s jaw clenched. “Thank you, Lord Elric. We will discuss the plan in greater detail later.”
“Until then, Your Highness.” Lord Elric nodded, bowing to Lioran before he left us.
My gaze trailed him until we turned the corner.
“Is he always this stubborn?” I asked Fyn.
“Always.” He smirked. “It’s surprising he stayed in bed as long as he did, or maybe it isn’t, since you’ve been visiting him every single day.”
I stopped in front of him, my voice lowered. “You’re not going to give this up, are you?”
“Give up what?”
“Whatever you think is happening—it’s not,” I scolded him.
“If you insist.” He raised his hands up.
My breath caught as I inhaled, a hollow pain responded in my chest. He couldn’t. He didn’t feel that way. I didn’t feel that way.
“You’re wrong, Fyn. About all of it.”
“Aelira…”
“I’ll go the rest of the way on my own.” I stepped ahead of him.
“Lioran wouldn’t forgive me if I just left you out there to navigate the Heart on your own.”
I shot him a cutting glare.
“I meant that in a completely non-romantic kind-of-way…just in a he cares for your safety kind-of-way.”
My thoughts returned to Lioran, the way he towered over me again. The way his silver eyes met mine.
I breathed deeply. Fyn’s words were getting to me, but I wouldn’t let them.
The branches of the willow waved in the wind as we approached. Cora rested beneath it.
“Lioran is on the move,” he warned her.
“And you needed to warn me why?” She laughed.
“Something tells me he won’t be able to stay away.” His eyes shifted from her to me. I glared in response.
“Ah, well, I won’t hesitate to send him back to bed.” Cora’s hands wrapped around the branches, lifting them out of the way as they swung about. “Let’s get to work.”
Fyn disappeared over the tree trunk bridge.
Cora stumbled back. She collided with the willow quaking—a blurry haze formed over her eyes. I gripped her shoulder—steadying her.
“Cora?” I called to her, but she didn’t respond. I pulled the blade of my dagger from my belt aiming it in front of us. “Cora?” My voice cracked.
My hand trembled, the sweat from my palms loosening my grip on the dagger.
Cora gasped loudly, struggling to inhale.
Fear laced her eyes as she examined my dagger.
“Put…that away,” she scolded me.
The metal scraped against the leather, chewing it raw, as I slid it back into the sheath. “What happened?”
“I had a vision.” Her voice quaked with each word she spoke.
I pressed my water flask into her hands. “You looked as if you saw something horrific.”
She chugged the water. The flask violently shook in her grip. “Thank you.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No…” Her voice trailed off. “Let’s get back to training.” She dusted herself off as she stood. Her legs betrayed her, and she stumbled again.
“Maybe you should rest.”
“We need to keep training until you can control it.” She took a deep breath and rose again.
“Because of the vision?” I asked.
She gulped and pulled her hair back from her face. Silence greeted me as I awaited her answer—a chill rippled through me. She was breathless, shaken by a reality that she didn’t want me to know.
“Forget the vision. Just focus on what I tell you.” Her fingers twitched at her sides.
We spent the next hour listening to the ground, touching tree bark, and trailing plants with my magic glow. The ground remained still under my touch, but I felt it: the steady, familiar hum. The land was calling to me still.
The whisper of the wind, the roots of the tree—I could feel their energy moving through me. The steady heartbeat beneath the dirt reverberated through me, racing in time with my own. I traced the roots of the willow before I pressed them deeper into the soil.
A distinct vibration interrupted the melody, grounding me where I stood. Its calm washed over me—familiar and safe. My eyes remained shut. I feared breaking whatever bond I’d established.
Its pulse strengthened, trailing through my veins, winding around my heart, steady and sure.
I was eager to see what I had created, but when I opened my eyes, the land was still—it hadn’t changed at all. But someone was standing in front of me—Lioran.
He studied my expression and held out a cautious hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
The vibration, the feeling—it wasn’t the land at all.
I felt his presence like it was my own.
Cora’s lips pursed.
“Aelira?” Lioran waited.
My throat grew dry, the words faltered as they trailed over my lips. “Sorry, I…I felt…”
“You felt what?”
“You.” I knew the moment I said it that I shouldn’t have.
Lioran’s lips parted. “You felt me?”
My skin simmered with a rising heat. “I think so…” I didn’t even know what it meant.
“Aelira…” He reached for me, but I stepped back.
“No. I’m just tired. Maybe I need to take a break.” Sweat glistened over my palms. I tucked them inside the pockets of my tunic, to conceal everything I felt.
Cora nodded.
Their voices trailed further behind as I stepped onto the stone bridge until only the sound of the rippling stream greeted me.
Cora had moved around the tree, but I didn’t feel her movement at all.
Only his.
Fyn’s words replayed in my mind.
“I’m surprised to see you alone.” The fae lord with the silver hair was standing inches from me. I hadn’t even noticed him approach.
“I was enjoying a moment to myself. I’m sorry, my lord, I don’t recall your name,” I said.
“It’s Lord Elric.” He stepped closer. “It must be a little unnerving to be amongst the fae after growing up in the human realm. I hear Bailoc differs greatly from Nythrel.”
Lioran must trust him. We had discussed how important it was to conceal my identity here, but he knew everything. “Yes, very different.”
“If you ever need someone to show you around the Heart, I am happy to do so.” Lord Elric watched me carefully as he spoke.
I crept backward until I collided with someone—warmth greeted me. Lioran let out a low groan. He folded his arms across his chest as his body pulled from mine.
“I will show her around.” Lioran’s tone was sharp.
“You should rest.” Elric’s gaze flickered with something unspoken. “My offer stands, my lady. If you find yourself in need of company.”
“I will walk you back.” Lioran pressed his hand lightly against my back as he stepped forward. His palm lingered as we stepped away.
I couldn’t look at him.
The water trickled steadily down the stream alongside the path we followed back to the castle. The same energy whirled around me—his energy.
“He’s right. You should rest,” I said.
“Maybe, but I’m glad I was here to spare you. Elric always—”
“I can handle myself.”
“I know you can.” He grew quiet for a moment as his breathing labored. “What happened at the willow tree?”
My heart raced on—wild and untamed. “I’m not sure. Everything is so new to me.” I turned from him toward the stream.
“Whatever you’re feeling…you can tell me.” His voice grew softer.
“It was nothing.”
It wasn’t nothing. I felt something deep and unrelenting settle within me.
“It sounded like… something.” He steadied his hands on his hips, his arms tensing with each breath.
“Please. Just forget what I said.” I needed him to forget it—I needed to forget it.
“Forget that you felt me? I can’t just forget that.”
“I told you. I don’t know what it was.” I wanted to turn from him, to sever the hold he had on me.
Yet I stood there, staring back.