Healer

Chapter 26

     Talia opened her eyes wondering if her conversation with Rhysand had been a dream. Even so, it had planted the idea that maybe she could get herself out. He had been right, Hybern didn't know of all of her powers. Even the archer that had witnessed them disappear from the hall the night she was there with Azriel would have thought it was his known ability. And, he was right, that they were using her.
She had thought they were going to kill her but this was worse. She was a fool to believe they wouldn't come for her. Her need to keep Azriel away, alive, had consumed her and she found it hard to imagine how it must feel to him. She had been willing to risk her life to save him when she hadn't even known him, she was a fool to believe he wouldn't do the same.
The dreams she fell in and out of went forward in time to when he was awake and she sat with him, reading or talking, bringing him food. She hadn't noticed it then, the ease of it. The way he made her feel. Not really. She should have noticed it. She should have left. She was afraid to cry anymore, afraid the tears would freeze on her face. 

As the black eyed priestess took her from her chains that night, she already had a hold of her healers hands, she had already examined her shackles as best she could, she knew what she needed to do, but her strength didn't come back fast enough and she was dragged out without having succeeded. The ritual was the same and she lay on the floor for as long as she could, trying to heal, trying to pull some energy from within herself and as they reentered the icy room, she broke the pins in her shackles. They held as the priestess locked her in but when the door had shut, she pulled with both arms and her hands slipped out. If Rhysand had been telling the truth, then they could be outside the city right now. The idea that they were so close to the hands of those that meant them such great harm forced panic up into her throat. She swallowed and began searching herself for the place in which her escape had come from before. She tried and tried and tried and nothing happened. She leaned back against the wall and steadied her breathing, she tried focusing on the horrors ahead of her to scare herself out, she filled her mind with the shadowsinger in his cage, the closest image she could conjure to him being tortured and she tried to pull it from there. And she failed. She let herself rest, trying to recharge while out of her chains, and again she tried.
Suddenly, she was away from the wall and deep into the freezing room, amongst the bodies of the king's hexed soldiers. She stopped, catching her breath. She closed her eyes and focused, shivering.
We'll be waiting outside the gates. She had seen the gates, she had seen the fields outside them, the tree line, the hard, rocky ground. She knew where to go. She sunk to the ground and fought for control, for focus. She found it, and she sent herself. She willed herself out. And then she hit the wall of her dungeon beneath where her chains hung empty. Hard. As the force of it slammed her back to the ground, she felt Rhysand in her mind again, trying to find her. But she couldn't hold on. She kept her eyes open long enough for him to see that she had failed.

     The three brothers had landed in Hybern as the sun sunk below it's horizon. They didn't speak as they moved undetected through the forest to just outside the castle walls. It was dangerous, they knew. They all knew. But they wouldn't leave her and Rhysand's words had carried a thread of truth. Whatever Hybern thought they could use Talia for, it wouldn't be good for the rest of them. A few hours passed and Rhysand kept an open line to Feyre who had stayed at the house of wind with Nesta in case someone else found themselves inside. It had unsettled all of them, but the new wards they had put in place were strong, and they remained on high alert. Rhysand and Cassian remained calm, keeping an eye on their surroundings, but Azriel was restless. He paced around their little hiding spot begging through his mind for her to find them, sending her strength in any way he thought he could. Worried about the healer, Feyre had pushed her mate from her mind, telling him to try and contact Talia again. He did. He struggled to get a footing but he felt her conscious mind and determination and he knew she was trying to carry out his plan. He focused, waiting for her to answer him. Azriel noticed the minute change in Rhysand and knew what he was doing. He froze, watching him. Just as Talia sent an image from the ground of her cell, a wave of pain washed over the shadowsinger strong enough that his joints cried out and he put a hand against the tree beside him to steady himself.