Lifting her against me, I stood and inhaled a deep whiff of her. Gods be damned, it stunned me still for a moment. Her scent was a salty sweetness completely unfamiliar to me, and yet, it drew me in. I wanted to press my nose into her unusually red hair and suck in a deep breath of her.
Tossing that feeble thought aside, I tromped away from the fire and through the tent flap. I kept blue coal burning in the tent, since it gave off no smoke and a good bit of heat. The blue glow was soothing as well in the night. Though all beast fae preferred keeping warm by an open fire, the blue coal mined by the wraith fae was an efficient source of heat inside our tents. We used it when we had it available.
It was comfortable and warm. I set the girl on top of my furs and then stood again, staring down in wonder. Wolf sat beside me, wagging his tail and staring up at me expectantly.
“If you think to be rewarded for dragging an injured light fae female into my camp, you are sorely mistaken.”
Wolf licked her hand and nuzzled it, whining. I knelt next to the furs and lifted her delicate hand into mine. The contrast between her kind and mine was remarkably clear when I held her small, fair hand in my much larger, calloused one.
“She’s cold.”
Wolf yipped, and I swear the beast rolled his eyes at me.
“Yes, I know she is. I’m just stating it aloud. You don’t have to get such an attitude. She was obviously caught out in the storm somehow. She’s no beast fae so she can’t regulate her bodytemperature the way we can. I’m assuming, anyway. I know nothing about the skald fae.”
I pressed her hand between my palms and gently rubbed to get the circulation going again. Then I did the same to her other one. When I pressed my palm to her forehead, she was slightly feverish, despite her body feeling so cold.
Moving the pads of my fingers to the base of her neck, I felt around to determine if her pulse was as slow as I’d thought. Then I lifted my water satchel and poured some into my palm. I poured a few drops into her mouth.
Suddenly, her eyes opened—green as gems—and her skin brightened with the glow of the moon. Without warning, she gasped and a shock of magick jolted up my arm. I leaped back off the furs with a cry and stood over her, staring at my hand. When I looked back down, her eyes were closed again and her skin was its normal color. If you can call bloodless a normal color.
“She shocked me,” I told Wolf. “You’ve brought a damn harpy to our camp, Wolf. And now she’s using her witchy magick on me just for trying to help her.”
Wolf simply licked her hand.
“Of course, she isn’t stinging you with her magick,” I grumbled. “Why don’t you heal her then?”
Wolf sat on his haunches again, staring up at me with that ridiculous, superior stare of his.
“Stop it,” I told him. “Yes, I know the law. But that law refers to creatures of dark fae.”
He didn’t make a sound, still staring.
We were too far from camp for me to fetch a healer. And she couldn’t travel until her fever broke. It could make her worse. The best I could do was get her sustenance to fight it off.
“Fucking fine!” I lifted one of the extra furs at the foot of the bed and slung it over the witch, making sure not to touch her this time, lest she zap me with her wicked magick.
“I will help her, Wolf. Are you happy now?” I snapped. “But only because our law demands it. And if she kills us both in our sleep with her witchcraft,” I turned at the tent flap and pointed a finger at him, “I’ll hunt you down through all eleven hells to kill you again.”
He hopped onto my bed and draped his body alongside hers before resting his chin on her legs. He dwarfed her. I suppose I wouldn’t have to worry about anything harming her while I was gone.
I grunted with irritation. “Maybe she’ll awaken again and have a heart attack with a monstrous hound slobbering all over her,” I told him as I left.
Once outside the tent, I tromped over to where I’d left my belt and short sword, the black blade given to me as a gift from the wraith king in exchange for a favor. I’d wondered then when Gollaya Verbane had strolled into camp with the moon fae princess at his side, claiming her as his mate, whether he’d gone mad. It was unnatural for a dark fae to take a light fae to his bed for more than a night’s pleasure. To take one for a mate was simply against nature.
I huffed out a breath of misty air as I strapped on my belt and the short sword. Yes, it was true that my own second, Bezaliel, had taken a wood fae as his wife. And while I respected and trusted Bezaliel as I would a brother, I always thought him a little addled in the head for doing such a thing. The light fae were not like us. And their women who had magick were witches.
Proof enough was that skald fae wench who just pierced me with her powers when all I was doing was trying to determine if her heart was about to stop beating.
With my belt fastened and my blade hanging at my hip, I stepped toward the game trail where I’d had luck a few days ago. “Far be it from me to be the first chief to break the Vanglosa oath.”
I heaved a sigh, knowing that female was a stranger in need. And even though she was an evil, red-haired witch, our law demanded that I help her.
Stomping into the darkness, I snorted. “I assume boar meat won’t be sufficient for a high and mighty light fae.”
I’d need a deer, I suppose. Or does she require swans or some other sort of exotic animal? Not that I’d kill a swan, but who knows with these fae that live so far south near the Nemian Sea. I had no idea what they ate. And yet, Wolf acts like I’m the fool for even asking questions.
Maybe she’d gone into the woods to end her life or something. For who would come out here without even the thinnest of cloaks to protect oneself? Especially a frail light fae. And here we were, thwarting her plans to meet death on her own terms.
