"What are you doing?" Karse's voice had lost its casual edge.
"Being practical." She placed her hand on his chest, feeling the scales beneath her palm. They were too cold, barely warmer than the surrounding air. "Stay still."
"Briar—" Eliamstarted.
"He fought for me," she said, not looking away from Karse's wary eyes. "Against the harpies, again in Malachar's cell, when he could barely stand. The least I can do is try."
The warmth responded to her call more gently this time, perhaps exhausted from healing Eliam, or perhaps simply recognizing that Karse was other in a way that required a different touch. It flowed out in careful tendrils, seeking the cold-damaged core of him.
Karse hissed through his teeth, his body arching slightly. "That's... uncomfortable."
"It's working," Thaine observed, and she could hear genuine surprise in his voice. "His color's improving."
She found Karse's inner fire, barely an ember now, drowning in residual mountain cold. The tendrils wrapped around that ember carefully, feeding it, coaxing it back to life. Not trying to replace it but simply removing what suppressed it, letting his natural heat regenerate.
The scales beneath her palm began to warm, their color shifting from gray back towards an iridescent black-green. Karse's breathing deepened and became less labored.
Briar felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.
"Enough," Eliam said and she felt his hand come to rest on her shoulder.
She pulled back, the warmth retreating readily this time. Karse sat breathing hard, but his eyes were brighter, more alert. When he lifted his hand, small flames danced between his fingers, weak still, but present.
"Well," he said after a moment, his usual drawl returning. "That was intimate."
"That was necessary." She stood, swaying slightly. The healing had taken more than she'd thought, adding to her exhaustion.
Eliam's hand steadied her elbow, but his attention was on Karse. "Can you travel?"
"I can do whatever needs doing." Karse pushed himself to his feet, only wobbling slightly. "Though I'd prefer if it involve burning things. I have some aggression to work out."
"You'll have your chance," Thaine said. "But we need to reach the castle before Malus. The Forest Court needs to be warned, defenses prepared—"
"The Forest Court is divided," Eliam cut him off. "Half think I've gone weak. They won't follow me against Malus without proof of strength."
The words settled over Briar like cold water. Divided. Because he'd left. Because he'd left his post to rescue her from Malachar.
"But that isn’t fair, you weren’t abandoning anyone," she protested. “You’ve barely been gone a day or two.”
"And you think that matters to them?" He shook his head. "They saw me cast you out, then risk everything to retrieve you. To them, it only confirms my weakness."
Risk everything. The words echoed in her mind. She'd been so focused on her own hurt, her own anger at what he'd done, that she hadn't considered what coming for her had actually cost him.
"Then we make it not about you," Karse said, examining his claws. "Make it about territory. The Forest Court might be divided about you, but they'll unite against an outsider trying to claim what's theirs."
"He’s no outsider, and when Malus offers them an alternative to my leadership? They’ll turn." Eliam's voice had gone cold. "When he promises them strength without sentiment? I've given them weakness, in their eyes."
He turned from them, facing the dark forest. "The moment I showed care for a human, I lost their respect."
The words stung, but Briar couldn't argue with them.
Silence stretched between them, heavy with implications Briar was only beginning to understand. A fae lord didn't just leave his court undefended. A king didn't abandon his throne to rescue one human, no matter how he felt about her.
Finally, Eliam turned back, his expression set. "We return to the castle. Thaine, you'll coordinate defenses. Karse—"
"I'm not yours to command," the Drak interrupted, though without real heat. "But I have my own score to settle with Malus. He made deals with Malachar about me, about her. That makes this personal."
Eliam was quiet for a moment and then gave a curt nod. "We leave now. The forest paths will be faster than the main roads."
