Page 85 of The Fearless Witch

I did it without thinking and the moment I was no longer holding her, it felt like all my strength had drained away again. My hand fell lifelessly to the side of my body, the rest of me lying stiff and aching everywhere.

She reached toward my chest and tickled me. Well, tickled wasn’t the right word. She swiped her fingers over my naked skin, her eyes trained on the path she created with the faintly glowing paste she was spreading. Her magic was pulsing around her, powerful yet soft, and the lightest brush of her fucking touch had the hair on my arms rising.

“What are you…?” I started, but she hushed me. I was ready to curse her and push her off me when Cyrus intervened.

‘Don’t. She’s healing us.’

Snapping my mouth shut, I watched her hand move to my neck. I could feel a weird tingling in the lower part of my body, and after I made sure I wasn’t hard as a rock, I realized it was her magic that was doing this.

“Stay still,” she murmured, catching my chin between her fingers and turning my face away from her. I didn’t like the idea of not seeing what she was doing, but I forced myself not to move. If she really was healing us, which would be absolutely insane, then I doubted she’d kill me now. Unless she was waiting for me to wake up so she could make me watch while she did it.

Her palm stopped at my jugular, and the tingling intensified. My throat constricted and just when the sensation became too uncomfortable to bear, it suddenly stopped. The moment her weight on the mattress disappeared, I turned, watching her cross the room and wipe her hands on a towel.

My eyes snatched on another familiar form lying on the edge of the bed, and Cyrus sighed in relief while I held Nym’s tense gaze. He said nothing, just lay there, curved into a ball, until something clanked on the other side of the room and we both looked.

Celeste said nothing as she fussed around a long, rectangular table, overflowing with dry flowers, books, and strange vials. I allowed myself a quick look around—the room I was in had to be a bedroom, but maybe also a storage room, since the table wasn’t the only thing overflowing with magical objects and ingredients.

“Where am I?” I asked. She didn’t reply, just picked up something and strode back. My gaze narrowed at the bowl in her hand, but when she placed it on the bed beside my head, I realized it was just water.

“Earth,” she said flatly, sliding her hand under my neck and lifting my head so she could place a pillow beneath it. I wanted to ask her if she was sure because I didn’t see any other place other than goddamn Heaven where she, of all people, would be tending to my injuries, but I bit back the remark. My eyes darted to her table again and when she noticed, she added, “You’re in my workroom in Roman’s house. We had to contain you somewhere because we weren’t sure if you were contagious.”

I studied her face, trying to puzzle out what she was talking about. My head was still fuzzy on the details. I remembered going to the trials, winning, and then nothing.

‘Alastair,’ Cyrus explained. ‘All those spikes that sunk into us, they cursed our body. That’s why we were so weak, even though we weren’t that badly hurt.’

‘How do you know?’ I asked.

‘I was awake a little longer than you were. They were talking.’

‘They?’

A door opened somewhere, and steps echoed through the room. The familiar smell of flowers told me who it was even before he appeared in my view.

“You’re awake! That’s a relief.” Malakai smiled brightly before striding to the opposite side of the room. More light flooded the space, and I hissed in annoyance as I squinted my eyes. By the time my sight adjusted, he was standing beside the bed, looking me over with critical eyes. Nym barely spared him a glance, his eyes trained on Celeste. “He’s healing well.”

“Mhm,” she murmured, pressing something cold against my sizzling skin. A curse was already on the tip of my tongue when I noticed the floating rag in the bowl she had brought was now on my chest and she was wiping the paste she had been spreading a few minutes ago.

“Do you want me to do that?” Malakai offered, but to my surprise, she shook her head.

“It’s fine. I got used to it. It keeps my mind busy.” She smiled brightly at him before glaring at me. “You can deal with his bad bed manners, though. Or I might put him under again.”

I was still contemplating whether I should tell her to fuck off or… keep my mouth shut, but only because she was helping me, when Malakai sat on my other side and put a hand on my shoulder.

“You really ought to be nicer to her,” he said in a tone that would have been patronizing coming from anyone else, but somehow he made it sound like a gentle suggestion. “Because of the nature of your body, her necromancy is what saved your vessel. I only provided the means.”

I looked back at her, but she pointedly ignored me. She had saved my body? Why would she after everything? Our deal ended the moment I won my crown and brought them here. She had no obligation to help me.

Malakai’s fingers tightened, and I hissed. His eyes were as sharp as knives when I met them.

“Thank… you.” I forced the words out, and the smile immediately returned to the Fae’s face. Celeste snorted, but when she returned to wiping the paste, she was a tad bit gentler. The moment her hand reached my abdomen, though, I turned my attention to Malakai, trying to distract myself with him.

“How long was I out?” I asked him while he studied the scars on my arm with a mix of disgust and pity.

“Three days,” he replied. “And before you ask, you cannot go back to Hell yet.”

“Why the hell n…” I started, but he interrupted me.

“We have been suppressing your powers since they were feeding the curses, and your vessel would need at least a few days to rid itself of the toxins that are keeping them at bay.”

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