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She made Ty lean forward slightly so she could remove his shirt all the way.

She tried not to, but she couldn’t help appreciating the way the muscles of his chest and shoulders were cut.

The onata tattoos that trailed down his shoulders and arms highlighted their size, and even covered in blood, his abdominals were a sight to behold.

A rich layer of soft, dark hair covered his wide chest and lower stomach, trailing below his pants.

She noted absently that this had not been there before, all those years ago.

One more marker of the time that had passed, and the ways they’d both changed.

After heating the needle in the fire to clean it and threading a long section of silk thread through the eye, she prepared to pour the woodwater over his wound.

She knew it was pointless to warn him again, because it would hurt like a bitch either way, so she didn’t hesitate as she dumped half the flask over the open wound.

Ty clenched his teeth and grimaced in pain, barely holding in the cry that must’ve been on the tip of his tongue. She gave him a second to recover from the stinging pain, before she set to work carefully stitching the wound closed.

Ena had stitched several wounds before, but never in the dead of night, and never with such rudimentary supplies.

She had often assisted Heran with healing, both for witches in her Coven when accidents inevitably happened, or mortals who traveled to be healed by the matriarch.

Heran was the best healer among all the Aquilo and Auster witches, both because of her vast knowledge of healing potions, and because of her Gift of tempus .

It allowed her to manipulate time in small amounts and was an exceedingly rare Gift among the witches.

Slowing down time often bought Heran critical seconds when treating a hemorrhaging wound or a quickly advancing illness.

Ena was all of a sudden overcome with an intense wave of longing for the matriarch’s calm, sturdy presence.

Ty closed his eyes tightly while she stitched the wound closed, but he didn’t make a sound. When she finished, she wrapped the wound with another torn strip of shirt and was relieved to see that, while a little blood appeared, it no longer soaked through the makeshift bandage.

Ena wished she could do more. If he was mortal or another witch, she would gladly forage for the necessary herbs to make a disinfecting and healing poultice for the wound and imbue it with her magic to speed his healing and stave off infection.

But she knew it was likely futile. Not even her Knowing worked on him, so her healing potions probably would not either.

Having done all she could, Ena helped Ty put his shirt back on. He leaned back against the tree, his eyes closed again.

Ena didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to think. So she mostly sat in silence, trying not to relive everything that had happened.

Ty was silent for so long, she thought maybe he’d fallen asleep. But then he spoke. “I didn’t know you could fight like that,” he said, his voice quiet and tired.

Ena turned to look at him. He was breathing shallowly, as if still in pain, but his face wasn’t quite so pale anymore. She thanked Gaia for that.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“The fire. The earth. Your visanis . It was…impressive. You truly are a force of nature.” He spoke the last few words reverently, in a way that communicated so much more than his words said, and it was all too much for Ena to comprehend right now.

Did he remember when he’d called her that before?

Did he mean it? Did she deserve to be complimented on her actions?

She’d never done…anything like that before.

Using her magic against mortals. Using it to kill.

The use of magic in self-defense was theoretically allowed among witches, but it didn’t happen very often.

Witches were critical to the maintenance of the balance, so their lives were sacred and to be protected.

But killing, except for the purpose of sustenance, was almost never Gaia’s will.

For witches to use their magic to kill was a slippery slope, one that could lead to chaos and discord between witches and mortals.

But Ena couldn’t stop thinking about how easily it had come to her.

How easily her visanis , which Heran had forbidden her to use, had come out of her.

It had felt almost like…another side to herself that she’d never known was there before.

She had been terrified, ready to fight for her life, and her mind had been so chaotic, it had almost felt like…

“Thank you,” Ty said, interrupting her spiraling thoughts. “For helping me.”

She looked up to find him staring at her. Their gazes connected, and the sincerity and vulnerability in his eyes made Ena’s heart skip a beat. She hadn’t seen him like that in so long. The light of the fire danced across his face, making his eyes glow in the dim light.

“You’re welcome,” Ena replied, giving him a tight, haunted smile in return.

But she meant it. She didn’t quite know where they stood, or how to feel about everything she’d done to those men, but she knew saving his life, helping him, was the right thing.

Even if he was a daemon, even if it wasn’t Gaia’s will, it was hers.

“You should get some rest,” she said.

He nodded solemnly at her, but didn’t close his eyes right away. He just stared at her, watching her, as if reluctant to have her leave his sight. But exhaustion clearly won out, because after several minutes, he leaned his head back, and she heard his breathing slow and even out.

And then Ena was alone, staring at the fire as it burned down to ashes.