Page 31 of A Dance With Fire
“Of course, but she’s sleeping and—”
“And what?”
“You’d have to hold her down so she doesn’t wake. If she wakes while I’m in the process, I could accidentally hurt her—”
“I’ll do it.” Ryker bent and pulled the still woman into his arms, her back to his chest. His scarred hands gripped at her wrists, holding them tightly in place so that if she jerked awake, she wouldn’t hurt herself or others. Ryker slashed a glare the blacksmith’s way. “Hurry up.”
The urgency in his voice caused Clay to chuckle, though he couldn’t be sure why. Ryker was a hard ass. He hardly touched anyone and hardly ever let anyone touch him. He was the group’s healer because he was damn good and, while he wouldn’t admit it, he cared about every single life he saved, regardless of the frown constantly marring his face.
The blacksmith set to work, taking out his tools as he began hammering away with firm, strong gentleness.
Ryker held her tightly and she barely even stirred as the tools dug into her skin. It made Clay wonder what all they’d done to her. Who, and why?
Davina hadn’t given them specifics when she’d gone knocking on the safe house door. She’d mentioned an Elemental Fae, the Fire Dancer; chunky, chopped bits of a prophecy that surrounded this Elemental; and a future that had convinced Prince Valerio to go after her.
No one else had heard what Davina whispered to the prince, and they knew better than to ask, to question his authority.
He was their leader, not just of the long-forgotten Seelie Court, but of the Resistance as well. If he believed this Fae could help tip things in their favor, well, who was Clay to disagree?
They’d all been curious about her. They’d all wanted to go to the temple and get her out, but when they’d arrived, she’d already saved herself. From what? Humans. Obviously. But it ran deeper than that, and Clay couldn’t wait until she woke up to tell them.
Once her manacles had been forced off, Ryker slid her body back onto the pallet. A single glare dismissed the blacksmith, sending him all but running from the room with his tools in hand.
Clay rolled his eyes. “That’s why Fae have a bad rep, big guy.”
He snorted, which showed how little he cared what humans or anyone else thought of him, and he hovered his hands over her body.
With the iron gone, he could heal her now.
Ryker’s eyes closed and his palms began to glow with the gentle press of his healing magic.
“There’s ashwood in her blood,” he declared with a guttural groan.
Clay tensed. Someone had poisoned her. No wonder she’d passed out on them.
Silence followed as Ryker got to work. His hands passed over her whole body, and the golden brown color appeared over her skin again, making her look less like a corpse and more like a healthy Fae.
Ryker’s brows pulled together. “Something isn’t healing…”
Clay’s own brows rose up to his hairline. “What do you mean something isn’t healing? Your magic depleted or something?”
He let out a growl that was meant to silence Clay and it did. Letting out a frustrated breath, Ryker’s eyes opened and he grasped the Fire Dancer’s body, turning her gently to the side. His hand gripped the hem of the sheer material adorning her and slowly slid it up.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Clay demanded, feeling heat rise to his face.
As much as he joked, he didn’t want her privacy violated like this. Ryker ignored him and pulled the material up over the rounded globes of her ass and exposed her back.
What they saw silenced Clay and had everyone reeling back.
“What is that?” Valerio demanded, bending to get a better look.
It looked as though her back had taken a knife to it. Carved in her flesh were two circles, one starting just under her neck and a second that followed just beneath that. In the center of the circles were whirls of flames.
The skin was puckered, the wounds fresh, and it looked like they were just beginning to crust over at the edges. Blood still seeped from it. They looked deep enough to be painful as fuck, Clay thought.
Ryker ran his hand over the wound and golden light glowed from his palm, but her skin did not heal.
“This has never happened before,” Uric pointed out.
