Page 84 of Of Serpents and Ruins
"You aren’t healing anymore," I said softly.
Candy shrugged with one shoulder. "The magic’s been off," she said, trying to smile. She held out her good hand, her fingers shaking a little. "I’m glad to see you, though. There’s been so much happening. I thought I was never going to see you again."
I stepped closer and wrapped my fingers around hers.
Her eyes squeezed shut. Tears trickled down her cheeks. "Got to admit," she said, her voice rougher now. "I gave up the idea you were coming back, and I’m sorry."
Shaking my head, I sat on the edge of the bed beside her. "No, Candy, no… I mean, how could you have known?"
"Some believed. It isn’t that I didn’t want to see you again. I love you like one of my cousins, and what you and Brandt have is so special, but I thought…you know, all good things…they end. It was cut short too soon. Damn tragedy. And…" Her mouth pinched as the tears rolled down faster.
The storm thundered outside.
I patted her hand. "I don’t think I’d have believed either, and I definitely didn’t really remember anyone."
Candy swallowed hard, sniffling. "I’m just glad you’re back. I hope you know that."
"I do now." Smiling, I squeezed her hand.
The longer I studied her, the more I felt aware of other things we had shared. She was a tall woman with a gentle presence despite her playfulness. Memories seeped in. Stomping out patterns in the beach before the waters rushed them away. Carving wishes into seashells that we cast into the sea. Testing our triceratopses’ speeds. There was an easy comfort in her presence. A soft warmth that radiated from her even in this state of pain.
She wasn't my rival. She was my friend. Brandt's friend first but mine as well.
My shoulders drooped. Why had the memories about Candy been so slow to return? It didn’t seem like there was anything complicated in this.
I paused, and Elias’s words rang in my ears. Had my own jealousy shrouded who she was? Was it possible I had misunderstood him? I worried my lower lip.
"This might be awkward for me to ask, but I still can't remember a lot of things. You and Brandt aren’t…"
Candy’s eyes widened, and her brow lifted until she winced. Then a rolling laugh escaped her lips. "No. Brandt and I would murder each other in minutes if we tried being a couple. His parents and mine were close friends. We grew up together. He’s like a brother to me, the same as Kine is to you." She chuckled again, her eyes sparkling. "Oh…I guess if you couldn’t remember, I can see how that might have seemed odd. Mark and believe though, Brandt and I are no good for each other that way." She gagged. Then she paused, her mouth screwing up. "Wait. You thought maybe I was moving in on him, angling to be queen or just taking him as my own, and you still came to check up on me?"
"I mean, you were hurt." I shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. It was hard to look at her. Guilt rose within me. I was nosy and suspicious too.
"Yeah, don’t take this personally, Stella, but if I thought you were moving in on my love, I don’t know that I’d be coming in all sweet and friendly to check on you." She grinned a little at this. "What I’m saying is…extra thanks for doing that."
My shoulders twitched. "I’ve been feeling jealous of you."
She giggled at this. "Yeah, I’m a looker right now." She swallowed hard. Her jaw clenched a little as her fingers worked against her palm. One of her nails had been torn off at a bloodyangle. The others remained mostly immaculate aside from a couple chips in the pale lavender paint of two. "Really stunning," she said.
"You are, and you’re going to heal up. When Kine got hit hard, it took him a while too. It has to be part of what the Gola Resh is doing."
"It is." Candy sighed as she relaxed against the bed. "Thank all that is good and kind in this world for sedatives and teas. Otherwise, I’d be so much more miserable. As it is, I’m just sad I can’t join in on the fun and find a way to help unless the magical healing properties of Gershwin’s elixirs returns."
"They’re not working right either?"
"Meh." Candy sighed. She managed a weak shrug. "Not fully. Everything went insane tonight. I couldn’t even get my ring to activate enough to give me the healing beyond keeping my skull from cracking the whole way open, and it was at least half charged, but this has happened more in the past week than ever. It’ll stop working, and then everything will zip back to what it should be. Well, most of it." She bit her lip, concern in her purple eyes.
"What?" I tilted my head.
"Just…some people are afraid that maybe we’re going to lose all our magic before the end. The thing is the shifter rings aren’t Sepeazian magic. They were supposed to be safe. And after all those rings were lost when Taivren fell, there should have been more power to strengthen them. Not less. It just makes no sense. But the Gola Resh is draining everything, and nothing is as stable as it once was. What if…"
It suddenly made even more sense why some of the council members hadn’t wanted my ring restored to me. I glanced down at the silver band around my left ring finger.
"Don’t think that way." Candy tried to sit up and then fell back, sighing heavily. "That’s your ring. Brandt saved it for youfor years. Never let anyone take it. He kuvasted people to save it for you. Fought them all off even when the curse hadn't taken him. He has always fought for you. He refused to let anyone else be queen, and there has been all kinds of pressure for him to do that."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Always keeps your wine glass full with your favorite wine whenever he drinks. Doesn’t let anyone be on his right side if he can help it. Except Scarlet, but you can’t tell that one anything unless you want your finger bitten."
