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Layala tugged her top off and tossed it into the pile of dirty clothes. “I don’t believe him. He must have had something to do with the curse or why would they be loyal to him? If it’s the All Mother’s balance of nature, wouldn’t they simply be cursed?”

“I don’t know,” Thane said truthfully. “But I think knowing that the pale ones are, in part, his fault, is a punishment. If you knew it was your fault the elves were cursed, you’d feel horrible.” The old Hel, the one from his memories, his brother, would hate what he’d become even if he never admitted it.

“That would only be a punishment if he felt remorse or had a conscience, and I don’t believe he does.” Layala tugged on a fresh top and peeled her pants off. The sticky blood made them difficult to remove. She pressed the wet cloth over the four red lines.

“Let me heal that for you.”

She frowned as he went to his knee before her. “You don’t need to inflict pain on yourself to heal me when these will be gone by tomorrow.”

Ignoring her, he pulled a dagger from his boot and cut open a thin line on top of his wrist. With the tip of his finger, he swiped the blood, drew the healing rune on her body and then whispered the spell to heal while pressing the dagger into the top of his arm. He endured the pain with a straight face to heal her.

When the four lines were pink, Layala snatched the dagger out of his hands. “That’s enough or you’ll need a healer.”

“I heal faster than you.”

“Yeah well, I still don’t like when you do that.” She sighed and handed him back his weapon. “But thank you.”

He smiled. “You’re welcome.”

She slipped on a clean pair of pants then took her weapons belt off the wall and tugged it around her hips. “If Hel is bringing a date, I can bet who it’s going to be, and I don’t want her anywhere near this place. Maybe we should cancel it.”

“We can’t break tradition. All members of the army get a graduation ball when they finish training. It gives them something to celebrate after all their hard work and I can’t take that from them when morale is already down.”

“And if we did cancel, people would wonder why. Telvian Botsberry would have an abundance of theories no doubt.”

“Exactly.”

“Did you hear what he said about me?” Tif slid down the draping green canopy of vines and swung onto the bed. “He thinks I’m cute.” She brushed crumbs off her chest and then twirled one of her brown curls around her finger.

After all that was being discussed, that is what the gnome had to say. “I thought you were stuck.”

“Oh, I only said that as a distraction. I was scared you were going to fight, and I didn’t know what would happen. He could really hurt you or if Layala got in the way, she could get hurt and she was already bleeding and injured from that crazy cat lady.”

Clever little gnome. “Well, don’t get any ideas about him being your friend,” Thane said firmly. “Besides, he was probably lying about you being cute. You need to be careful around him. In fact, avoid him at all costs.”

“Why would he lie about thinking I’m cute? I think you’re jealous.”

Thane laughed and folded his arms. “Why would I be jealous of that?”

“You’ve never said I’m cute.” She put a hand on her hip. “Now you’re mad I think he’s cuter than you.”

Layala chuckled and slid her sword holster over her shoulder and dropped her sword inside.

“How swiftly your loyalty changes, gnome.”

“I’m loyal to Laya.”

Layala smirked at that.

“Fine, I admit you’re cute for a gnome,” Thane said with a smile. Tif giggled and blushed, and was about to say something, until he went on, “When you don’t open your mouth.”

“Uh!” she scoffed. “You’re a turd. A big stinky one. And he is better looking than you.” She stuck out her tongue. “By monumental amounts. You look like a bridge troll compared to him.”

“You know, when you exaggerate like this, I know you’re lying. I’ve been around you long enough.”

“Alright, do I need to separate you two?” Layala ran a brush through her long black hair. “What is it with you two bickering all the time?”

Tif pointed at him. “He started it.”