Page 88 of Fated or Knot

“It must be called beauty rest for a reason, for you to wake up more stunning than ever,” he said, admiring what he saw in me. I felt my cheeks pinken. “Your eyes are sparkly.”

“Like a dreamlander’s?” I asked. Like Dorei’s, I hoped.

“Aye. Not as many stars as Kauz has. Which, I’m glad. Those baby blues of yours haven’t hidden a secret from me yet.” He winked before stealing a quick kiss and shuffled aside for Tormund to lean over my bedside next.

As I expected, he crushed me in the biggest hug he could manage from this angle. “I’m so happy you’re awake, li’l bird. We’ve been worried!” he exclaimed.

“Sorry it took so long,” I murmured.

Nemensia spoke up, fists on her hips. “No, dear. Don’t you dare apologize for what you’ve been through.”

Tormund nodded in agreement. I soaked in his presence and the caramelized sugar note in his smoke and mallows scent. They’d ditched the scent-blocking soap, and I was grateful, though I feared all I smelled like was body odor.

“Mom has good news to share soon,” the redcap informed me before he, too, let me go.

It was Thalas’s turn. He helped me swing my legs over the side of the bed. A heavy cast encased my right leg from the knee down. “All right. You will need to keep your weight off your foot until we can be sure you’ve made a complete recovery. Theolcanusgave you a magical wound, and those don’t seal the same was as ordinary ones.”

“How long will it take?” I asked, eyeing the cast uncertainly. It seemed like it’d be just as difficult to move as my bound ankle. I bit my lip, worried I’d never walk properly again despite the silencing band’s removal. I’d still prefer the cast to the band in every possible scenario.

“We’ll check it when Kauz wakes up. How about that? A week or so,” he offered, glancing over at the bed behind him. I could see around Marius now, to the figure lying motionless under the sheets. It was Kauz, his skin more gray than purple. He slept serenely. Hopefully he was having pleasant dreams.

A week without him, though? I suppressed a little whimper. I was going to miss him and his calm presence. But he definitely needed the rest after all he’d done for me.

Thalas retrieved a pair of crutches from the floor. They were wooden, carved with exaggerated wood grain and the occasional flourish, with padding over the ridge at the top. “Have you used crutches before?”

I hadn’t, and they required more finesse than I expected, so I wobbled like a newborn faun between Fal and Tormund in the infirmary’s main hall while I practiced. Despite how they dug into my armpits even with the padding, I had the sense that these crutches would make moving around easier than the limping gait I’d gotten used to.

“I wouldn’t mind carrying you,” Tormund offered for at least the fourth time. He seemed to hate watching me struggle.

“No. I can do this.” No one in this palace would take me seriously if I let the princes carry me around like they had on the train. I crutched along with a determined furrow appearing between my brows. I went back and forth down the hall, to the occasional word of praise from the nurses going about their rounds.

By the third lap, when I was really getting it down, a furious roar echoed from the end of the hall. I startled with a distressed whine and lost my balance. Tormund caught me and the crutch that threatened to slip out from under my arm, while Fal whipped around and scowled.

“Where is she?” Marius’s shout carried through the infirmary.

“Over here,” Fal called. Both of them had switched to speaking Serian. I hadn’t mentioned my improved understanding of their language and kept the information to myself. Maybe I’d get some insight for what they were talking about when they changed languages to keep certain things from me.

I walked myself behind Tormund’s protective bulk and peeked around his shoulder as the curtains at the end of the hall were thrust aside. Marius emerged, breathing heavily and looking like a male possessed. His yellow gaze fixed on me, and he strode toward us with a fluid turn of his heels. That prowl seemed predatory and just…no thank you. I didn’t want to be around him when he was this angry. We weren’t stuck in a train anymore; he could take it somewhere else.

“Marius,” Fal said, stepping into his way.

“Not now,” the kelpie growled back. They paused nose to nose in another dominance match while Tormund shielded me, also growling, but with a redcap’s menace. Heat warped around the giant as his fingers flexed, claws growing and retracting as he struggled to keep his rage at bay.

“Get your shit under control right now, Marius of Sorles,” Fal hissed.

“I have to see her,” Marius answered.

“You’re not getting any closer to my mate while you’re throwing a feral fit.”

“It’s contained.”

Fal lifted his bandaged hand. “You fucking bit me earlier. Tell me how that’scontained.”

This gave Marius pause. “No I didn’t?” He sounded confused.

“We had to put you to sleep because you wouldn’t stop growling over Lark and snapping at the rest of us like a wild animal,” the dark elf said, exasperated.

They did? Stars.I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing pulse.

---