me!”
I don’t know what had come over me, but I think I’d reached the anger stage of grief.
“My mother gave her whole life to you and Faerie. And I will do the same. All I ask is for a fucking healer and some kindness to someone who saved my life.”
My chest heaved as tears lined my eyes. Whatever grand illusion I’d had about the elders being bubbly and kindhearted was fucking shattered. They just wanted their crystals … but was that fair? I didn’t know anymore.
Indra sighed, eyeing Liam warily and then my bleeding arm. “I’ll approve a healer, but he must return to Earth at once. You may wait inside Mara’s and I’ll send for Kira.”
Approve? So now I had to ask permission?
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth and spun on my heel. When I looked up at Liam and the pure shock on his face, I knew the soulmate comment had completely thrown him.
Oops.
As I stepped inside and closed the door behind me, his gaze shifted to the Tree of Life and the crystals at its base. Pure desire flashed there, and I wondered if Indra were right. Had he tricked me to get inside Faerie? No. I couldn’t believe that. My mind was screaming one thing and my heart another.
We waited in an awkward silence in Mara’s office. I’d sent Elle to check on her mother and rest up at home while I thought of the next plan for us. Mara flipped through an outdated magazine while casting glances between Liam and I. We were both dripping blood onto the carpet, and worse for wear.
“I can just go to a hospital you know,” Liam groaned.
I scoffed. “And take weeks to heal? No way. The king will find you and kill you while you’re down.”
He shrugged. “Probably right.”
“I’m … sorry, my people are … I mean they’re lovely, it’s just…”
“Whatever,” he growled and crossed his arms over his chest.
Mara raised an eyebrow but then went back to her magazine. I was about to respond to him when the door opened and Kira walked in with her healing kit.
The second she saw Liam, she looked at me but said nothing.
“Heal him first,” I told her.
Liam stood and backed up to the wall. “No. I’m fine. She’s lost more blood.”
Mara coughed and then continued to flip through her magazine.
I rolled my eyes and beckoned Kira over. She took out her scissors and gently cut the sleeve off my shirt, careful not to touch my wound. I hissed at any sudden movement, a sting lacing up my arm.
“Pain elixir.” She handed me the shot of thick brown fluid and I chugged it down in one big gulp, relishing the warmth as it burned its way down my throat to my belly.
“This is … extensive damage, Lily. Were you shot?” She undid the tourniquet and quickly set her warm hands over the wound to staunch the blood. Pink glowing light emanated from her palms; a soothing chill settled over me. The pain meds were working. I didn’t feel drunk like Fae mead; this was more of an anti-anxiety feeling. You just … chilled out. The pain receptors in my brain turned off and I could finally think.
“Kind of. Shot with an icicle,” I said.
She tsked-tsked. “This will take a few days to fully heal. I can stop the bleeding and close the wound, but the ligaments and tendons are torn as well. You’ll need to take light therapy.”
I nodded.
“Light therapy?” Liam peeped up from the wall. He watched Kira’s hands on my arm in fascination.
Kira looked at me, as if asking permission to tell him, and I nodded.
“Light—” she held up her hand, which glowed an insanely bright pink “—therapy is when I place my healing light into a crystal, or glass jar, and she can lay it on the wound when I’m not around.”
Liam nodded, but it was hard to read him. What did he think of all this? Did the Winter King have any healers? Did any of the Sons of Darkness have healing powers? I wanted to know everything.
Kira whipped out a bandage and wrapped my arm, handing me a felt satchel with three light stones in them. They glowed pink and I was careful not to touch them and discharge the healing early. “One a day for three days should do it,” she told me.
I nodded. “Thank you.” I felt so much better, but I was suddenly hungry. It had been a while since those pancakes in New