“There,” said Hyacinth in a confident tone. “She’s healing as she should. Her wounds were hard on the small body of her fox form. A few broken ribs, a broken hind leg, and a deep puncture on the same leg, but her body was very receptive to healing.”
“So she’ll make a full recovery?” Kyla asked, a wave of relief washing over her.
“Yes. She’ll be good as new soon. Should be able to shift after she rests. I did feel something… unexpected. Did you know Rue has met her soulmate?”
Kyla shook her head. Rue hadn’t said anything to her about meeting her mate yet. “There’s a bond and I felt a tug on it. Idon’t think it’s been completed, but the soulmate on the other side must have felt Rue’s pain through the bond.”
Kyla thought about the folk she’d seen Rue interact with. She couldn’t think who this soulmate could be, not unless they weren’t Latian. A Nepheli?
“Whoever it is, I hope that they can feel her stabilizing. Even before the bond is accepted, it’s a cruel thing to know that one’s soulmate is in distress,” Kyla said.
Hyacinth shrugged. “I’m nearly four-hundred and fifty years old and I’ve yet to feel the bond.”
It happened, Kyla knew, but she couldn’t help but feel pity for Hyacinth. She wasn’t like her father, who would have never deserved to have a soulmate. Or her mother, who seemed accepting of her lot in life as the queen to a cruel king. But why should Hyacinth be denied the one to whom her soul calls?
“Do you ever wonder if your soulmate is on the other side of the portal?” Kyla prevented herself from saying “was” but the words almost slipped off her tongue. Human lives were so short. What if her soulmate had died three hundred years ago, never making it to her realm as Avery had? What if countless fae without mates were mateless because their human soulmate was on the wrong side of the portal?
Hyacinth let out a harsh chuckle. “That would be my fate. Denied my human soulmate.”
The click of the door brought Kyla and Hyacinth’s attention to the other side of the room. Avery stepped into the space, black blood splatter on her face and furs. Kyla moved to her, taking Avery’s hands in hers. She couldn’t sense an injury, but Avery was distraught.
“Are you hurt? Was there another attack?”
Avery’s face was ashen as she spoke in low tones. “No, I’m not hurt. I killed the Hunter. I just feel a bit shocked from it, I think. How is Rue?”
“She’s resting, but will recover,” Kyla replied.
Hyacinth moved closer, taking one of Avery’s hands as both women guided her to a chair. Kyla stepped back as Hyacinth gave Avery a quick assessment.
“Deep magic. Did you draw it from the ground yourself?” Hyacinth asked as she put a kettle on the stove and took out three mugs. Kyla took a seat, her aching feet needed the rest awhile ago. Other than some nausea, she’d felt few changes as her body adjusted to pregnancy.
“Savine and I found a relic. I don’t know if the Hunter knew it was there, or if it was a coincidence. When I touched the relic I was filled with deep magic.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t stop it from happening. It was like a drug when it hit my blood.” Kyla could feel the disgust in Avery’s emotions. She was disappointed in herself for something, but Kyla couldn’t understand what it was.
“Can you describe the relic?” Hyacinth asked, and Avery described the small wooden bowl hidden in the heart of a tree.
Hyacinth sorted herbs into the different cups, choosing what each woman needed before she poured piping hot water over the herbs. “Long ago, long before Rylo sat on the throne of Nephel, I spent years studying the ancient magic and medicine of the witches at the Nepheli libraries. I read once that deep magic will take on the qualities of the object it uses and can respond more strongly to those whose magic naturally aligns with it. Perhaps the wooden bowl called to you in a way that you did not anticipate.”
Kyla thought about the necklace Avery wore the night of her father’s death. How Avery had felt nothing from that necklace, yet she’d been able to access deep magic through the roots of an aspen tree. “Remember the necklace? The deep magic wouldn’t call to you. We’ll need to work on your control so you are not always overcome when you touch a relic.”
Avery nodded. “Yeah, I think you’re right. But for now I’d like to practice my control without using deep magic. It was intense, and to feel that after Savine’s life was threatened… Something in me snapped. I couldn’t let that man live, not after he tried to hurt Savine.”
Hyacinth strained the herbs from the tea cups and handed Avery and Kyla their cups of tea.
Kyla knew what Avery meant. She too had taken lives when someone threatened Garnel. “It may sound strange to you, but it’s natural for soulmates to react so intensely.”
“Avery, here’s a draught to calm your nerves and remove the excess magic. Kyla, a fortifying blend for yourself and the babe,” Hyacinth said, then she took a long drink from her own tea cup.
Avery stared down into her cup. “It may be normal for fae to act that way, but it’s not typical human behavior. Acting that way in my world would get me life in prison.”
Hyacinth startled in her seat, and Kyla couldn’t keep her own surprise from her face. “Could you imagine how many mates would be imprisoned if they were locked away for acting on their instincts!” Hyacinth snorted. “How strange it must be in your world, Avery!”
Avery shook her head. “There’s no reason for people to go around killing others because nobody is threatening anyone. At least not normally.”
Kyla couldn’t imagine it, this peaceful land. “That is not how the Hunter, Kinlon, made your realm sound.”
Avery shrugged, changing the subject. “What I really don’t understand is how I found a relic that wasn’t even the one we were looking for. Do you think there’s actually a bone relic too?”
Kyla took a long draught of her tea. “If so, that would give us three if we could find the bone.”
