Page 8 of Wrath Of Suns And Shadows (The Osparia #2)

“I need a healer! NOW!” Atreya screamed the command, more of a plea, from behind me, wielding people to move.

A small group of fae and Earth Dryads rushed toward us.

Two of them were water benders. Their hands started faintly glowing blue, and I released a shaky breath as I kneeled to lay her carefully on the ground.

They cut away her bandage and bent a small amount of water through her wound and pulled back out the mixture of water, blood, and brown fluids.

They used their water like a net to gather as much poison as they could before bending it out of her body.

It took skill. I was glad they had trained healers here.

I assumed there would be within the capital with the King of Woodhaven within these walls.

I pulled Luana gently into my lap as they looked over her, assessing the damage.

A few other Earth Dryads came out of one of the lavish stone buildings with a large cot to lay her on, but I growled at them with a shake of my head.

“She needs rest, Ace.” Atreya’s voice was barely above a whisper as she placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. She watched closely as they began stitching Luana’s wound.

One of my arms rested under her head in my lap, and I used my other to sign.

“I will take her to her bed, and I’ll stay with her till she wakes.” My facial expression was nothing but hard lines. Atreya nodded her head in agreement, looking at me with a softness to her normally stern blue eyes. I believed it was the most emotion I had ever seen her show on her firm exterior.

The two healers stood and motioned for me to follow them.

I got to my feet, cradling Luana against me as I followed them into the stone building from before.

Her heartbeat was weak and so slow. It only made me hold her closer as we walked down the large halls, our footsteps tapping against the polished stone floors.

Being an earth bender had its perks. They could create entire kingdoms made from impenetrable stone, layered with intricate designs that decorated the ceilings and foyers.

If this was what their infirmary looked like, I couldn’t fathom the king’s castle.

They walked us into a room, and I laid Luana down on the bed. It was big enough for two people without wings but wouldn’t accommodate the both of us. One of the water benders offered to bring me a cot, but I shook my head.

“It’s alright. I’ll take the floor. I’m sure someone else might need it,” I signed, and Atreya translated for me.

“Could you bring him some extra blankets,” Atreya asked, knowing without a doubt I wasn’t leaving Luana’s side.

They left with a nod, and Atreya gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“Keep me updated,” Atreya said as she followed the healers out the door.

One healer returned with two large blankets and a small pillow, and I gave her a tired smile before she walked out of the door, thanking her with a nod before she gently closed the door with a click behind her.

Luana hadn’t stirred since they’d patched her up, and as I pulled up a chair next to her bed, I could feel the exhaustion from the days of travel instantly weigh me down.

I covered her with the extra blankets and grabbed her small hand and gave it a tender squeeze before I used my other arm as a pillow and laid my head on it.

As I lay there, witnessing the soft rise and fall of her chest, I found some relief from the tightness in my own.

I didn’t know how long I watched her breathing, but soon my eyes closed and my body welcomed sleep.

Luana’s voice woke me. Not the sound of her speaking, but the panic that laid behind her words.

She was scared, the hand I had been holding was clammy.

Her brow shone with sweat, and suddenly she screamed through her mumbled words.

The chair I had been sitting in scraped loudly against the stone floor as I got to my feet quickly.

I gently shook her. I didn’t want to startle her more than she already was. Her eyes remained shut. She was having a nightmare.

“Get off of me! No, no, please . . . No . . .” The terror she was feeling was palatable. Skies above, what had happened to her?

I wrapped her up in my arms and crawled onto the bed with her, bracing her as she rested between my thighs and held her tightly against my chest. I wrapped my wings around us because there was nowhere else for them to go.

If she thrashed much more, she’d rip her stitches or hurt herself further. I began rocking my body from side to side slowly as I did my best to remember her favorite tune and hummed it gently next to the shell of her ear. It was my last resort to get her to wake up.

We all carried monsters from our past, but I hoped her demons would give her back to me.

I moved, and the soft, purred melody vibrated from me through the crook of her neck, and slowly the thrashing slowed and she went still.

We stayed that way for long moments, and it wasn’t until both of her hands gripped onto my forearms that I knew she was fully awake.

