“I’m trying,” Mercury admitted, “I’m doing everything I can. I love it here, and I don’t want to leave.”
“You have to trust that there’s room for you and your baby here.” She touched his heart, not his stomach. “And then also that there’s room for food in here.”
Mercury’s eyes were closed, and he shivered, his lower lip quivering. “I try to believe it, but it’s been so long, and it was so hard.”
“I know.” Her voice just remained as calm as placid water. “They starved you of everything: affection, food, warmth. But that’s not how it is here. There’s room for all of it deep inside you, and for you to let it out.”
“I’m not trying to be difficult.” Mercury shook his head, dashing away tears. “I just don’t feel good.”
“Will you let me help you?” She turned more fully toward Mercury, grasping his hands firmly. “Look at me, Mercury. Look into my eyes and hum with me.”
Mercury fastened his gaze on her, and Talon watched and listened as she stared into Mercury’s eyes and began humming with this low, almost metallic buzz of a sound.
Mercury started to hum with her, the sound a bit louder than Anemone’s. The room began to vibrate with it. Small things sitting on tables or on the kitchen counter rattled just a little bit. Talon was beginning to worry that the windows were going to cave in.
This wasn’t anything like the kind of singing that Kami did as a stone singer. This was almost like a tuning, like they were tuning up a very fine engine or resonating with some sort of metal tuning fork.
Fascinated, Talon reached out for Mercury’s hand when Mercury held it out to him. Suddenly, he was drawn into the circle of the three of them, and Anemone’s voice became sweeter and more distinct as he had physical contact.
He added his own bass rumble to the sound because they weren’t making music. They were vibrating. They were bringing Mercury’s magic in line with itself and in line with the world around them.
By the time they were done, Mercury slumped back, hand on his belly, and he was asleep. Truly, really asleep. The dark shadows under his eyes already fading a little bit.
Anemone winked at him, then Boone. “I think that will help. We can do it again as many times as we need, but once he wakes up, I want you to feed him.”
He shook his head as if he was trying to rid his ears of the noise, then stuck one finger in his right ear as if trying to drill it out a little bit. “Did you say feed him?”
Anemone stood, coming to pat Talon’s shoulder. She had to reach up quite a way to do it. “He has had a great deal of trouble in just a very short time. And everything is a little off balance inside of him, both in his heart and his spirit. His body has been mending, but other things have not.” She yawned suddenly, a huge bearing of her tiny little sharp teeth. “I’m very sleepy now, Boone. I think I would like for you to take me home.”
“Okay, sweetie.” Boone hopped to his feet and linked his arm with Anemone’s. “If you need something, Talon, just let us know. Any of us. Including Jack and Dex or Cain, okay?”
“I can do that.” Talon was just so relieved to see Mercury relaxing completely, his chest rising and falling in a nice, evenrhythm, that he wasn’t sure what else to say. The sense of community in this place, the sense of family, never ceased to amaze him. And he was more used to it than Mercury. He needed to remember that.
Boone clapped him on the back with his free hand on the way by. “We got this, man. Don’t worry about it. Mercury’s gonna be good.”
Goddess, he hoped so.
Chapter
Fourteen
Hunger woke Mercury up. No, not hunger—he wasn’t hungry, he was ravenous. His eyes popped open, and he stood, intending to find the kitchen.
Talon grabbed him by his hips as he stumbled forward. “Where are you going, hailee?”
“I’m hungry,” Mercury replied. “The kitchen. I need some food. Can we have hamburgers, or meatballs, or roast?”
Talon looked so pleased. “Let’s put on some clothes, and we’ll go to the cafe. You’ve been sleeping for quite a bit, so it’s well past the dinner hour, and we’ll have the place mostly to ourselves.”
He could get dressed. How did he end up naked? “I wasn’t naked when the little girl was here, right?”
That would have been terrible.
“You were not naked. You were dressed. I brought you in here. You fell asleep. Her name is Anemone. And she’s not a little girl. She’s a young lady, but she’s an amazing healer, don’t you think?”
“She is amazing. I feel better. Hungry, but better. Why aren’t you up and dressed? I need to go have food now.”
Talon chuckled. “Yes, sir. Getting food now, sir. Let’s do this.”
