“I made it to safety after you healed my leg. You saved my life. I owe you more than I can ever repay.”
“How is your leg? You’re still limping. I can take another look.”
She was suddenly kneeling beside me. I forced myself to look at the rocky ceiling above us as she rolled up my pant leg. I couldnotlook at this divine female on her knees.Ceiling. Breathe.
I was quickly losing my good place in the afterlife. If I’d had a chance to begin with.
She squeezed up and down my calf, looking for the problem.Ceiling. Look at the rocks.
“It’s my ankle,” I said calmly, managing not to betray myself. I was at high risk of my chest creating the low growl-like noise that any Trebite would know was… indecent. Would she know?
“Your ankle? I’m sorry, I didn’t see that it was hurt too. I thought you’d just broken your shin.”
“Me too.” Up until it was too late to do anything about it.
“Take your shoe off.”
I stood in place. I’d just hiked up a mountain in the rain. Ireallydidn’t want her to be near my bare feet right now. “Maybe later.”
She grabbed behind the back of my knee and pushed hard, and I lifted my leg in surprise. Was she treating me like a damn Silvate getting their hoof cleaned?! Before I could protest, she’d yanked my boot off.
“How is itstill bruised?!” her voice raised in surprise.
“Probably because I’ve walked at least a hundred miles on it.”
I was hoping she’d laugh. Instead, she grumbled an unhappy noise and pressed her palms around the joint. I felt the cool tingles of her healing magic, and the relief of the ache melting away. My eyes closed momentarily, this ankle had been paining me for a long time.
“There. All better.” She stood up and I was able to make eye contact again. “Did you have a doctor look at it or anything?It isfucking insanethat you climbed a mountainlike that, you know.”
I shrugged, focused on testing the functionality of my ankle. I pressed my weight into it. Normal. No pain.
“You know what, never mind. Don’t answer that.”
“Didn’t plan to.”
She snorted at my bluntness, humor gleaming in her blue eyes. Her laughter was intoxicating. I wanted more of it.
“I guess you’re probably wondering how I did that,” she laughed again awkwardly. Music.
“Wait,” I warned, the relief of experiencing a healed ankle melted away. It wasnotgood that she was offering information on a silver platter. She needed to be ready to avoid, deflect, denyanythingrelated to her divine status. “You… shouldn’t be so quick to talk about it. You need to be careful.”
“What? My healing?”
I bristled. “Among other things. Being discreet will do you a lot of favors in this world.”
She hummed in thought. “I’m not great at ‘discreet’. But you can explain why I need to keep my mouth shut while we eat. I’ve been traveling all day and I amstarving.” Her bare feet padded towards the pile of berries.
“I brought food and can make a fire,” I interjected, irked that her options were limited to a pile of foraged fruit in a cave. Do all goddesses scrape by like this on Trebianna? For the first time, I had some context for why Graysen had taken Faeryn out of her safe haven, other than dumb love.
“Really?” Her head whipped around, her voice excited. I supposed I would be too if I’d been living off only one meal and was regularly waterlogged.
“Really. Where do you want it?”
She nodded to just behind the rocky column connecting the overhang to the ground. “If you don’t mind keeping it closer to the fresh air. I don’t want too much smoke clouding around Nurghle.”
I looked at the small mass of black fur namedNurghle.“Of course.”
“So, like, are you a hiker? Do you live out here? I’m not used to seeing people on the mountain.” The vibrancy that had returned to her deep voice was intoxicating. The tone reminded me of nails in wood, organic sturdiness held together by sharp metallic pins. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you showed up. Nurghle would be so upset if I didn’t come home.”
