A Court of Illyrian Hearts

Chapter Thirty-One

Baelyn POV

I'll find you,

Those three words are the only sound echoing through my soul as everything around me still swirls in darkness.

What the hell had happened?

Faint voices reach my ears, though I can't make out what they're saying through the ringing in my ears – the pounding in my head.

Blinding pain shoots through my right shoulder, the feeling echoing at my temple.

Something wet comes into contact with my forehead and I try to shake it off but the movement only makes the pain worse.

'Hold still,' a familiar voice breaks through the blur in my head. 'You may have a concussion so don't move.'

'Jahran,' my dry throat feels like gravel, the pounding in my head only getting worse. 'what happened?'

'You had an accident,' again, that cold cloth is placed on my head, and this time I accept it, allowing it to ease some of the throbbing. 'but don't think about it now. I'm going to give you a herbal sedative while I fix your arm and make sure you don't have any other injuries.'

I try to nod as the information sinks in but am stopped abruptly when another bolt of pain.

Keeping my eyes closed, allowing the healer to pour the sedative that tastes like mint and something else down my throat.

Slowly, the world slips away again, until I embrace the darkness like so many other times before.

* * *

I wake slowly, head no longer throbbing, pain slightly dulled.

A groan escapes my chest as I force one eye open, shifting slightly on the bed.

The room was warm, toasty, from the fire raging in the hearth built at the other end of the room, filling it with a soft crackling sound.

Rhysand's cabin.

Peeling my other eye open, I turn to look at the window and find the curtains closed – night in full bloom beyond.

How long have I been asleep?

I sort through my memories, trying to figure out what the hell had happened...

Training this morning. The dizzy spell. And the pole...that fell on me.

Shit.

Another, more pathetic groan as I heave myself into a sitting position. Finally able to assess the situation better, I glance down to my right – to the bandage wrapped around my shoulder, a second piece connecting my right wrist and keeping my arm bent at an angle.

You had better not have damaged anything permanently, I mentally scold myself. How could I have been so stupid? Letting a gods damned pole fall onto me. I was better trained than that!

Footsteps echo beneath my level – the upper level – of the cabin, and a moment later Jahran and Luke appear in the doorway; the latter carrying a steaming bowl of food.

'Glad to see you're up,' the young warrior remarks.

A scowl from me has him shutting the hell up.

Jahran walks to my bedside and assesses my condition. 'Are you in any pain?'

'Not much.'

'Nausea?'

I furrow my brows. 'Not at the moment, no.'

A nod. 'You were injured quite badly.'

I snort as Luke sets the bowl of soup on the bedside table. 'I was injured like an idiot would be.'