Fingers gripped her jaw, and she could see no help for it. Lux blinked blearily upward. Her vision swam, the features indistinct for a moment. Then light eyes met hers. She jolted against the table.
“You swallowed too much,” said Corvin, hovering above her. Like it was her fault. Her choice for enchanted rocks to be shoved mercilessly into her mouth. His finger swept her cheekbone. “I was so worried we’d lost you.”
“It was a near thing.”
The man at the edge of her vision moved into view. He was unfamiliar with his thick, grey eyebrows and full beard, his lips hardly visible. But his voice, she knew. A revealed Artemis stared down his hooked nose at her. She’d never felt more like a specimen. He said, “Tell me how you’re feeling. I want to be sure you’re comfortable and all has worked as it should.”
“I feel…” Her gaze narrowed upon Corvin’s pristine clothing. She’d been sure blood had poured from her like a fountain. Had it not?
Her head had been pressed against a hard chest.Someonehad carried her.
Maybe I’ve imagined that too.
“I feel like I’ve vomited rocks.”
“Yes. It is a bizarre enchantment, I’ll admit. Of course, if you hadn’t vomited, they would have dissolved naturally without discomfort. That aside, has the pain gone?”
Her eyebrows met. “I don’t feel pain anymore.”
Artemis seemed pleased at this, and she supposed he should be. He’d discussed her future as Mistress of Mothlock at length with his overlord; her death would have nullified that. Her rare, precious usefulness snuffed.
A sudden suspicion twitched through her. She lifted her arm.
“What did you give me?” she asked and examined the dried flakes of blood. A small puncture wound marked the bend of her elbow, already healed over.
“A mending tonic. You were losing too much of your blood volume out your mouth. It’s a good thing I’ve managed a formula which can be administered in other ways.”
“Nothing else?”
Her gaze flicked up to meet his. In time for an incredulous expression to sweep across his face.
“What else is there for the brink of death?”
Well, she certainly wouldn’t know. He turned away, returning soon after with a burning lamp, which he placed beside her head.
“Allow me one last exam. No tonics or tinctures,” he said with a hurry when she stiffened beside him. “Only looking.”
Lux ground her teeth. Corvin touched her hand, his gloved forefinger rubbing a circular pattern atop it.
She didn’t pull away.
She desperately wanted to.
“Only looking,” she finally agreed.
She grimaced when the pads of the healer’s leather-clad thumbs pulled at the sensitive skin beneath her eyes.
He leaned in.
Lux’s lips parted. Her thoughts muddled, suddenly bewildered. Because the healer’s eyes in the lamplight were not so dark as she’d thought. They were brown in places, yes, but hardly. The rest…
Silver as Corvin’s. Silver as Kent’s. And now that she studied these, she realized Silas’s had also been shot through the same.
She didn’t understand it.“Why are your eyes that way?” she whispered. Because not only were they silver, they were also red-lined and swollen. Like Corvin’s.
The circle stopped on her hand.
“Corvin didn’t tell you?” His unusual eyes roamed over hers. “Maybe he didn’t wish to scare away something he’s come to care for.”
