Page 104 of Elven Crown

Rebecca bit down on Rowan’s belt so hard, her jaw muscles burst with the tingling cold of fatigue before going numb. Still, she focused on her task. The pain was blistering, though she had stopped making herself pass out before she could finish years ago. Now she bore it all in duty and obligation.

Every wound Theodil had inflicted on her tonight received the same attention from her Bloodshadow healing. Bones broke apart and re-knit beneath flesh that burned and charred and sloughed away to be replaced by a brand-new version of itself. Every time she destroyed and created somewhere on her own body, the pain was almost enough to make her stop.

Almost, but not quite.

She couldn’t let it stop her, because Rebecca was alone in this too. No one else was going to heal her the way it needed to be done. No one could.

Rowan remained by her side through all of it, watching her move through the agony of torture she was both forced and expected to perform on herself. He said nothing and didn’t try to stop her.

Though she couldn’t see through the pain, even after healing her swollen eye, she still felt his gaze on her, his attention focused on her face and watching her reactions. Not once did Rowan focus on her magic instead.

He had no investment in what made her so different from everyone else, what made her special, what made this hell that had become her life so necessary. Rowan Blackmoon was the only one who cared more about Rebecca—about how she felt and what she thought—than about what her Bloodshadow magic could do or how valuable she was or how she could be used.

It felt like hours passed while she bit down on Rowan’s belt and healed her grievous injuries, but the pain negated all concept of time. When she finally finished, the exhaustion flooded in, filling all the holes left behind once the pain was gone.

Rebecca could hardly open her mouth to release Rowan’s belt from between her teeth. She had to pry it out after almost having bitten straight through both folded layers of hide. Nor did she have the strength to hand it to him before the belt clattered onto the piles of chipped stone and loose shale beside her.

Then she heaved a massive sigh, closed her eyes, and lay on her back. All she wanted now was to breathe, nothing more. To just lie here in the cool night air and forget what had been done to her and what she’d done to herself. Tobreathe…

She’d almost forgotten Rowan was still there beside her until she heard him rummaging around in his pack.

“Take this,” he said.

She opened one eye to look at the black cloth lying open in his hand. Resting in the center was a portion dry biscuit.

She closed her eye again. “They would hang you upside down by meat hooks if anyone caught you doing this. You know that, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. That’s what makes it fun.”

The amusement in his voice matched the grin he fixed on her when she opened both eyes to study him.

With a snort, she snatched the food from his hand and forced herself to eat as much of it as she could stomach.

After the third bite, the warmth, energy, and renewed strength of both body and mind made her more grateful for Rowan than ever. He’d broken all the rules to be with her here, to support her and comfort her, to feed her something that helped her recovery in ways her Bloodshadow magic still didn’t quite reach.

If he were caught, his punishment would be severe.

Rebecca’s only punishment would be the knowledge of what the Bloodshadow Court was doing to him.

There was nothing else they could do to hurt her personally. They’d already been doing it every single day and had been hurting her all her life. But they could still use Rowan against her.

“Thank you,” she muttered before offering him the rest.

“Keep it,” he said. “You need it more than I ever do.”

After one more bite, she wrapped the biscuit in the black cloth and tucked it all into the side pocket of her leather vest.

“It hurts seeing you like this,” Rowan whispered.

“Perfectly avoidable if you just stay away from the temple ruins,” she replied.

“I never will.You’rehere.” He let out another tired-sounding sigh. “It’s not just seeing it, though. I hate what they’re doing to you. That they think they have to.”

“I know.” She wanted to, but she just couldn’t look at him. “Be grateful you’re not the one running the gauntlet.”

“We’re not talking about me,Kilda’ari. This is bad. It has been for a long time, but now it’s getting worse. Every day. I can’t help this feeling that one day, they’re going to take it too far—”

“They won’t kill me,” she interrupted. “And they won’t let me die. That would ruin everything.”

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