She wasn’t pulling away. She gripped my arms as I continued to sway from side to side, the vibrations of my humming soothing her further, her body sinking into mine.

Soon, she wasn’t tense, but I felt something warm slip down my arm.

And then a whimper fell from Luana’s lips—a sob.

One of my hands released her so I could sign in front of her face.

“I’m here, sweetheart. I’m right here,” I reassured her, but it only made her body rack harder.

When another sob escaped her, I shifted my body weight so I could see her face.

I moved her longer strands of curls out of the way and cupped her cheek with one of my callused palms before signing again.

“You’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.

” I expected her to push me away, but a beat went by before she lurched toward me and wrapped her arms around my neck and held me tighter than she ever had.

She winced, and I tugged her back and noticed the blood seeping through her fresh bandage.

She groaned as she ran a hand over the wound, and I gently laid her back down on the bed.

Her brow pinched with pain. I was sure the adrenaline from the nightmares was wearing off and now the pain from everything that happened today was catching up to her. I undid the bandage.

“You ripped a stitch. This will hurt for only a moment,” I signed as I stood, going for my pack by the door, where I kept some extra supplies for injuries.

“What happened?” she asked from the bed, her mind finally clearing from the fog of poison.

“They used hemlock on you. It’s a poison that slows everything down, and in bigger doses it can be lethal,” I signed as I walked back over to the bed with everything I needed.

“Get it over with,” she said as she turned her head and squinted her eyes. I quickly pushed the needle through her skin with gentle hands and did my best not to cause her any more pain than I already had to. She released a deep breath as I finished and turned back over on her back.

Tension hung between us like a wet cloth.

“Thank you,” Luana whispered, and I gave her a small grin. “How did you know that song?” she asked, and a blush crept up my neck.

“I’ve heard you humming it for a while now.

It’s beautiful. It was all I could think to do to get you to hang on,” I signed, and she shifted her gaze away from me.

She glanced out of the window where it was still dark.

I didn’t acknowledge her nightmares. I believed we all suffered from them at some point or another since this dreadful war had begun.

She’d tell me her story when she was ready.

“We better get some rest. We have a long trip back tomorrow,” she said as she turned over on her uninjured side, facing away from me.

She was shutting me out again. I could feel her walls slowly rising, and it shouldn’t have hurt me as much as it did.

“Goodnight,” she murmured over her shoulder.

I grunted in response and walked over to where my pack was still lying strung out on the floor.

I packed up the few things I had taken out and closed it up tight, grabbing the small pillow they had brought and tossing it next to it before lying down.

I faced the door to keep watch even though I doubted anyone could get past the capital’s security.

It always made me feel better to be ready for anything.

I could hear the shift in the blankets behind me, and it shouldn’t have spiked my heart to know that she had turned over, but it did.

“Ace,” she whispered weakly. I could hear the exhaustion behind her voice.

“Hm?” I grunted.

“Come, lie on the bed at least. That hard floor is probably even more uncomfortable than the forest floor.”

I shifted to sign to her, “Yeah, at least the forest floor has some foliage for padding.” I heard a small sound escape her that wasn’t quite a laugh that made my body buzz with warmth and tugged a grin on my face.

“It’s alright. The beds are not big enough for both of us.

” The earth rumbled under me, and suddenly I was suspended higher than I was before.

Luana had made a platform big enough for me so I could sleep on it.

It slid across the room and stopped right next to her bed.

She turned it so I could see her face. She sat up slowly with a pained expression, and it instantly made me rise to my feet.

“Luana, lay down before you hurt yourself again.”

“Here,” she said as she threw the extra blankets the healer had brought us over the earth slab she had created for me that was flush next to her bed. “That should be a little more comfortable,” she said as I helped her get comfortable.

“That was unnecessary, but thank you,” I signed as I lay back down. It was so much better than before, and I closed my eyes with a sigh.

“Goodnight,” I signed without looking back over at her, but it was almost like I could feel her faint smile whispering to me on the wind.

“Goodnight,” she murmured. And my tired eyes fluttered closed as I fell asleep.