“You should save your magic,” Ava said. “This will heal on its own eventually. We might need you for something worse later on.”
“Don’t be a hero. At least let me stop the bleeding.”
Jareth placed his hand on her shoulder, kneeling before her. The warmth of magic coursed through her arm, her skin burning and itching as her flesh knitted itself together. Seconds later, he pulled away, the wound no longer bleeding.
“Get it bandaged up and it will heal the rest of the way on its own.” He rose and walked to the other side of the cave.
“Raine,” Ava turned to her friend, seated next to Maeryn who had fallen asleep. “Will you please let me at least clean your eye?”
He had been pacing like a caged animal, fretting over Maeryn. Almost as bad as Ava when Casimir had been hurt after the Elderoak journey.
“Fine.”
Ava breathed a sigh of relief as she scooted over to him. “Lie down.”
She picked up a nearby waterskin, opening the cap. His face was covered in blood—in his hair, down his neck, on his tunic. Most of it had begun to dry but his eye was still bright red.
Ava leaned over, prying it open one-handed. “This is probably going to sting.”
She poured the water, flushing it out until it ran clear.
“Fuck,” Raine muttered.
Letting go, she asked, “How’s your vision now?”
He blinked several times, scanning the ceiling. “A little blurry but much better,” he said with relief.
“I’m going to clean the rest of the blood off.”
Imsel handed her a full waterskin and a cloth, taking the empty one to refill it. Ava washed away the blood on Raine’s face, wiping gently around the brutal wound. The cut began several inches above his left eyebrow, sliced over his eye, and ended just below his cheekbone.
Fortunately, it was no longer bleeding.
“Do you want Jareth to finish healing this?”
“No,” he muttered.
“It’s probably going to scar if he doesn’t. It will mess with your perfect beauty,” she teased, attempting to cheer him up.
“You think I care?” he shot back.
Ava flinched at his tone. “Sorry, I was?—”
He grabbed her hand. “Shit. I’m sorry. I know what you were doing.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I agree Jareth should conserve his magic. This won’t be the last time someone gets injured, and it could be much worse.”
“And the scar won’t bother you?” She genuinely wanted to know.
“Some people think scars are sexy, little frog.”
“They are. And if ithadgotten your eye, we could have designed a cool eye patch for you and then I would have to say ‘argh, matey’ every time you walked into a room.”
“I have no idea what any of that means,” Raine said.
“Do you know what a pirate is?”
“No.”
“Never mind then. It’ll take too long to explain.”
