Page 130 of A Curse of Breath and Blood

Tharan pushed a dark lock behind my ear. “I promise I won’t look if you’d prefer.”

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I stared into his deep green eyes. Our faces nearly touching.

A knock at the door broke our trance.

The healer, a small, halfling woman with silver hair and umber skin, entered. She wore a green utilitarian dress full of pockets and thick-rimmed glasses.

“I hear someone has a broken back,” she said, mixing something at the table in the room. “Here, drink this.”

I grimaced as she handed me a tincture with the consistency of mud.

“It’s wormwood, yarrow root, and the mud from my homelands far across the sea. It will help to mend your bones.” She guided the glass to my lips.

I choked on the mixture.

She gently patted the bottom of the cup. “Drink up. In a few days, you’ll be good as new.”

Finishing the mixture. I wiped my mouth on my sleeve. “Thank you.”

The old halfling turned to Tharan. “Take good care of her. She’s special.”

“I will,” Tharan said, escorting the old woman out.

The elixir snaked its way through my wounded body, heating as it found bones to mend. I clenched my jaw, arching my back in agony.

Tharan heaped pillows behind me, allowing me to sit up.

“How about a story?” he asked, glancing at a bookshelf lining the wall.

My heart skipped at the simple act overflowing with kindness I was unaccustomed to.“That would be lovely.”

Shirtsleeves rolled, he held his hands behind his back as she surveyed the books. A golden tattoo snaked its way up his forearm. Had I missed that before, or was the healing potion making me delirious?

Tharan grabbed a book and took a seat beside me. “This is good,” he said, flipping to the first page.

My eyelids heavy, I fought to stay awake. “Don’t you want to talk about the fact that I conjured an Army of the Dead?”

He looked at me through lowered lashes. “Yes, I have many questions, but seeing as we went through an ordeal… I’d like to enjoy this moment of peace. We can figure everything out once you’re healed.” He licked his finger, using it to separate the pages. The sight of his sensuous mouth made me swallow hard.

I let out a sigh, needing to focus on my healing. Tribulations pawed at my door like lost puppies, but they could wait a little longer.

I let the sound of Tharan’s calming voice drift me off into a deep and dreamless sleep.

A searing pain woke me a few hours later. Tharan lay asleep in the chair next to my bed. The book he had been reading lay open on his chest.

I reached for the pain tonic, but my clumsy fingers knocked over the water glass instead.

The sound of shattering glass jolted him awake.

“Are you okay?” he asked, scooping the broken shards of glass into his hand.

Heat flushed my cheeks. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I just wanted to take some pain elixir, but I couldn’t reach it.”

“It’s okay.” He poured the honey-flavored tincture into a glass and handed it to me. “You could have woken me up. I would have gotten it for you.”

“You’ve done too much,” I said, swigging back the viscous liquid.

Tharan grimaced.

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