Page 93 of The Demon's Discovery
Lovette stepped close, a frown on her mouth. “Were they always like this?”
Greta’s left wing was bent at the stem where it joined her body at her shoulder blade. It looked uncomfortable, awkward. I inhaled through my nose as understanding dawned as to why she constantly worked at that muscle. It took several seconds for me to swallow my rage, my fangs refusing to retract.
“These are just as I recall,” Magnus said proudly. “Nobody else has ever seen the like. Just beautiful. At least now we know why,” he muttered the last, her fae father still a secret.
I glanced around, finding that we’d drawn attention from the rest of the conclave as well, several small gatherings of stone kin had stopped to gawk and point at her unique wings.
Magnus continued, “They were always this shape. But they used to be more solid in the middle. They have always been somewhat translucent with this coloring, though. I don’t remember you ever being able to fly properly, but that’s normal for children. Lots of hovering off the ground and tumbling back to earth. They seem thin…” He stopped, frowning with concern.
Greta swallowed thickly, eyes turning to the ground as she focused on making them move. The muscles that controlled them were weak, and the wings only gave a cursory twitch. She grunted and reached over her left shoulder.
“This one will need mending,” Lovette said. “It was probably broken before you were bound and it healed wrong. All these years…” She shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Greta. I’ll need to re-break it. But if you can go into stone sleep afterward, it should heal up without any lingering issues.”
Everything stopped, the only sound my own blood rushing in my ears. The idea that her bone had to be snapped to correct the way her wing hung sent me into a spiral of rage. This had been donetoher. The red-haired man had bound her with magic, broken her wing. Made her forget it all. Then he’d left her without proper healing, for decades.
“You were just a child,” I growled, not meaning to say it out loud. “Four, maybe five years old. That’s all.I will. Kill. Him.” I repeated my vow, more certain that I would be his end now than I had been before. His trespasses against me paled in comparison to how he’d sinned against my mate.
Magnus roared. Greta flinched back from the boom, and he sucked in a deep inhale. “I’m sorry, little niece. I am not angry with you. But whomever was responsible for this should bedestroyed.”
The appendages drooped then tucked into themselves before disappearing back inside her body. We all followed her lead, shifting back to our human forms so we wouldn’t tower over her quite as much. It felt like bragging almost, being fully in my other form while she showed us her beautiful broken wings.
“Would you please fix it, Lovette?” Greta said, my brave mate marching right back into the infirmary.
Lovette answered in the affirmative but didn’t move. Her normally soft face was bracketed with tension. “I’ll need help. That’s one of the strongest bones in her body.”
“I’ll fetch Rylan,” Magnus offered.
I stood there, vacillating between righteous rage and nauseated worry.
In the end, I joined them in the infirmary and held my mate’s hand, not quite stifling the roar that built in my chest, hot and wild, while they broke her wing and put it back together again.
I even managed not to kill anybody once she let go of my hand and I lost the grounding touch she provided.
Chapter 37
Greta
I’d left the infirmary with Magnus for a crash course in stone sleep.
I couldn’t help but feel anxious. Vassago had given me a solid kiss and sent me away with my uncle, promising to be nearby if I needed anything. He rubbed over the stone of his ring with the pad of his thumb, sending a warm tingle through me from mine.
I suspected he needed to safely burn off some of the rage keeping his eyes red and fangs extended.
Magnus had immediately brought me to one of the huts way out by the forge where there was a nice breeze and no other people. He gathered up a pile of plush cushions, pointing to the middle. “Sit there.”
I did as he asked, muscles stiff as I dropped onto the cushions. My shoulder ached still, but the sharp bite of pain that had come when three of them gripped me and broke that wing bone was long gone.
“Is this going to hurt?” Since everything else had so far, it felt like a valid question.
Empathy softened his sharp features. “No, little niece. Regaining balance can be difficult for those unused to thesensation of waking up from stone sleep, but the process doesn’t cause any discomfort. It’s like a firm hug. Quiet, peaceful. Waking up is disorienting sometimes, even for those of us who are well-practiced. Regular sleep can sometimes leave the mind a little foggy, yes?”
I often woke up still groggy, no matter how well I’d slept, so I knew that all too well. “Okay.” I planted myself on my knees on the center cushion.
“Picture yourself in the place you are most serene,” he instructed.
Closing my eyes, I envisioned the maze. My favorite bench, the statue of the angel with his wings spread wide and placid smile. The perfect view of the starry night sky. The vision quickly shifted to Vassago’s bed, the pair of us cuddled close in a tangle of limbs.
“Untether yourself from this body. Allow it to slip away from you.” The low timbre of his voice paired with the cool breeze from the open windows and the comfort of knowing I was safe helped me to relax. I tried not to fall into my pattern for when I was simply falling asleep, as that’s not quite what we were trying to accomplish.
