Page 39 of The Elven Healer's Apprentice

“Surely she came for you,” I protested as I finger-combed the worst of the snarls out.

“Can’t be. First of all, I am male.” Merlon turned to regard me as I came abreast of him. Instead of finishing his list or explaining himself, he studied me. His luminous eyes flared silver before deepening suddenly to rich blue. Despite the exhaustion written in the deep shadows about his eyes and the appearance of lines where there had been none before, his expression lightened and a slight hitch in his mouth hinted at a smile.

“And second?” I prompted, assessing him. I didn’t like the grayish undertone to his skin or the fact the haggard appearance of his already angular face seemed worse in the dim light of Hubert’s lantern. Perhaps it was just the unusual angle of the light.

“She bonded with you, and you have been gone from the compound for almost a week now.” He rested his head on the top of the door without tearing his gaze from me. The sight was boyishly adorable. “Sage will always come find you should you be gone longer than she deems acceptable.” A slow smile curved his lips. “I told you she liked you.”

“What you are describing is far more than like,” I pointed out before turning to Hubert. “Please show me to where the Sage is.” Anything to avoid the vulnerable ache in my stomach growing in response to the look in the elf healer’s eyes. “And you—” I collided with Merlon when I turned back to face him. “Go back to bed. You look dreadful.”

“And now who is being horribly blunt?” Despite the snarky response, he wavered on his feet.

Putting a hand out to steady him, I hesitated when it landed in the center of his chest. His hand came up to rest over mineand press it harder against the linen of his tunic. Heat radiated through the cloth and into my palm even as the gentle, familiar sensation of magic initiating swept up my arm.

Merlon drew in a deep breath. As his eyelids lowered, tension appeared to drain from his body, and he hadn’t been that tense to begin with. For a moment, I feared he would collapse right there and then.

“Merlon, I mean it.” I shoved gently against the muscled wall of his chest, urging him toward the bedding he had risen from. “Sleep. You need it.”

Wordlessly, he complied.

I made sure he had reclined again before I closed the door behind me.

To my surprise, Hubert awaited me in the corridor, concern flattening his expressive ears. “I have never seen him so worn, Lady Adela.” He preceded me through the dim passage, his lantern shedding the only light. “Is it possible he is ill?”

“I don’t know.” There was so much about elven health I still didn’t understand. Children, mothers, childbirth, child-rearing, and herbs, I knew and understood. Elven males were a whole unique area of study in which I felt woefully under-educated. And faced with Merlon’s obvious exhaustion and malaise, I feared my own inadequacy.

True to Hubert’s word, we emerged from the front door of the cottage to be confronted by an agitated unicorn. Sage whinnied and shook her head. Snapping in Hubert’s direction, she shoved her body between us and tried to bully me into the curve of her neck.

“Hush, Sage,” I cooed, rubbing her side as I edged her away from the door. “Hubert needs to do his chores and feed the animals. You don’t want the sheep to go hungry, do you? Now move.”

In reply, the unicorn snuffed my hair, nosed my face, and then pushed at my shoulder before shoving me around in the direction of the road.

“I know you want to go home, but we can’t leave now. Merlon needs more rest.” I rubbed her nose and orientated so she could see me. “I need rest too. It was a long night.” Then I corrected myself, “It has been a long couple of nights.”

As I patted her neck, Sage snorted at me and impatiently pawed the ground once.

“I know you want to leave now, but we can’t. However, I am sure Hubert will share some of his horse feed with you. And his barn looks like a warm, safe place to wait.”

Sage shook her head.

“Well, I thought you would prefer that to standing out here in the chill of the early morning.”

She huffed but walked away in the barn's direction where Hubert had disappeared. I let her go. Hubert understood magical animals, or at least I hoped he did, because I was going back to bed. I needed sleep if I was going to somehow get an exhausted elf and an opinionated unicorn home to a compound I had never traveled to on foot.

The next time I woke, morning had given way to afternoon. Sunlight poured in the window, illuminating the neatly folded pile of blankets stacked where Merlon had slept. Unwilling to rise immediately, I snuggled into a more comfortable position and watched the dust motes dancing in the beam of light. The distant sounds of voices and noises floated through the open window. A slight breeze occasionally disturbed the dust motes.

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened, sending the dust motes flying and the curtains flaring.

“Finally awake?” Poppy asked as she bustled into the room, her arms full of a tray of food. “Even if you aren’t, it is time to rise. We need you to eat, and then go out there and persuade that stubborn healer that there is no way you two are leaving today, unicorn or no unicorn.”

Shoving myself up into a sitting position, I regarded her with amusement. “Merlon is planning on traveling today. Isn’t it past noon?”

“Nearly past.” She slid the heavy tray into my lap, adjusting the legs so that it was stable enough that I didn’t need to hold on to keep it level. “Eat. Merlon won’t listen to Hubert or myself and is insisting on completing his patient rounds before he leaves for his compound this afternoon.”

That caught my attention. “He is what?”

Poppy crossed to the windows and threw the second sash up, jamming it open with a bit of wood. “He is visiting his usual patients, as he does when he passes through. Looks like walking death, he does. More fool him.”

“Take me to him.” I shoved the tray to the side, making efforts not to spill anything. “Where are my shoes?” My worn shoes were gone from the place I had left them, tucked just under the edge of the bed.

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