Healer

Chapter 22

     "No, I don't think I've seen anything like that." Talia said seriously as Rhysand dropped her hand. He had shown her an image of a great taloned thing swirling in black mist. The same that had attacked his men previously, including Cassian and Azriel the night the shadowsinger broke his ankle. They stood behind Rhysand as he talked with the healer. Cassian was his usual self, but Azriel looked tired. Like a haven't-slept-in-days kind of tired. Even so, he met her eyes many times during the conversation, something she was certainly not used to. They hadn't seen each other since the dance on the terrace nearly four days ago. She sat down while Rhysand leaned against the back of the chair before her, thinking. "It drains the power of fae near it and it has no scent, either. I can't help but think it's made."

"Two more camps were attacked since we went to Windhaven." Cassian said.

That had only been a week ago. She gulped cold dread. It was in their court and it was getting bolder. Rhysand had asked if she were willing to talk more about her time in Hybern and she had obliged without hesitation. She rubbed her closed eyes with one hand. "Maybe...." They quieted, waiting for her to go on. She kept her eyes tightly shut, trying to remember minute details from a time she had buried as deep as she could. "Maybe." She shook her head, standing again and turning slowly to face them. "There was always talk of a..." She motioned with one hand, searching for an appropriate word. "....an accident. An accidental creation. Like a story they'd tell the newer witches to warn them about how they use their power." She swallowed. They were listening intently. "Black magic takes...a part of you when you perform it. Do too much and your form could change over to the magic altogether." She looked up at the males cautiously, knowing it was little to go off of. "I'm sorry, I don't know much else." The Illyrians glanced at each other as Rhysand nodded.

"Okay, I guess we keep digging." He smiled at her as she rose to leave. She noticed that Azriel did the same. They stayed behind to talk as she walked out, not letting her horror at what she'd been shown hit her until she was out of the room. If that thing was what she thought it was then Hybern had gone well off the deep end of their experimentation. And if it wasn't that, then it was just as terrifying, and just as deadly but even lesser known. Rhysand had been careful not to share the images of the dead soldiers or animals left in its wake but her imagination had no trouble filling them in. He had started the conversation by informing them that dawn, day, and winter courts had all agreed to meet, and they were waiting on autumn and spring. 

Ten days to go, and she didn't even know what would be asked of her yet. She wondered how Rhysand could look so easy going discussing yet another threat with something so stressful on the horizon. As she walked back to her room to change, her thoughts shifted to Azriel and her relief at seeing him alive and well in the house, his presence chasing away the ghostly memories of her nightmare from the night before. She had taken time over the days since she saw him to rid herself of the feeling he had given her that night, to remind herself that a few months isn't enough time to know or trust someone fully, even someone like him, and to convince herself that even though she had been abused in the past, her body still had instincts. And needs. And that was all it was.
She hadn't told anyone about the kiss. Or the dance. She had spilled about kissing Daria immediately because she felt guilty about it but this felt like something she should tuck away, something for safe keeping. Something just for her. Even if it was nothing in the bigger picture, it had been something for her, a step in some sort of right direction, a step toward recovery, a retaking of herself. And despite her logic, a small, electric, buzzing piece of herself wanted it to happen again. She pushed that piece to the back of her mind as she climbed the steps to the training ring, and she instead thought of how tired he had looked. She wondered what Rhysand had him doing, why he wasn't sleeping.

     He wasn't sleeping because he had to be away from her. He stood in the dining room and listened to his brothers speak in serious tones about the threats around them and what to do if more appeared.