Moonstone
DELILAH
We arrived back at the castle late. After the lantern show, Titus and I had gotten a little frisky on the hillside after Cercies and Calpurnia left for his estate in Dragon’s Maw. Rexius had requested a transfer there because of the loss of his mother, so Cercies had to meet him early to get settled before our training at the castle. Which meant Cal was staying the night with him at his place for the first time—and I couldn’t wait to hear all about it.
Sore was an understatement for how I felt. After spending hours working out with Cercies and then several more riding dragons, I ached in muscles I didn’t know I had. Riding Titus at the end of the night could also be a factor.
I was out of elixirs, and my mate mark could use cleaning and bandaging. I told Titus I’d catch up—that I was going to stop by Gleeda’s room to see if she was still awake. He kissed me goodbye and told me to sleep in his bed with him tonight. Sounds like Cal wasn’t the only one getting different sleeping arrangements.
The castle was quiet and dark, but I knew my way around… somewhat. I slipped through the halls; my mate mark still tender beneath my make-shift bandage.
Gleeda’s double doors were slightly ajar. A thin column of firelight spilled into the corridor from her hearth, painting the stone in gold.
I hesitated, unsure if she had already fallen asleep. “Come in,
child,” she called softly, like she’d been expecting me.
Heat touched my cheeks. I pushed the door open the rest of the way. “Sorry. I wasn’t spying. I just didn’t want to disturb you if you were asleep.”
Her chuckle was warm and low. “Oh, I rarely sleep. Come in. Sit. Let me have a look at you.”
I crossed the room and sat on her small bed, the plain white linens stark against the dark stone. The moment I lowered myself, my muscles protested so sharply I couldn’t stop the wince.
Gleeda’s gaze sharpened with knowing. “I made another batch of elixir today. Take one. It will lessen the soreness, and you will sleep better.”
I obeyed, swallowing the bitterness, then watched as she gathered her things with practiced hands. There was something about her, something gentle and steady—motherly perhaps.
“Now,” she said, sitting close, “how’s that burn healing?”
“It seemed better,” I admitted. “But it started bleeding while riding today.”
“Oh, the skies must have been rough,” she murmured, and her tone shifted into that healer’s calm that somehow made pain bearable. “You weren’t the only one injured on dragon-back. I just mended a shattered wrist.”
My stomach tightened. I didn’t ask whose. I already knew.
Gleeda dabbed salve onto the edge of the wound, and I hissed between my teeth. “Why can’t you sleep?” I asked, curiously.
For a moment, her hands went still, and something flickered behind her eyes—loneliness, maybe, or grief so old it had become part of her bones. She looked away like she couldn’t stand to be seen with
it.
“It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with,” she said, too smoothly.
Before I could press, there was a knock at the door. Both of us turned.
A tall Fae male stood in the doorway with two guards behind him, his robe white, his deep brown skin adorned with raw gemstones that caught the firelight. The gems were familiar in a way because I’d worn something like that in my Earth Fae glamour. Titus had mentioned the High Lord of Land would be here sometime this week. This had to be Lord Folliade.
“Pardon the interruption,” he said, then glanced at me and seemed to realize how indecently vulnerable I looked, half-bandaged and wincing on a bed. “It’s been an exceedingly long day, and this will only take a moment. I was told I could find a healer named Gleeda here.”
I nodded, gesturing toward her. He turned to Gleeda with the kind of politeness that came from authority, not kindness.
“Lady healer,” he began, voice careful, “I was told you have been employed here the longest. I am searching for my mother—the missing Lady of Land. I wondered if you have ever seen or heard anything in all your years here that could help me.”
Gleeda didn’t answer.
At first I thought she hadn’t heard him, but her gaze had locked onto him so completely it was as if she had stopped breathing. Her face went blank in a way that wasn’t emptiness. It was shock held so tightly it looked like stillness.
The High Lord’s brows drewtogether. He glanced at me, uneasy, as if asking whether this was part of some game.
