Page 16 of The Healer

“Yes. Go get some rest yourself.”

Nyx nodded and left the room. She strode through the living area and out the front door, the scent of seaweed and brine greeting her. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, cupping her elbows. She leaned back against the stone house as Briggs stepped from the home, closing the large woodened front door behind him.

How could it sicken and hearten Nyx to see his face?

“You were never one for silence,” he murmured.

“I have nothing to say.”A lie.

“Love—”

“Don’t,” she growled, glaring up at the man she’d wasted so many years on. “Don’t use pet names. You’ve never done that with me. I’m not one of your wounded patients to soothe.”

His lips thinned. “It’s not a pet name. It’s the truth.”

She laughed caustically and stepped away from the wall. “The truth? You want to speak about truth?”

His gaze dropped to her shoulder, and she placed a hand over it, even though her dress covered the mark.

“That’s mine.”

She said nothing. He had already learned the truth three months prior when he broke her heart for the last time.

“Why did you not tell me?” He took a step toward her. “You could have told me that night at the cabin.”

“Would that have changed anything?”

He fell silent and Nyx dropped her hand. Go figure. More silence, more rejection. What more could she expect? He wasn’t willing to try. Only guilt moved him now.

She wove around him, feeling sick. Briggs was good for helping those who he thought needed rescuing, but she wasn’t some maiden he needed to save. She wouldn’t be his next project.

He stopped her, his hand curling around her bicep. Nyx stared at his hand and then peered up into his handsome face.

“Nyx…”

“You were right about what you said a few months ago. We can’t be together.” She hiccupped but cleared the lump in her throat. She’d cried enough over the bear who refused to allow himself a happy future. “You refuse to move on from the past and I refuse to be penalized for your choices.”

“That’s not what I intended,” he rasped, looking miserable.

“And that’s why I don’t hate you, but I can’t love you either. It hurts too much.” She pulled her arm out of his grip, and he let her go, like he always did.

Nyx walked away from the only man she’d ever loved, and wondered how she was going to survive losing her best friend.

Chapter Eight

BRIGGS

Three Months Ago

“And that’show you can tell if wild berries are poisonous,” Nyx said, smiling at the children sitting at her feet.

Briggs leaned his shoulder against the nearest tree in the Lochslee garden and soaked up the sunlight, praying it got rid of the chills from his latest nightmare. A shudder worked through his body and his palms began to sweat. What had started as a small nap had turned into a full-blown terror.

His nightmares had been worse since the battles between the Dark Court and Heimserya. The faces of the past that always seemed to haunt him had changed to those he loved now, but today was one of the worst. He’d watched as the Mistress had tortured Nyx repeatedly while he hung useless in chains, unable to help her as she begged for him to save her.

Briggs closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing as his pulse hitched. When he’d awoken, he’d trashed half of his room.His bedding and mattress were destroyed. He could have hurt someone—the children or Nyx… it was unthinkable.

“Briggs?”

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