Page 152 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

I fought a cringe as the information began to flow back to me, an overview of her disfigured body. The blatant cruelty was beyond anything that I had ever experienced. Careful and deliberate torment and hateful mutilation.

I instantly flushed out the last of her infection and gave her a health boost to correct her nutritional deficiencies. She could not feel me do this, but I sensed her perking up as her damaged organs were healed and began to function as intended.

“Brace yourself,” I warned them both before I turned my attention to her mouth. She was missing many teeth, but luckily for her, the Autumn Prince had acquired what I would need to restore them for her.

Nuala hissed and flinched as I began to heal her gums. All of her teeth were either rotted or severely damaged after decades of neglect. I might have moved some of the healthier ones into more ideal positions to salvage them, but why bother? The ones in my hand were healthy and white and clearly well cared for.

Her teeth began popping out of her mouth to land in her lap which made Nuala whimper in disgust.

“Gently,” Rian warned me sharply.

He had said Aodhan used the magic, so he would have known what it would entail. He would have expected the cruel and visceral realities of what I had to do, but he still could not seem to help becoming defensive of the witch.

“It is not gentle work,” I responded without taking my focus off of Nuala who put her hand on his arm to assure him wordlessly that she was alright.

Once her gums were healed and her teeth were out of the way, the real work began. I focused on the teeth in my hand to begin channelling them and felt them collapse into drops of water in my palm as I transformed them to suit my needs. Performing this sort of magic was not a natural use of elemental power, and it usually left a taint upon the Tithriall when witches used it. However, Seelie fey were uniquely qualified for it since water magic was healing, and I could return the magic unscathed to the Tithriall.

Nuala hissed again as new teeth began spearing up out of her freshly healed gums. Healthy and perfect.

“Eyes next,” I warned her as I shifted my hand higher to rest on her left temple.

Using the eye that once had perfect vision in my hand, I strengthened her sight and then healed all the bruising and swelling in her face. She winced, but then both of her eyes opened, and I was astonished by the mismatching colours of them. One was crystalline blue while the other was the same striking amber as Amira’s orbs were.

One eye in reality and one in the Tithriall.

“Deep breath now,” I advised her, and then rebroke her nose with my magic the instant that her lungs were filled which made her cry out in pain.

Rian uttered a warning growl at me when her blood erupted down her face, but I ignored him, staying focused on using the cartilage in the ear from my palm. Nuala was strong, especially for a human, and she was not nearly as dramatic as I expected while I reshaped her nose.

Deciding to give her a break from the pain, I used the short strands of shiny, black hair in my hand to nourish her frayedcurls so they fell in soft and luscious waves. The magic also thickened and beautified the rest of her body hair, including her lashes and brows. I healed the rest of her shallow cuts and bruises, which was little more than a tingle for her, before shifting my free hand down to indicate her deformed fingers.

“This is going to hurt too,” I warned her.

“Do it,” she growled, still trembling from the pain I’d already inflicted, blood leaking from her nostrils, but she was determined to endure more. “Leave the burn scars.”

“Very well,” I agreed, impressed with her as I quickly removed my belt with just one hand. “You better bite this. We don’t want to ruin those pretty new teeth,” I pointed out as I held my belt up to her mouth. Nuala clenched her teeth down on the leather without complaint as I looked to Rian over her shoulder. “You should hold her,” I advised, and he nodded as he carefully wrapped an arm around her to pin her against his chest. I thought Nuala might react to being restrained, the gods knew that I would have in her position, but she seemed content to let him hold her.

“I am sorry,” he whispered to her just before I rebroke all of her fingers at once with my magic. It seemed better just to get it fucking over with.

But she screamed so loudly that it almost broke my concentration on straightening and reconstructing all of her bones, joints, and tendons. On regrowing her nails. Her nipples and genitals had been mutilated, so I used the tongue in my hand to restore them to complete perfection. There was not much magic left to be harnessed from the remains, but I was able to use the remainder of them to seal cracks and chips in her bones. I replaced chunks of flesh that had been cut off her, and the last of the remains dissolved into water and dripped through my fingers.

I had not meant to heal her almost entirely, but I could not allow that poor female to go one more day as she was. And besides, usingaistriúmagic had made it so much easier than using so much of my own energy. By the time I was done with her, Nuala was healed and whole again for perhaps the first time in decades. She had only to gain back some weight and strengthen her frail body.

“Sorry about your nose. And your dress,” I muttered with a wince as I took my belt from between her teeth. The blue gown was ruined anyways, so I reached down to the hem and tore a strip off of it.

Predictably, the Autumn Prince glowered.

“Oh, just relax, Rian, it is only us here, and she already said she is not afraid of me,” I insisted as I manifested fresh water in my hands. It dampened the strip of her dress so I could use it to clean her bloody face.

“It is alright,” said Nuala, her voice still a little nasally from the clots of blood in her nose. “It hurt but…”

Rian loosened his arm from around her so she could reach up to touch her face, her teeth, and her hair in utter disbelief. Then she looked down at her delicate looking hands that were perfect besides the burn scars she insisted I should not heal. She flexed her long, slender fingers easily and tears formed in her mismatching eyes.

“The pain is all gone now,” she whispered, raising her eyes to me with a look of such utter gratitude that I had to fight the urge to put space between us.

“Is there fire?” she asked Rian, turning to look at him beseechingly, and his irritation with me was all forgotten. This witch had been here just one day, and I was pretty sure she already had him wrapped around her finger.

I wondered if maybe we were concerned for the wrong person when it came to… whatever was between them.

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