She nodded, sweeping back her drying, wavy hair. “So, what happened to me? Did I hit my head on a rock when I fell, and slipped into a coma?”
Aerén jerked to his feet, just remembering what had happened. It gutted him all over again. He shook his head.
“Aerén?”
He gripped the back of his armchair. “Not from hitting your head. A rebel shot you with a bespelled arrow. Our mage, Allatus, has it now, and they’re trying to trace its origin. Butcaeli mea,you…died.”
CHAPTER39
“What?”Leya shot up from her seat, her breath trapped in her lungs. “I died?”
The dark anguish on Aerén’s face revealed the stark truth.
“If I did, then who saved me? I mean, I’m here, alive.”
“My brother. The banished one. He has the gift to do so. I didn’t know this, but Allatus told me. I found Aethan and brought him back to help you.”
Her head reeled. Leya sank down into the armchair as Aerén explained about his banished brother healing her and restarting her heart with his unique ability to restore life.
She scrubbed her hot face with both hands. “How long was I in a coma?” she asked, trying to get air in her lungs.
“Not a coma, but a healing sleep,me’morae. For two months.”
“Oh, God, my father!”
“He doesn’t know.” Aerén crouched in front of her. “We—Hana and I—thought it best to keep this from him. But Hana did go back and check on him. With the portal time anomaly, only a day had passed since she left Earth.”
A soft sigh of relief escaped her.
She nodded, smoothing the folds on her old, faithful blue robe. Her sister must have brought it back from New York. “Hana had to have been out of her mind when I…when I was mortally wounded.”
“Oh, she was furious. I think she would have gutted me if she could.” A wry smile emerged. “There’s something else you should know.”
She eyed him cautiously, wariness knotting her stomach.
He cradled her thighs with his palms. “It’s not bad. Well, I hope you don’t think it is.”
“Aerén…” She rolled a swathe of his pretty hair around her finger. “In our life, the moment we find a drop of happiness, something crazy-bad happens.”
“True, but this…” He took both her hands and pressed them to his chest. “When Aethan brought you back, his ability came with a side effect.”
She braced herself.
“You are immortal, Leya. This means you will not die, not from mortality at any rate. Or, from any other illness humans can die from.”
Her jaw dropped, then a smile started. “I’ll be with you forever?”
“Indeed.”
As profound as her happiness was, a wide yawn broke free.” She grimaced. “Sorry—”
“I’m a thoughtless mate, laying all this on you, when you’ve just awakened.” He rose and scooped her up. “Come.”
“No, I’m glad you told me,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck as he crossed to the big bed and settled her on the mattress.
Leya dragged her too-warm robe and slid beneath the covers.
Aerén kissed her brow. “I have to check up on things. I’ll be back.”
