Page 60 of These Fractured Bonds

Except, Yareli had a feeling that she had already fallen into an unknown pit filled with snares that refused to let her go. A cramp flared in her abdomen, the searing pain startling her awake.

Yareli opened her eyes to a stone ceiling she didn’t recognize. A small lantern on a simple nightstand cast long shadows in the room. She rubbed the crust off her eyes.

Where was she?

When she sat up, her abdomen burned, and she doubled over until it passed.

She lifted the sheets, inspecting the bandages on her stomach. She felt Erick’s fading magical signature on them, and she sighed in relief. They must have made it out safely.

The door swung open, revealing a gaunt August. Dark circles hung under his eyes, days-old stubble clung to him, and his shoulders drooped. He looked up from the platter he was carrying, and it was as if a switch flipped. He was at her side in an instant, asking her how she was, if it hurt, and if she needed water.

Yareli, still groggy from her intense dream, shook her head. “I’m fine. Where are we?”

He scrutinized her. “We’re still in the Lhuth Mountains, but in an underground base. How’s your wound?”

“It hurts,” she admitted.

“We couldn’t heal it all at once. Your body couldn’t handle the strain from coaxing the wound to close.” He placed the platter down on a small table Yareli hadn’t noticed earlier. “Can I take a look?”

She nodded, lying back down. August brought the sheets down to her waist. Besides a flimsy crop top, Yareli wasn’t wearing a bra, and it was embarrassing, so she filled the silence with chatter.

“Are you also a medic like Erick?”

“I am trained, but no,” August said.

He sliced the bandages with a flick of his finger and carefully peeled them off. Her wound was still open, but it was smaller—about the width of her pinkie finger. She couldn’t believe a dagger had been there.

She remembered then that August had been the one to find her.

“How did you find me?”

His fingers stilled. “Tuom paid me a brief visit. Opened the rift for me to use.” His answer was short, choppy, like he was upset.

Yareli snorted. “Of course he did. He didn’t want me to die, only to suffer for my impudence.”

August said nothing, but his jaw muscle twitched. His hands glowed, covered by a blue aura that extended toward her wound, and her shoulders relaxed. She sighed. It was the bliss of normalcy—no pain, no soreness, nothing.

She thanked him when he finished, and she sat up. The wound had been fully closed, but a vertical scar remained. She ran her finger down its bumps.

“It will fade with time and subsequent treatments,” August said.

The scar was ugly. It was the width of her thumb, and the new, knitted skin was an inflamed, red mess. Tears stirred behind her eyes. Not only had Tuom scarred her life force—the essence that made her—but now, he had marked her body permanently as well.

“We can cover it with cosmetic magic.” August’s voice was soft, like he was afraid of hurting her, as if he knew of her tenuous hold on her emotions.

He was right to be afraid; she wanted to scream her throat raw, throw the shit around her, break it apart, and collapse on the ground. She had taken down a nox creature or two and gotten cocky. Tuom’s appearance had been a rude awakening call—she was still powerless to kill him. It wasn’t fair how weak she was compared to him, but crying about it would solve nothing. She balled up her fists.

“No. We’ll leave it as is,” she said.

Let it be a reminder of a mistake she refused to make again. Shewasgoing to get stronger, and Tuomwoulddie.

He nodded; the action knocked his hair into his face, making him seem really young. She wondered if he was as young as her in Fae years—they had met in college after all—and if they both had been dealt a hand of shit cards and forced to play.

“I know you just woke up, and I hate to ask you this now, but we don’t have a lot of time. Do you remember what happened?” He handed her a white T-shirt.

Yareli took the shirt, and he turned around while she changed into it. She feared that if she answered, he would disappear, and she had questions.

“What do you mean we don’t have a lot of time?”