Page 16 of An Empress of Air & Chaos

He smiled gently. “What’s the damage, Rhea?”

She put a hand on Gideon’s forearm, and he instantly felt the anger draining from him, like someone opened the drain to his bathtub of fury and unease.

Rhea, he realised. She had touched him on purpose. Her gift.

He smiled gratefully and said, “I’m okay. I’m asking you about the girl.” He nodded his head in the direction of the door.

Rhea spoke so very gently, “The girl will recover with some days’ rest. I shall check on her every hour to apply the lavenderbane to her wound.” Lavenderbane was a natural remedy used by witches to heal wounds quickly, especially ones that had come from the battlefield. “There is no debris of dark magic in her wound. It is clean and should heal quickly with my salve.”

“You don’t have to do that; I can do that for you, Rhea. You’ve been up all-night taking care of the casualties within these walls. I can apply the lavenderbane.” He made it sound like it was no big deal, like he knew the skill it took to make the remedy and apply it correctly.

Which, of course, he didn’t. He just wanted Rhea to rest.

A smile tugged at her lips as she let go of his arm. “I didn’t realise you had become a healer overnight,” she said before setting both hands on her tray of equipment and heading to another door. “I will see to her in another hour, you should get some rest,” she said. She gave him a look over her shoulder as if to say, “Go to bed, Gideon Blacksteel.”

So, he had.

For a whole fifteen minutes. He hadn’t even taken off his boots while lying on his bed, fully clothed. Wide awake and nowhere near slumber, he had to fight the urge to go up to the infirmary at the top of the tower just to make sure she was okay.

He didn’t know her name, but he would find it out as soon as he went back up to get her friend when it was a respectable time of day. He wondered for a minute or two what her name might be, trying to think about what she looked like.

After a few moments, he couldn’t think of a name pretty enough. Instead, he tried to count the number of knives in the weapon room, hoping that sleep would find him before he could reach the figure, but he failed.

Damn it! He exhaled as he moved from his bed in pursuit of the infirmary. He climbed the stairs sheepishly, hoping not to run into Rhea.

Since sleep was Gideon’s new enemy, the best he could do was deliver the girl’s friend to her. He would take some comfort that she would be with someone and then he could try to rest. He hadn’t been able to relax since the mission.

As he made his way down the corridor, he knocked the room that the blonde girl had been assessed in last night.

“You can come in.”

As he entered, he noticed that she was sprawled along the bed like she had stayed here for weeks.

“Hi, I am Gideon Blacksteel,” he said softly. Her face was also beautiful, the kind of beautiful you would see dancing in a tavern and be tempted to spend every coin you had on her.

Not quite my type, he thought to himself.

“Hi,” she said, raising her chin with confidence, and Gideon wondered if Torin had made acquaintances with her yet.

At that moment, a knock sounded on the door and Torin glided into the room.

He stilled and Gideon could tell he was shocked to see him standing there.

“Some say that if you think of the devil, he shall appear.” Gideon’s brows raised.

“Gideon,” Torin said, smiling off the taunt. He sounded a lot cheerier than he had last night as he made his way into the room. “Did you beat me to asking this gorgeous girl her name?” A charming smirk appeared across his face.

Here we go.

Gideon sighed.

“Not exactly,” he muttered.

Torin grinned back, displaying his “show time” smile, his blue eyes dancing with the opportunity of something new.

From his waist down, he still wore his fighting leathers, which led Gideon to believe that he had just made it home from the city’s taverns. His fresh shirt was open a little, allowing his muscled chest to be on display.

“Father said I was on blondie duty.” Torin grinned. “I was to make sure she was comfortable enough to settle into the tower, you know; let her know where everything is situated and all those pleasantries.”

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