Healer

Chapter 3

House of Wind

     Talia stood for a moment, looking across the large bedroom at the male on the bed, larger even then hers downstairs, large enough to accommodate his wings. On the other side of the bed was a sofa, and behind that, two huge windows that opened out of the back of the house. The curtains were split to offer a view of the mountains beyond. She stood perfectly still, her wheels turning. He looked dead. Like he had been for a bit. But surely, surely the whole lot of them were not delusional enough to bring a healer to a dead fae and beg for help. 

She was too far from him to tell for sure. She turned back to the three fae behind her quickly and glanced at Rhysand. He gave her an encouraging nod and she limped across the room to the side of the bed. As she approached, she began to see the slight rise and fall of Azriel's chest. Her own chest loosened slightly at the sight of it.
Not dead. If not dead, then close, though, his skin an ashen grey as he lay completely and utterly still. But that rise and fall, that slight rise and fall was steady. Consistent. She could work with that. She stood at the side of his bed for a moment, nerves setting in again as she realized she could barely reach him from where she stood.
The bed was huge, and his wings were splayed out beneath him, his body near the middle of the bed. It would be awkward. He wore a sandy colored linen shirt, the sleeves reaching to mid forearm, baring his wrists and hands. They were covered in scars. Her eyes lingered there for a moment, she hadn't noticed them in the darkness that night in the ruins. She reached out and laid a hand on his arm and flinched. His skin was like ice.
This wasn't any common illness, any easy diagnosis. It would take work to understand, she would need to get close, to take a real look, to lay her hands on his chest, his face, to feel inside of him, to do her job. She would need to climb on to the bed to do that at this rate, already on her toes just to grasp his forearm.
Her instinctual bedside manner set in. She didn't intend to humiliate herself. Or Azriel. They needed privacy. She slowly turned back to the fae standing behind her. His family. Three of the most powerful fae in Prythian, worry written on all their faces. She didn't want to worry them further. Not yet. She swallowed.

"I can do this more effectively if I have a few minutes alone with him." She motioned behind her to the bed. "I need to concentrate." She met eyes with Rhysand only, knowing he might agree and could convince the others. Cassian looked incredulous, turning to Rhysand with his mouth open to speak. Rhysand had been standing with his arms crossed and he lifted one of them toward Cassian without looking.

"Of course." He said. He was calm, but he didn't trust her. The distrust wasn't washing off of him in waves like it was with his general, but it was there. She couldn't blame him. She could only show him otherwise. "We'll wait in the hall. Take all the time you need."

As they walked out she could hear Cassian mumbling to his high lord. She turned back to the bed as they shut the door behind them, but she could hear his deep voice, low but plenty audible through the mahogany colored wood.

"You trust her enough to leave her alone with him?" he asked, as though he thought Rhysand had lost his mind. Talia walked to the other side of the bed, hiking her skirt up to her knees and slowly stepping up on to the frame to get a better reach.

"What's she going to do with us standing right here?" she heard Rhysand counter from the hall.

"Maybe the same thing she did that night, Rhys. Maybe she's waiting to call on her Hybern soldiers to flashbang him and take him back to that hell hole." Talia stopped moving and stared at the door. They thought she might have been involved in the attack that night, and it made sense. All they knew was that the shadowsinger had unchained her, spent time alone with her, and come out having been imprisoned and tortured by the people who held her. Housed her. She looked down at the male on the bed. He hadn't doubter her, apparently, but it made sense that his brother did.