Page 47 of Restored

“Ledger,” I snap back. “There is no reason for me to be on a comfortable bed while you sleep on the hard floor. If you sleep down here, so do I.”

“You’re infuriating,” he snaps.

I don’t respond, instead turn on my side and watch him. He is on his back now staring up at the ceiling.

“Thank you for helping me heal myself today.” My voice is soft, and I swear I see Ledger stop breathing at my words.

“Do not thank me for that.” His lip curls.

I shift onto my back, mirroring Ledger. “I’m sorry about your sister.”

We stay silent for a long moment, staring at the ceiling. Just when I think he’s fallen asleep, he speaks. “Legend says that a Kerolu’s venom, when extracted and mixed with the right herbs, can have healing properties.” I don’t move, don’t dare breathe too loud in fear that he will stop speaking. “My father had been sick for a long time, and the healing solutions we had been giving him were getting less and less effective. My sister got the idea one day she was going to get the Kerolu venom. She snuck out one night and rode to Grimwood, hoping to find a pack of Kerolu. I’m not sure what she was thinking or what her plan was, only that she was desperate.

“When I realized she was gone, I rode to Grimwood—and…you’ve heard the rest.” His voice cracks. “If she would have just waited, knew we had other options.” He pauses. “Knew you existed. She would still be here.” The raw emotion in Ledger’s voice makes my heart squeeze. My power thrashes inside of me, wanting to help, wanting to fix, but there is no physical wound to be mended.

“The worst part is that Forde could have brought her a Kerolu claw and given her the venom so she could have put that thought to rest. I’m sure it wouldn’t have worked, but it could have at least purged the thought from her mind. She told me she’d asked him for it, and he’d laughed at her, told her it was the ramblings of a crazy woman.”

I reach my hand out tentatively brushing his knuckles with my fingertips not knowing what to say. The silence lingers before I speak. “Is that what you need my powers for? Your father?” When he doesn’t answer, I continue, “I can’t bring your sister back, but I’ll do whatever is in my power to help. I know what it’s like to lose the people you care about.” Ledger hand turns and his thumb brushes mine. We lay like that for quite some time, close but hardly touching.

“Have you ever worked on someone with the nullifying ability?” Ledger’s question is so soft I hardly hear it.

“You mean someone that can nullify powers?” He stiffens almost imperceptibly at my question, but nods. “Not to my knowledge. I can’t imagine my powers would work on someone with such an ability.” I frown, and Ledger falls silent. When I look over at him, his brow is drawn, and his face is laced with an emotion I can’t quite place. “Why do you ask?”

“Just curious.”

“I wasn’t able to save my father.” I offer up a small piece of myself after he falls silent again. “Sandor confronted him at our home and when he spat at his feet the King speared him right through the chest with a sword. My mother woke me in a panic and carried me outside. My ability was starting to emerge, but I was so young and unpracticed.” I reach for the power inside of me as a small comfort, and it warms in response.

“She begged for me to heal him, pleaded, and wailed as I tried desperately to conjure my power. I was so scared, so horrified, I couldn’t even manage a small spark of energy. His warm blood soaked into the soles of my bare feet and then stayed crusted there for days after, until they allowed me to bathe.”

The scene flashes in my mind, fresh and as terrifying as the day it happened. “Your blood, Layla, it is in your very blood.” That sentence was the last thing my father had ever said to me. The words made as much sense to me now as they did the night he’d perished. I shake the echoing words from my head and continue, “His eyes had barely closed when the guards seized me, leaving my mother wailing in the streets holding his lifeless body.”

I don’t need to turn back to Ledger to feel his eyes on me. “I was wrong about you. You are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for.” As he says the words his fingertips stroke mine. The small act somehow more intimate than I could have imagined.

He doesn’t offer cheap words, instead a deep understanding. I lay next to this man, my captor, feeling strangely safe and, for the first time in a long time, seen.

I rouse, being set in a soft bed, my bones aching from the hard ground. Warm arms release me, and I protest.

“Stay.” The word is a foreign request on my tongue.

I swear I feel the ghost of a touch slide against my cheek.

And though my request goes unanswered his words drift into my ears, distant and hazy under the cloud of sleep taking over. “You’re going to ruin me.”

It’squiet in the room the next morning, and I swallow my disappointment when I realize Ledger is gone. I go to sit up and realize a vine is twined around my wrist to the bed. I growl and yank at it, making it tighten.

“Really, Ledger?” There is a small nail sticking out of the wooden bed frame by my wrist, and I drag the vine over it.

I use the rusted edge to whittle away at the stem little by little until it snaps in half. Pulling my clothes on for the day, I strap the dagger Ledger had given me to my thigh. Mia had been nice enough to lend me a sheath for it.

I decide to go find Ledger and give him a piece of my mind. Grabbing the new cloak he found me, I throw open my door and tromp down the stairs.

I stop in the kitchens to grab a few apples and carrots to offer to Apollo.

The morning air is crisp as I step outside. A shiver works its way up my spine, and I savor the cool breeze enjoying the way it drifts over my skin.

Standing and relishing the feeling for another minute, I throw on the cloak. The rough wool scratches against my skin and warms me almost instantly.

The smell of hay hangs in the air as I enter. Apollo knickers as I approach; he looks saddled up and ready for the day. The stables are surprisingly clean and spacious. Saddles, bridles and grooming supplies line the walls.

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