that," said Tier, though he followed her up the front stairs and through the ebony door.
"It can be dangerous," she said, though most of her attention was on her husband's slow progress. "This is an illusion - a very good illusion - but if the weather is unpleasant, you can freeze to death without ever knowing it. But the rain has stopped, and we'll use our own blankets for warmth."
"So why didn't we use it to sleep in while we were on the trail home?" Tier asked.
"Magic, any magic, tends to attract the attention of a variety of nasty creatures that I'd rather not wake up to," Seraph answered, moving a chair that Tier might have had to step around. "And the illusion is good enough you can't hear if anything comes prowling. Tonight - well, there was enough magic here to call anything looking for it, so Isolde's house isn't going to make any difference. With my wardings fresh, I don't think there's much that'll get through. We'll be safe and private here."
The house was lit with small lanterns. Tier limped behind her through the sitting room and into the smallest of the bedrooms. There was less personality here than in the other bedrooms. Seraph had always assumed it was a guest room, and felt more comfortable in it, less an interloper and more a guest.
"It seems wrong to put these dirty blankets on that bed," Tier said.
She could see his point, the bedding was pristine white. "It's all right. The dirt won't be there next time the mermora is called."
Tier shook his head, but he loosened the tie on his blankets and unrolled them on the bed. Seraph could see that more than his knees were bothering him tonight.
"You're hurting," she said. "Strip down and let me see."
It was a mark of how tired he really was that he followed her brisk commands without a word of teasing. She turned up the light on the bedside table so she could see better.
He moved slowly and she saw, in addition to the new damage to his healing knees, his left shoulder was hurt. When he was finished she walked around him once to assess the damage with an eye educated by three children who climbed trees and barns and other things more suited to birds than humans.
"Nothing a few days' rest and a good hot bath won't fix," she said at last with relief. No matter what Lehr had said, Tier's obvious soreness had worried her. "Lie down, and I'll see what I can do," she said.
He sat on the bed with a grunt of relief, and she helped him swing his legs up.
"Now," she told him, after she'd stripped off her wet outer clothing. "I'm going to see if I can't make you more comfortable. If you tell Brewydd about this, I'll never hear the end of it. Pain is your body's way of telling you that you need to rest, or you'll do permanent harm. Nothing I can do will make you heal faster, but I can take away the pain for the night."
She touched the arches of his feet, then the ankles, working slowly up with just a breath of magic. When she touched his knees, his whole body relaxed.
"That feels wonderful," he breathed.
"It'll feel better before I'm done," she said, kissing him softly on the mouth. "But you'll curse me in the morning when I release the magic." She slid her hands up the outside of his thighs and over his hips.
"Have I told you I love you today?" he asked, eyes closed in bliss.
"You're just afraid of what I'll do to you if you don't," she said absently, her attention on the magic that she threaded carefully over his hurts.
He opened his eyes and put a hand under her chin. "I'm not afraid of you," he said, tugging her down for another kiss, this one carnal and knowing. "I love you," he said, when she lifted her head.
She found her lips curving upward on their own before she turned back to her work. "The forest king told me the shadow-tainted creatures were called by a rune in the temple. He said the only one who could have created the rune was a Shadowed."
"Ah," said Tier. "I know you were hoping against this."
She paused in her spell casting, blowing a stray hair that had escaped its braid out of her eye. "A Shadowed brings sorrow behind him in a blanket of death."