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Jace got on his knees in front of me. “May I?” He asked, looking at my foot.

I nodded, and he gently lifted it off the ground. His hands were rough against my skin, but he was delicate with my foot, gently pressing and prodding.

“My goodness.”

“Is it really bad?” I recoiled a bit.

He rifled through his bag and pulled out a jar of liquid and some gauze. “Well, it’s not good.”

He began dabbing the wet pad on my foot, causing me to flinch in pain.

“Calix, do you have anything that can help her? This is probably going to hurt quite a bit.” He said looking at me, then looked over his shoulder, “There are cuts all over her foot, with wooden shards, rocks and who knows what else.”

Calix answered, “Yes.” He reached under the cupboard and pulled out a bottle of brown liquid and grabbed a cup off the table. “Here, drink this. It may not taste very good, but it should help numb the pain.”

I grabbed the cup and tossed the entire drink back and felt the slow burn move down my throat into my chest.

“Can I marry her?” Enzo asked, clasping his hands together.

I laughed and gazed at his boyish good looks and grabbed his hand as Jace continued dabbing and plucking, dabbing and plucking.

I let out a muted scream as I felt something large being pulled from my foot.

“Holy shit balls. That’s huge.” Enzo said, looking at a rather large splinter.

Although, I don’t even know if you could call it that since it was so big; it was like the size of a small twig.

Jace pressed the cloth to my foot and I felt the burn only for a second.

“Here, have some more.” Calix offered me another glass of the brown liquid.

I smiled at him as I knocked it back. This time it didn’t burn so bad.

“She’s drinking my ale too!” Gage said, pounding down the stairs in a pair of dark pants that hugged the muscles in his thighs and a white shirt that fit tightly around his biceps. If I wasn’t so startled by him, I would probably be drooling.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize to him.” Enzo said, squeezing my hand.

I looked between him and Gage, but didn’t speak.

“One foot down, one more to go.” Jace said as he finished wrapping the bandage around my toes. He lifted my other foot and sighed. “Well, this one isn’t as bad as the other.”

“That’s dandy.” I said, laughing, and then paused. Why did I say dandy?

“Great, now you’ve gotten her drunk.” Gage moaned from the table.

Gideon was sitting beside him, staring at me, but not speaking.

“I’m not drunk.” I defended. “I just feel… happy.”

“You’re drunk.” Gage fired back.

I snarled my lip at him. “Perhaps you could use some of your ale to put you in a better mood.”

A red-headed man with a beard had come down and sat at the table, followed by Barrett.

“How’s she doing?” He asked.