Page 53 of The Elven Healer's Apprentice

“She is in pain,” Merlon replied. “Now is not the time.”

Illeron rolled his eyes. “I know. I mean later.”

“I need you to leave now, both of you.” Merlon’s irritable glare passed over both elves. “Thank you for your assistance, but Adela needs rest.”

I blinked. I couldn’t believe he intended to dismiss the king. Illeron, I understood. But the king?

“Apparently, I have overstayed my welcome,” Illeron announced, ignoring the fact Merlon had locked glares with the elf king. “Avril will wonder what happened to me. She is going to love the story I have to tell.” He winked at me. “Get well, Adela. Prod Merlon into bringing you over to visit. I know Avril and our horde of children would love to meet you.”

“Horde?” The elf king snorted. “You can’t claim any of Casimir’s in your tally. And the two you have hardly count as a horde all by themselves.”

“Just wait until you have more than one of your own. Then we can talk.” Illeron bowed to me before a shadow elf stepped from the shadows and ushered the spymaster away.

“Since the lady clearly needs rest, I will capitulate to your demands,” the elf king told Merlon before he bowed to me. “It has been a pleasure meeting you, my lady. Should Merlon ever grow intolerable, you are welcome to visit us. I suspect you and Kate would enjoy each other’s company.”

“Thank you, your majesty.” I bowed my aching head as delicately as I could.

“Please don’t use my title. I am Emrys to family.” A flick of his eyes in Merlon’s direction, accompanied with a sly hitch to the corner of his mouth, more than adequately communicated his intention.

“See here,” Merlon protested, but Emrys was gone before Merlon could manage another word. “I will never hear the end of this.”

“The end of what?” I asked. The throbbing in my head intensified. I closed my eyes and leaned into the pain, breathing slowly and deeply.

Chapter Sixteen

Merlon

“The fact I love you,” I said. “And they know that now.”

The words hung in the infirmary’s air for a moment.

Sitting on the edge of the table, Adela hung her head. I could see her pain in the way she held her shoulder. The care with which she moved her head made me suspect it and her neck hurt as well. Clearly, the elixirs hadn’t been enough to dull the pain.

“Let me.” I reached for the sling I had set on the tabletop after pulling it from the depths of the closet. Then I noticed the undrunk elixir. Crossing to her side, I eased the cloth around her elbow. “You didn’t take the second dose of elixir. It will help with the pain and speed the healing.”

“I didn’t know what it was for. You never dose a patient twice with the same elixir.” She didn’t raise her face but continued to keep her head down. Realizing she might need space to process my declaration, I brought the ends of the sling up to tie around the back of her neck.

“True, but they are rarely in as much pain as you.”

When my fingers brushed the base of her neck, she flinched. I froze. “Was that pain or revulsion?” I asked.

She let out a sob that shook her shoulders. “Pain.”

“This is torture, watching you hurt when I could make it all go away,” I whispered into her hair. My heart felt like it wasripping in two. I hated that she hurt, and I could do nothing to stop it. “Please, let me.”

She lifted her head. “But it will hurt you.”

“Not any more. Besides, the fact I am healing you might mean it will take even less.” I brushed my fingers across her silken cheek, savoring the brief contact.

“Just so you know, this doesn’t mean—”

“That I can do it again without permission. Understood.”

Not waiting for her to stop me, I slipped my fingers through her already tussled hair, caressing her scalp and opening myself up to my healing magic as I did. Her pain washed over me like a wave as I worked to ease the inflammation where she had struck the brazier and loosen the tension in her neck. Working my way down from there, I discovered bruising on her upper arms and the expected tenderness in her recently realigned joint.

“That wasn’t what I was going to say,” she said.

Distracted by my search for more injuries, I nodded.

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