"You're fucking insane."
"I will admit, I wasn't expecting that response." Thrane winces when I remove the knife and press a towel to his wound.
"Hold this. I am going to get my supplies to stitch you up."
"Or," Thrane holds up a finger, "you could run upstairs and fetch Aurelia. I'm sure she can use more practice with her healing abilities."
I stand from my crouched position and shake my head as I make my way to the door. "We should have started with a smaller exercise to test your theory. Now I have blood all over my kitchen."
"If I hadn't been extreme, you might not have performed under pressure." Thrane points out, pressing the rag to his thigh. "Which I appreciate, by the way. That hurt like hell."
"Is this how you're teaching Shaye to use her healing magic?" I scoff. "It's a wonder you're not scarred head to toe."
"I may be extreme in my methods, but I produce results."
"I respect the method to your madness, but you're still insane."
"Maybe so," he nods and motions to the door. "If you would be so kind. Aurelia?"
Shit.
I beeline up the stairs to Atlas and Shaye's bedroom and knock like a wild man. Atlas peels the door open, his eyes silently cursing my interruption, but when I blurt, "Thrane needs you.He stabbed himself." Shaye leaps from the bed and sprints down the stairs before I can say more.
Atlas and I are hot on her heels as we head to the lowest level of the row house.
Shaye stampedes into the kitchen to find Thrane in the same spot I left him.
"Shit!" She drops to her knees in front of him, moving the towel to see the damage. Her eyes dart to the bloody butcher knife and searches my gaze for answers. "What the hell happened?"
"I was chopping onions and had a bit of an accident," Thrane fudges the truth.
"You stabbed yourself while cutting onions?" Shaye's brows raise, anger clear in her tone.
"This is probably why I never venture to the kitchens in Stelara." He continues with the charade while Atlas and I exchange a look.
"You're lying to me," she frowns.
Thrane clicks his teeth. "You don't need to know everything, Aurelia. It isn't your business."
"But healing you is?"
"Now you're catching on."
Shaye rolls her eyes and presses her hand to Thrane's leg. Within seconds, his wound heals.
"You're getting better," Thrane praises. "And faster."
"Next time," she stands and offers Thrane a helping hand. "I will want answers."
Thrane doesn't accept the aid, and hops to his feet as if he wasn't just bleeding all over the floor. "Next time, I might be inclined to give them." He trots to the door, bobbing his head at Atlas on his way. "I will see you bright and early for training, Atlas. And Aurelia, I expect to see you at Draakstan as well. Goodnight."
Without any further explanation or pleasantries, the Frost Elf King walks out the front door.
For several agonizing seconds, we all stand in complete and utterly confused silence.
"So… cutting onions?" Shaye asks me, but I'm not ready to tell her or Atlas the truth.
"What can I say?" I shrug. "He's odd."
