Page 66 of Elf Prince

“Not yet, but please assemble what we will need.” Rheva turned back to Farrendel, resting a hand on his shoulder. A hint of Rheva’s soothing magic eased into him, relaxing his muscles.

Next to him, Essie released a sigh, and the pain on her face eased as well. More than that, hefeltthe way her pain eased as his did. What was going on?

The other elf—he must be the healer in Arorien—bustled around the room, setting a pot of water over the fire and setting out the tools for tending a wound.

Farrendel glanced up at Rheva, his fingers tightening over the bandages. “What is it? I am awake. You can safely heal me now.”

She would not have been able to do more than stabilize him before he woke up. While he was unconscious, his magic had a tendency to lash out at anyone using magic on him, even those trying to heal him. A side effect of being tortured by troll magic.

A slight smile crossed Rheva’s face, at odds with Weylind’s continuing scowl. “I would, but you see, you and Elspetha have developed an elishina.”

“What?” Farrendel nearly sat upright again but flopped back with a groan. He glanced at Essie, still unconscious next to him, and lifted their clasped hands.

An elishina. That would explain the new awareness of her. He could feel each breath she took, each beat of her heart, deep inside his chest.

Machasheni Leyleira had hinted that an elishina was possible. And Farrendel had dared to hope—in rare moments of optimism—that it might happen for him and Essie. He had even begun to wonder if her rapid learning of elvish might be a sign that the first glimmers of an elishina, the elven heart bond, was happening.

But deep down, he had struggled to hope something that wonderful would happen to him. He had resigned himself to watching Essie live a normal human life, and he had thought it would not matter since he would die young in battle anyway.

Yet he had his chance to die young in battle. And he had not taken it. He had wanted to live, to figure out this new life with Essie, instead. He had chosen her over death.

Would she be all right with an elishina? He had never explained what it was or what it would mean for her since he had thought it so unlikely that one would form.

Yet the elishina would affect Essie more than it did him. Hopefully she would not despise him when she found out.

That would explain Weylind’s increasingly deep scowl. He, of course, was not happy about the elishina. Not if it meant that Farrendel would give up hundreds of years of his life for Essie.

Farrendel turned back to Rheva. “What does our elishina”—that was strange to say—“have to do with healing me?”

“Elspetha kept you alive, there on the battlefield. She used the deepest connection of the elishina to keep you breathing until I reached you and healed you enough to keep you alive.” Rheva rested a hand on Essie’s forehead, a hint of her green healing magic seeping into Essie. “But she is human. Keeping you alive and activating the deep connection of the elishina was a great strain on her body. Right now, her body is sustaining yours, and yours is sustaining hers.”

“Should I let go of her hand?” Farrendel held up their clasped hands again. If he remembered the legends right, the deep connection of an elishina was strongest when the couple was touching. If he let her go, that would disconnect the deep elishina so that he was no longer putting strain on Essie.

“No, not yet.” Rheva wrapped her hand over his and Essie’s clasped fingers. “The elishina needs time to settle into her body, and I believe it would be best if we let it run its course. Once she is rested, she will wake perfectly fine, and then you will be able to pull away safely. Until then, we will tend your wounds as much as we can without further straining Essie, then we will let both of you rest until we can heal you the rest of the way when she wakes.”

Farrendel nodded and tried to relax. “Whatever is best for Essie.”

Weylind made a noise in the back of his throat. As if he thought Rheva should heal Farrendel all the way, no matter what strain it might put on Essie.

Rheva shot a glare at him over her shoulder. “You are not helping. Please leave us to our work and see to preparing the train for our departure.”

With one last, pained glance at Farrendel, Weylind spun on his heels and marched from the room.

After Weylind left, Rheva and Arorien’s healer set to work cleaning Farrendel’s wounds and picking out the pieces of his shirt that had been lodged inside him.

He gritted his teeth through the process, focusing on holding back his magic and trying not to let the pain affect Essie.

Finally, they re-bandaged the wounds, and the healer settled a slow healing magic on the wounds.

Rheva rested her hand on Farrendel’s forehead.

Before she could use her magic to send him back to sleep, he shook his head. “Not yet. I need to speak with Weylind.”

Rheva hesitated for a moment before she nodded. She headed for the door, shutting it quietly after her.

Farrendel glanced at Essie lying next to him. She still slept, but, now that his wounds were tended and the healing magic numbed his pain, the lines had smoothed from her face.

The door opened again, and Weylind stepped inside. Grooves still dug deeply into his face. His dark eyes searched Farrendel’s face. “Shashon?”

---