She hesitated. “Would it have . . . really killed me? Healing him, I mean.”
He glanced at her, the answer already written in his eyes. “More than likely.” He paused. “Light magic naturally leans towards healing, but you’re untrained. And your power”—he exhaled—“it’s feral. I think it’s been bottled up for too long, so now it’s just waiting for an excuse to blow.”
“Like a volcano?” she asked quietly.
He nodded. “Dormant, yes, but dangerous the moment you call on it or it seeks to protect you. We’ll need to take your training slow. Stick to tasks that require only a little magic.”
Like healing cuts,she thought to herself.
A shadow slid across Damien’s face. “But that’s a future problem, for when we’re in Eloria. For now, let’s avoid any dramatic magical moments.”
Luna looked back to the group, the others were just starting to wake. Taemin began packing their things, and the children kept busy, eating or playing. Off to the side, Gawen sat by himself; having found his fingers, he was happily taste-testing them. The shadows that once clung beneath his eyes had faded, and his skin, once ashen and yellow, now held a faint flush, but he no longer wore the unicorn necklace. Where had it gone?
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Taemin watching her, his lips pressed tight. She gave him a little wave, and his face twisted, mirroring something like disgust. Looking away, he scooped Gawen up into his arms, tucking him into a fabric sling against his chest.
How odd. Luna tilted her head, worry clawing at the back of her mind. Did he suspect anything? She tried to not let it bother her. Even if he knew she was a unicorn, as long as he kept it to himself, there’d be no problems.
It took all morning to reach the ruins of the battleground. The air still smelled faintly of smoke and burned magic, and evidence of the fight was everywhere, from the charred ground to the massive boulders cracked in half, to the trees flattened like pancakes, as if a giant had walked through them. Luna shivered.
The dead lay scattered throughout—but they could barely be called bodies at this point. Human scavengers had already sliced the corpses this way and that, taking anything useful, including hair and bones. It wasimpossible to tell the humans from the unicorns—or if there were any unicorns at all.
Taemin spoke first. “This is worse than I thought.” He called out for Ly, who came running over and then told her, “Take the children to play in the river.”
This was no place for them; hell, this wasn’t a place anyone should be.
Luna didn’t move from where she stood as Ly left with Gawen and the children, who followed her like ducklings. Confusion clouded Luna’s mind. Gawen was fully healed; it was so obvious. So why hadn’t Taemin called this off?
Taemin opened up a dead person’s mouth to look for teeth. Off to the side, Sael was holding a lady’s hand, squishing it to feel for bones. Her hand popped like a water balloon, sending fluids everywhere. The smell hit Luna, and she retched, hurling the contents of her stomach up. She was barely aware of Damien holding her hair and his hand on her back, stroking it. When she had finished, she didn’t say anything. She just stood there with her back slightly hunched and watched the men move from body to body. After each corpse, they’d hang their heads in disappointment before searching through another.
Humans were the true monsters. What they were doing was barbaric. The dead should be left alone in peace.
Damien slipped his hand in hers and murmured quietly, “We have already helped them. We don’t need to bear witness to this as well.”
She nodded. But, just as she turned to leave, Taemin let out a triumphed yell, fisting his hand into the air. “Found something!”
Sael immediately dropped what he was doing and hurried over. Taemin, grinning from ear to ear, presented a necklace. Not just any necklace either, it was the one Damien had given Gawen the night before. The one from Hazelwood, with the delicate vine-shaped pendant and unicorn braided hair.
Without wasting a second, Taemin slipped it over Gawen’s head and settled it against his skin.
Sael’s eyes widened. “Wow,” he said, stunned. “That worked fast. He’s already got a bit of colour in his cheeks.”
Luna stared at Taemin. When their eyes met, he bowed his head, dipping his chin ever so slightly; a silent acknowledgement of what he’d done.
Damien, unmoved by the moment, broke the silence, “We’re heading into town.”
“We’ll grab the kids and Ly and meet you there,” Sael replied, still beaming with joy.
Luna felt Damien’s hand press gently against her back, steering her away—away from the sight, the stench, the wreckage, and the group’s celebration.
Honestly, she’d be a happy woman if she never saw another dead person for the rest of her life.
“We’ll unpack their stuff and leave it here.”
“Damien—”
“Fine. We’ll take it to town for them.” He changed the course, giving both horses a tug on their reins to keep them moving. “Happy?”
“No.” The word slipped out of her lips before she could stop it. Her eyes sunk to the ground, and with a sad shake of her head, she repeated the syllable, quieter this time. “No.”
