Page 130 of Crowned By the Fae King

"I'm fine," she said, sounding breathless. "Quyen, what the fuck happened to you?"

Nobody told me I could take my hand off my eyes, and at my feet I could see that I was standing on a shirt and bra, so I kept my hand up. "It's Cass. He's hurt. Really badly. Can—do you have a healer?"

"A healer," Vaduin said, sounding horrified. There was some rustling.

Sharp, stabbing pains started radiating up my arms. I backed up a little bit into the door, putting more of my body inside the palace, trying to maintain that connection with Mercy despite the fact that most of me was far away from my palace and throne. "Please," I said, tears starting to sting my eyes, from the fear and pain. "Please, it's really bad."

A warm hand wrapped around my wrist, and Vaduin lowered my hand to meet my eyes. "No need to plead, lioness," he said, using Cass' name for me. I started crying in earnest, the tears falling like acid. "Listen," he said. "Go back. Give me seven minutes, and open another door to me, alright? Dani wears the signet, and she needs to stay here to help our people, but I'll help. Okay?"

I nodded, my eyes and arm burning.

"Go," he said. When I didn't immediately move, he kissed me on the forehead. "Go before Mercy can't hold that door. Go."

Agony shot up my arm, the proof of his words, and I didn't delay any longer. I jumped backwards – catching a glimpse of a naked Danica frantically yanking on pants – and back into my palace.

The door snapped shut with a sharp shearing sound. I stood there, panting, tears hot on my face, then set my hands on the wall and started counting. "One one-thousand," I said, my voice as hoarse as if I'd been screaming. "Two one-thousand. Three one-thousand."

The litany kept me from going insane. One to sixty, seven times, while my soulmate lay on the ground one room over, hurting and maybe dying. While Vad found a healer.

"Fifty-nine one-thousand. Sixty one-thousand. Vaduin. Go to Vaduin," I said, leaning into my memories of him again.

"He seems to always wear down us prickly sorts. Too loyal for his own good." A warm smile, far too knowing. "I know him."

"I might flirt with her." Sheer wickedness dancing in bicolored eyes, his tail curling through the air. "It's so intimate in the sky."

Stunningly beautiful rubies, strung around my neck. "Keep them, if you like. Consider it a coronation gift, for you to wear and Cass to admire."

Stern determination on an elegant face. "Give me seven minutes. I'll help."

The stone under my hand dissolved, the effort making all my veins ache. Vaduin didn't keep me waiting. I was bowled over by a lean form, Vad shoving a slight man in front of him as he leapt through the door. I hit the ground hard, pain singing up my elbow.

The door closed like the jaws of a trap. Vaduin stood there, panting hard, his eyes closed and tail wrapped around his waist.

He hadn't wanted it to get chopped off by the door. He didn't want me to have to hold it open any longer than necessary.

"Cass," he said, not opening his eyes.

The other man got up from where he'd fallen on all fours and offered me a hand. He was possibly the most unattractive fae I'd ever seen, though given that most fae were preternaturally beautiful, he was still a solid six as far as mortals went. A narrow face and sharp nose gave him a bit of a ratlike look, an impression that wasn't helped by his pin-straight brown hair raked back into a slender ponytail. He should cut that off, I thought, an uncharitable opinion at best.

I took his hand and let him help me up, wincing as pain radiated up from my banged elbow and hip. I wasn't used to having physical consequences anymore.

"This way," I said, and led them into my bedroom.

Cass was exactly where I'd left him, eight minutes prior. Curled in the fetal position, trembling, his head on a pillow and his hands tucked up against his chest.

"Cassie?" I asked, getting down on my knees next to him.

His dark lashes slowly parted, his eyes taking a moment to focus on me. Tear-trails marked his face. "Still not dead," he said, his voice weak. His golden irises slid up to the man who'd come with Vad. "Liyn?" Cass asked, sounding bewildered.

"I'm who was available on no notice," the healer said grimly. "Let's get you on the bed."

Liyn was a slender man, maybe five foot nine and built on delicate lines, but he was a healer, and once he had his hands on Cass for a few minutes, he and Vad were able to help Cass to his feet and over to the bed.

Cass dropped heavily onto the side of the bed when they got there. His wings tore the quilt. Tacky blood smeared across the ripped cloth.

It took them a couple more minutes to get Cass fully onto the bed. Vad and I got him comfortable while Liyn sat there holding Cass' hand, an expression of focus furrowing his brow. Whatever the healer was doing was definitely helping; Cass wasn't in agony anymore, and his body was loose, like he'd taken a muscle relaxant.

Vad tugged me aside when I made to go sit down next to Cass. "What happened?" he asked, pitching his voice low enough that I thought the other men wouldn't hear. "The blood I can understand, but your hair and his is more than a foot longer than it used to be, and he has claws."

---