Page 33 of My Salvation

“That’s what’s amazing,” he countered and held open the door for her.

But sometimes that’s not enough, she thought to herself and followed Amir inside.

*****

When they walked into the sitting area of the suite, the first thing that struck her was the chaotic state of it.

Amir turned to Priest. “We’ll pay for the damages.”

Priest shook his head and placed a supporting hand on the man’s shoulders. “We’ve been meaning to redecorate, don’t worry about it.”

Redecorate? Cas was finding it hard to avoid stepping on broken furniture or glass.

“Ellais, Lady Vi’Illiya is here. She said she may be able to help,” Amir said, looking to the center of the room where a figure sat, face in hands, elbows on knees.

“No healer can help,” Ellais said harshly.

Cas took a deep breath. “I’m not a healer.” She looked around the room. “I help people with their emotions, but I usually have privacy for my clients.”

Ellais snorted. “There is nothing you can do or say that would have me put my brothers out of this room.”

“Okay then.” She stepped closer and made her way over to the sofa that was miraculously right-side up.

One of Ellais’ squad brothers offered her his arm to help her step over the lamp. “Thank you…”

“Flynn Branigan, My Lady.” He bowed.

She looked around the room. “I might as well meet you two,” she said, giving them smiles. “After all, we’ll be housemates soon.”

Flynn frowned. “We’re staying here, My Lady. We won’t be able to join you at House Illiya.”

She pointed to Priest. “My mate is a unit warrior for Tau. So, to support him, we’ll be splitting our time between House Illiya and the warrior villa.”

“A thousand blessings on your mating,” the smaller of the other two men said, bowing. “My name is Elliot Crossvine. This is Alderic Charroux.”

She nodded to them, then sat across from Ellais and tried to sort out what she was seeing. She was expecting the deep purple color, which she knew to be grief, but she was shocked to see the large amounts of emerald green, which to her was always guilt.

“Ellais, which family are you from?”

He looked up, his eyes rimmed red. “My grief has turned me into a churl. I am Ellais Ri’Arlan.” He swallowed hard, then wiped at his eyes. “Ellais Vi’Arlan now I guess.”

“I am so sorry for your loss.”

“We are not a people used to loss, are we?”

She nodded, knowing what he meant. Fae were immortal. Even those living outside of Éire Danu rarely faced death. To lose so many in such a short amount of time had been nothing short of catastrophic.

“I won’t state the obvious and tell you I see grief and sadness.”

“I appreciate that,” he said, reburying his face in his hands.

“But I will ask you about the vast amount of guilt I am seeing.”

His head jerked up, his eyes wide. “What?”

“You’d think emerald green would mean greed, you know, green with envy, but to me, it always reflects guilt. Why are you carrying such a heavy burden?”

Ellais fell back into the chair, looking stunned. “I… I don’t think I even realized that was what I was feeling.” He rubbed his chest. “My brother, Kespar, didn’t want me to leave. His mate had just gotten pregnant, and he wanted me to stay close to home. But we had orders, and I couldn’t leave my squad.”

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