Page 45 of The Elven Healer's Apprentice

“Illeron’s elves would offer to remove her to a safe place.” Something in her voice sounded strange. I tugged gently on her hand, encouraging her to turn toward me. She offered no resistance, but she didn’t meet my gaze. “Adela, what is wrong?”

“Nothing.” She dashed the back of her hand across her eyes. “I will be fine.”

“Something is bothering you,” I whispered, drawing her chin up so I could gaze down into her face. Telltale tears caught in her eyelashes betrayed the truth. Then she blinked, lowering her head and hiding her face again. “Adela, tell me, please. Let me help.”

She shook her head. “There is nothing you can do. It is in the past.” Wiping at her eyes again, she laughed without humor. “I was just thinking about the time I tried to persuade my mother to leave the fortress, run away from Hectorius. She refused. Said she had nowhere to go.”

I knew that pain. The helplessness in the face of an impossible situation that you knew could go terribly wrong at any moment. The tension in the air when encountering someone more powerful than oneself. Someone who could inflict destruction at any moment and being helpless to stop it from happening.

Folding my arms around Adela’s slender frame, I offered the only thing I could—comfort. Pressing my face into her fragrant hair, I whispered the one thing I could promise: “You are safe now. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

For the briefest of moments, Adela rested against me, accepting. But then, far too soon, the sound of voices outside broke us apart.

“I can’t do that!” Lippin protested.

“My son needs help!” a female voice declared loudly. “He is sick!”

“But, my lady, he is—” Lippin was interrupted by the sound of someone losing their lunch outside the door.

Adela and I both instinctively moved at the same moment. She dashed for the door, and I reached for my magic, which caused her to swing around in the doorway and glare at me.

“Don’t access your magic,” she ordered before ducking out the door.

Amusement brought me up short. When did she grow comfortable enough to order me about? I smothered my smile as I tapped the ward that protected the inhabitants of the compound against infectious diseases. I just wished to check it was still active and included Adela. It did. Only then did I drop my connection. My colleague had a good point. I needed to conserve my magic.

I followed the sound of Adela’s calm voice out into the midday sunlight.

Chapter Fourteen

Adela

A day and a half later, Merlon and I were laying out all the potential supplies that he might need for his trip to the elf king’s event. Half of Merlon’s elixir and potion reserves covered the still room surfaces in tiny glass jars and vials of various colors based on their purpose. Gathering them from the depths of storage had been a learning experience all on its own.

I now knew far more about what each did and what each contained. Plus, I now possessed a copy of the key to the cabinet. That simple fact made me far more excited than it should have. Not only did I now possess unlimited access to such a rich bounty of healing resources, but Merlon trusted me with the responsibility of tending to them and judging when to use them.

“I don’t think I have ever seen this many elixirs spread out in one place in my life,” I muttered.

“Me either.” Merlon surveyed the array. “I rarely arrange the contents of what I carry with me like this.” He frowned. “Are we ready to summon Lippin?”

To further conserve Merlon’s rebuilding magic reserves, he was abstaining from initializing any spells. That included even his usual method of carrying supplies, a folded space spell. Instead, Lippin would use the spell already set on the satchel Casimir provided for our previous journey.

“Perhaps.” I mentally tallied up the rows before me.

“Adela, it is enough.” Merlon’s large hands enclosed my shoulders, and the now very familiar sensation of belonging settled in my bones. It tempted me, enticing me to lean into his solid strength and let him hold me.

I resisted. Now was not the time. He needed to be prepared for anything, even depleting his magic again.

“Seriously, Adela.” He tightened his grip ever so slightly. “I am almost up to my normal reserve thanks to your efforts, and once I am there, I will function just fine.”

“Even after traveling through the shadow lands?” I pulled free from his grip to cross to where my list rested. I had clipped the pages to a thin piece of board. Plucking it from the edge of the table, I clasped it to my middle like a shield. Only then, with distance between us, did I turn to visually assess the healer.

His skin had returned to his usual healthy tones. The hollows in his cheeks had faded completely and only the barest of darkness lingered beneath his eyes. His presence tingled with latent magic again, and I knew from the few times he had forgotten himself that his spells had returned to their usual flash and power. But for how long? He couldn’t tell me in objective quantifiable terms how recovered he was truly. No matter how I pressed, he only offered estimates.

“I hate the shadow lands,” he admitted. “But they don’t interfere with my capabilities.”

“What if someone attacks you?”

“In the shadow lands?” His silver eyebrows arched in amusement. “No one dare attack a shadow elf or his charge in the very place they are strongest. Every elf knows that.”

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