Page 115 of A Blightress of Wrath
Hepulled her to his side for a lingering embrace. “Holdthe eastern wall.Iwant a camp of soldiers guarding theBlightLinewith the heaviest surveillance tonight.Findthe rest of theFourand all of the commanders.Theyare to convene for a council meeting in the map room in one hour.”
Icontinued to scan the room and my mother leaned in, whispering, “Gofind him.I’llbring you to the meeting in an hour.”Shepatted my hand and let go.
Ididn’t need more encouragement.Myheart beat wildly asIwove through the people speaking in relief of their easy victory this morning.
Isoon found him sitting on the dais, wrapping his hand in white linen. “Thevin!”Iexhaled, rushing to kneel in front of him. “You’rehurt?”Itook the hand bound in cloth, peeking under the bandage.
“Ihaven’t made it to the healers yet,” he said, dismissing my concern.
Ifrowned. “Thislooks bad.”
“It’sjust a cut.”
“Likethese?”Ireached out to his right side, patting whereIknew three long slashes scared his chest.
“Likethose,” he murmured in barely a whisper.
Ihuffed in reply, carefully removing the bandages to expose the raging red gash across his calloused palm.
“Whatare you doing?”
“Healingyour hand.”
Ithought he’d refuse, insisting how small of a wound it was, but he didn’t.Heheld his palm up to me, andIclosed my eyes, sifting through the healing spellsIknew from reading about them inViridis.
Thetruth was,Ididn’t much like theMedicusConduitHall.Ifound it stunningly boring.Ihad spent most of my time inViridisstudying the words of the magical language instead.
Hechuckled in my long pause. “Ireally don’t think it’s as bad as you’re?—”
“Hush, you,”Iretorted.Insteadof trying to remember the specific word that would close his skin, or even going to askClairanniafor help,Ifocused on whatIknew.I’dpieced together the language of magic many times before, weaving it into something useful.Icould do it again.
Thewords came to me, andIplaced my right hand over his left, gripping it tightly.Hegasped through his teeth at our touch, but remained silent asImurmured, “CutisMea,CutisTumn.”
Myskin fused over his wound.Icould feel the stretch of my palm thinning, giving whatIhad to offer to close the gash with my flesh.Asoft white light glowed under our clasped hands, andIgrinned wildly up at him, pulling my hand from his to show that he was healed.
Thecut remained in a white scar down his palm, still covered in red and black blood.Hegrabbed my hand, flipping it over to see a twin scar to his own.
“You’vegot one, too.”
Ishrugged. “Idon’t mind.”
Hetraced his finger down the puckered line, andIshivered, the slightest breath leaving my lungs.Hebrought my palm to his lips, leaving a kiss and mumbling, “Thankyou.”
Hekept my hand near his face, holding it with both hands, andIwondered if he was remembering the kiss we shared just hours before, likeIwas.
Icleared my throat. “I’vebeen meaning to tell you,Thevin?—”
“Therehe is!”Abooming voice overtook my words andThevinlooked up, smiling and pulling me up with him as he rose to greet the man.
Theyembraced, clapping each other hard on the back, the man laughing and saying, “Thoughtyou’d be gone longer than only three weeks!Whatbrings you back so early?”Noticingme for the first time,Igave him a polite smile.
Hewas almost as tall asThevinwith dark hair cut to the scalp and a wicked looking scar that began on his left cheek down to the olive skin of his neck.Heglanced fromThevinto me and then back again, a brow raised.
“Mavryn, meetSaelyn, daughter of theBaronofFelgren.”
Hejerked his head back, scanning me from head to toe.Iraised my chin, offering my hand. “It’snice to meet you,Mavryn.”
Hetook my hand in a sly grin and shook it with a firm grip.Iimagined he was somewhere aroundLanna’sage—only a few years older thanThevinandI.
