‘You’re out there, aren’t you?’ she called out, sounding more amused than annoyed.
Idan chose silence, though his muscles bunched in that same raw, uncontrollable reaction he had to her.
A few nights later, she appeared one more time, peering out into the darkness.
‘How long do you plan to haunt us?’
She stood with her hands on her hips, chin inclined toward the ridge.
Idan let his quietude speak for him, one built over centuries of discipline and the hard truth that talking led to trouble he could not afford.
‘No answer, no surprise,’ she shrugged after a minute. ‘If you’re here to protect the clinic, I’m glad for it. But if you’re here for me, that’s a whole different reckoning.’
Hell over Devansi, he was there for both.
He cursed under his breath, sensing her irritation flare and then settle into a wary acceptance of his presence.
She went back to work, though the tension in her spine told him she was tracking him, even if she could not see him.
Meanwhile, Lago seemed to be enjoying the nurses’ attention too much, getting pampered and spoiled.
Soon, Idan’s self-control snapped.
The animals at the farm had been abandoned for too long.
The fences needed tending, as the basilisk bulls were due to return from their roving season soon.
Besides, the constant craving to be near Sheba became too overwhelming for any sane Sacran to handle.
He made a choice.
One evening, instead of observing her and the clinic from the cliffs, he glimmered into the compound and through a thin wall.
Prowling to Lago’s bedside, he placed his hand over the sleeping youth’s ankle.
Light pooled under his palm, a warm, thick heat uncoiling as he let his power flow.
Healing bone slid back into its final place, and the scars knit together and disappeared.
The glow from his hands filled the room and then faded.
‘The hell?’
Fokk. Caught in the act.
He registered the shock in her tone, took a breath, and braced himself.
He turned to face her, arms crossed over his chest.
Sheba marched toward him, her expression tight and enraged.
‘I saw that! Did you just heal him?’
He took an inhale and dipped his chin in confession even as Lago stirred awake to stare at the couple glaring at each other over him.
‘So, you could have done that the whole time,’ Sheba continued.
Idan sighed, then nodded.
