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“Very well. I hope the procedure goes smoothly.” He let himself out of the healer’s quarters, and when I turned back around, Althea wasn’t the only one in the room any longer. Two dwarves flanked her, both muscle-bound and bearded, though one had red hair while the other had brown.

“Who are they?” I asked, taking a half-step back.

“Castle laborers. I requested their help in this matter. They didn’t mean to startle you,” the healer replied. “The red-haired one is Thom, and the other is Regil. They will help hold you down until the elixir kicks in. Is that alright?”

Hold me down. Wonderful.

“Yes,” I said even as fear trickled in and circled my ribs.

“Face down on this bed.” Althea set a metal bowl on a nearby bedside table. “I’m starting with the wings and will apply the first round of balm elsewhere once the hard bit is done.”

I did as she requested, and the dwarves stood on either side of me. “Pardon our touch, miss,” Thom, the red-haired one, said. In unison, they pressed one hand each into my shoulders and then the other went to my wings.

I hissed, but they didn’t loosen their grip, didn’t apologize again, didn’t even acknowledge my pain as Althea began to explain where she’d start her work. Hopefully, the elixir would start working soon and they wouldn’t have to keep me pinned down for long. It made me feel like a wild beast.

“Steady yourself, Lady Neve,” Althea said. “I’m starting.”

I braced, but when the knife cut into my wing, I still wasn’t at all prepared for the singe of agony that cut through me. A scream tore its way up my throat, and instinctively, I tensed and tried to jerk away, but the dwarves held me down and kept me from moving too much.

“I know it hurts, but try to stay still,” Althea murmured. “We don’t want to damage your wings more than they already are. Soon, the elixir will overpower you. I promise.”

She continued to work, and I screamed at the stars. It seemed like the elixir would not be enough, that I should have taken three, maybe even four, vials.

Thom’s and Regil’s firm hands kept me still as tears streamed down my face and my fists balled up so tightly that my nails drew blood on my palms.

But when the first ping of metal hitting a dish caught my ear, my breath caught. No matter how much it hurt, I had to soldier on; I had to do it for my future. More than that, I had to know what it felt like to be as the Fates intended me to be.

“First one out,” Althea announced. “Next, I’ll extract the second one in the same wing.”

My jaw clenched as I prepared for the second incision, but before she cut into me once more, the elixir took hold like a dragon ripping me off the ground, and I slammed into darkness.

Chapter 9

A groan slipped through my lips as my eyelids fluttered open. My body felt like a frost giant had pummeled me into the side of a mountain, particularly my—

My wings!

I attempted to sit up, only for stars to spot my vision and a sharp pain to rip through my shoulders and back.

“Ow,” I groaned, but remained undeterred by the discomfort as I reached behind me. My wings were not free as they always had been. Instead, a soft fabric covered them.

“Miss! You must be careful!” a feathery voice shouted. A short fae with a mess of black hair on her head and extremely pointed ears, even more so than mine, rushed through a doorway across from my bed, waving her hands wildly. “No sudden movements. No jostling the wings! Those are Healer Althea’s orders!”

“I—who are you?” What kind of fae are you, I wanted to add, but didn’t. I’d already embarrassed myself with Althea. There was no need to do so here too.

She wiped her hands absentmindedly on her pants, leaving behind wet marks. “My lord sent me to nurse you through the night, though of course, I was here longer than expected.”

“How long?” I asked, taking in her expression, which was reluctantly impressed.

“You slept two nights and a whole day! Through it all, I barely left your side.”

“What?!” I’d never slept that long in all my life. Even when I became so ill that I could barely walk, my master had forced me to return to work.

Then again, I had also never escaped slavery, nearly frozen to death as I traveled into another kingdom, and had a surgery, all in the course of a very long day and night.

“You must have been right knackered,” the fae affirmed. “I’ve nursed all the wee ones in the palace over the turns and even the adults a time or two. Never have I seen anyone sleep so long!” She held out hands, also covered in a thick carpet of hair. “Let me help you up, nice and slow.”

I took them, and she helped me to sit up. This time, no stars swam in my eyes, and no pain came either.