Page 90 of Shardless

The mortals and weaker lowborn fey, those that couldn’t take in enough aether to heal their wounds, were not so lucky. They lay prostrate on the ground, their faces and bodies contorted in agony. The menders, though they could do little more than offer simple first-aid, cleaned and bandaged wounds, offering comfort where it was needed.

Skye let out another low groan as he felt something in his shoulder snap back into place.

“Hold still,” the willowy earth mage reprimanded.

The severe woman pushed back a tendril of silvery hair from her face, and she rubbed at her eyes tiredly, the movement pulling at her almost translucent skin. When she looked at him again, Skye felt an uncomfortable shiver run down his spine. The members of House Agno had the most disconcerting eyes he had ever seen. When he wasn’t channeling aether, he couldn’t distinguish the subtle ring of her pupils from the inky black of her irises, making her eyes seem almost like a bottomless, fathomless void.

“I should be scolding you,” she said, her voice full of reproach. Her pale, bloodless lips lifted into a peculiar smile that seemed out-of-place on her smooth complexion. “Using that much aether at one time is stupid, even for a member of House Ghislain. You’re lucky you didn’t kill yourself.” She gave his arm a rough tug as she realigned the joint, paying no mind to Skye’s sharp cry of pain.

“Damn it,” he hissed. “Could you be a little gentler?! I did just take out some sort of half-dead abomination.”

This earned him a skeptical look from the woman. “Technically true, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re lucky to be alive. Yes—you succeeded. But your plan was still spectacularly stupid.”

Not bothering to wait for his response, the woman checked the bandages wrapped around his shoulder and bicep. “I don’t want you channeling aether for the rest of the day. If you need to restore your aether reserves, do what the rest of us do—meditate and wait for your magic to regenerate naturally. Also, drink this,” she said, handing him a cup. “It’s faeflower.”

Skye took the cup and downed the medicinal draught in one gulp, suppressing a shudder at the taste. Almost immediately, the dull burn in his lungs, a testament to just how little aether he had left, started to abate. “After so many millennia of drinking faeflower for aether burnout, you’d think someone would’ve found a way to make it taste better.”

The healer puffed out a snort as she washed her bloodied hands in a quenching tank. “I have other patients to attend to,” she said, ignoring Skye’s complaint. “I’ll be back to check on you. Sit here and rest—don’t move.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Skye pulled on his shirt before leaning back, his eyes following the lithe highborn woman as she weaved through the crowd, occasionally bending down to check on one of the wounded.

Meditate. How long had it been since he’d had to meditate?

Closing his eyes, Skye took a deep breath. Every mage, no matter their school of magic, learned to manipulate their aether regeneration through meditation. It was an essential skill, just not one he’d chosen to use in a very long time. After all, why would he need to sit quietly in a corner for hours on end when he could just take raw aether from the air and push it directly into his blood?

Just when he had almost managed to clear his mind, a familiar scent tickled his nose. Even without his magic, he’d recognize her anywhere—Taly.

When he opened his eyes, she was much closer than he would’ve guessed, but that wasn’t surprising. His senses were annoyingly dull at the moment. Already halfway across the courtyard, her worried gaze scanned the faces of the wounded as she searched for him.

“Psst… Tink!” he said when she got close enough to hear him.

Her head whipped around, and when her eyes found his, Skye decided that if he died tomorrow, he wanted that smile to be the last thing he remembered. It made the air around her seem just a little bit lighter, and he could feel the warm glow of her joy and relief slowly seep into him, chasing away the cold.

She rushed towards him, gracefully sidestepping the bodies of the wounded, and by the time she made it to his side, her eyes were red and glassy. “Stupid idiot!” she cried, throwing herself onto the bench and wrapping her arms around his neck. “Arrogant highborn jerk…”

“Hey now,” Skye said as he readily returned her embrace. “Is that any way to talk to an injured man?”

Pulling away, she gave him an irritated glare, the severity of which was belied by the tears welling in her eyes. “It’s a term of endearment at this point.”

“Is that so?” Skye huffed good-naturedly, reaching up to give the end of her disheveled braid a gentle tug. “If that’s the case, then your pillow talk really needs work. Don’t worry. I’m here to help, and I’m willing to go all night if need be.”

“Shards, you’re an idiot.” She raised a fist to give him a sharp punch on the arm but thought better of it when she saw the bandages peeking outfrom underneath his shirt. “I thought you were really hurt, but you’re fine.”

Her fingers traced the edge of one of the strips of linen wrapped around his shoulder. After a long pause, she shrugged and gave him a teary smile. “Although, it’s too bad coming face-to-face with whatever that thing was didn’t do anything to improve your sense of humor.”

Skye let his head fall back against the wall with a thud. “Low blow, Tink. Low blow… You know, you should be nicer to me. After all, I think I’m owed a few ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from my favorite mortal right about now. Those were some impressive feats of strength out there. Some people might even consider me a hero.” He lapsed into silence, staring at her expectantly.

Unable to punch him, she flicked his ear, knowing full well that fey ears were more sensitive than her own human ears. When Skye winced, she gave him a satisfied smile.

“Fine.Ooooh…ahhhhh…” she conceded with a pained sigh.

Skye grinned despite the physical and mental fatigue that had permeated every cell and fiber of his body. Had it really only been yesterday when he’d laid down hisconditionsfor bringing her along? That already seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Thank you,” he said a little too sincerely. “You know, when people eventually ask me why I did it, I’ll tell them it was for the little people.” Even though she was sitting next to him, he held a hand over her head, pretending to measure her height compared to his. “That’s you by the way.”

Taly slapped his hand away, suppressing an exasperated chuckle. “Seriously, though, are you okay? Why haven’t you healed yet?”

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