“Does it look very terrible?” I asked softly when she appeared in front of me. “My back?”
“Your wounds look much better than they did before. It will scar, for your skin is very delicate, but it could have been worse.”
I nodded and she handed me the stack of fresh clothes. New clothes. And they were nicer than any clothes I’d ever seen.
Even still, I’d trade them for my old ones in a heartbeat if I could have Blue’s feathers back.
“How did you get whipped?” she asked next, surprising me as I began to tug on the pants, though I was sitting. “Was it…your village?”
“No,” I said, frowning. “It was under the horde king’s orders.”
I heard her suck in a breath and she cocked her head at me in confusion. “Neffar? OurVorakkar?”
I nodded, feeling my wet hair drip over the fresh bandages.
“But…why?”
“Because he saw me hunting in the Dark Forest, outside my village’s walls,” I told her, slowly pushing up from the bed to tie the pants.
They were a little big, but they were so warm and the fur tickling my legs felt luxuriously soft.
“You are a hunter?” she asked me, still blinking, trying to understand.
“I’m good with my bow,” I said softly, thinking of the grounder’s three eyes that night. “The job was assigned to me when I was young.”
“But you are a female,” she argued, frowning.
“I can assure you that females are still capable of hunting,” I told her. “I did not like it, but it kept me fed.”
Most of the time, at least.
The healer went quiet and watched as I slowly pulled on the silk tunic, followed by the black sweater. My back felt tight and tender, but whatever the healer had put into my water seemed to be working for the pain.
Just then, a Dakkari male’s voice sounded outside the tent and the healer went to the entrance, returning with a tray of food. Desire grew in my heart as I watched the healer set the tray on the low table and beckon me over.
“Go slowly,vekkiri,” she warned. “Except for some broth I managed to get down you, you have not eaten much for a while.”
A pale, silky broth steamed from a small bowl and she thrust that into my hands first when I came to sit at the table. But my greedy eyes were already looking at the chunks of braised meats, piled neatly in a small mound on a plate, and a steaming loaf of something that looked like bread, though it was a deep purple in color and looked slightly wet.
But I took it as slowly as I could. When I was finished with the broth, it warmed my empty stomach, and I was startled by a strange sensation of fullness.
When I plucked one piece of braised meat from the plate and popped it into my mouth, flavor burst on my tongue, delicious and warm and spiced. My eyes went wide because I’d never had anything like it.
I ate another and another before tearing off a small piece of the bread and stuffing it into my mouth. It had a strange, spongy texture, slightly sweet, nothing like the dry, brittle bread from the village, but I decided I liked it very, very much.
There was still half a loaf and a small pile of meat left when I couldn’t eat anything more. My belly churned from the sudden influx of food, but I would not vomit. My body desperately needed the nutrients.
“I think I’m done,” I told the healer, looking up at her. “Can I…” I trailed off, unsure if what I was asking was appropriate. Jana had always told me I asked inappropriate things when I shouldn’t.
“Lysi?” she asked, staring at me. She’d been staring at me since I first started eating and I wondered if she thought my food manners were deplorable. Ihadbeen a little too eager and it had been a long time since I had eaten with anyone.
“Nevermind,” I said quietly, looking down at the uneaten food. I’d wanted to ask if I could wrap it up for later, but then realized I didn’t know when ‘later’ was or what it meant for me. I didn’t know anything about why I was there, eating this rich, almost sinfully good food, dressed in new clothes that would keep me warm during the cold season, in a luxurious tent that I was very certain was the demon king’s.
“I think I’ll get that fresh air now,” I said softly, looking up at her, my stomach tight and stretched.
She gave me a small smile and rose. “I will need to ask theVorakkar. Wait here. Drink the tea while I am gone,” she told me, pushing the small cup that came on the tray towards me.
When she exited the tent, my eyes went back to the food and then I looked over at the healer’s case. Standing, I slowly made my way over to it, digging inside until I found a small, clean scrap of cloth. Then I returned to the table, wrapping up the last of the meat and the bread, squishing it until it was small enough to fit into my pocket.
