Page 101 of Night Fae
"I'll go," Leon volunteered.
As he departed, Zev carried Malik to the bed, easing him down gently. Still, Malik winced, blood still seeping through his torn shirt.
"Let me see," Zev said, carefully helping Malik remove the damaged garment.
The claw marks across Malik's chest weren't deep, but they had an unnatural darkness around their edges.
"This needs treatment soon," he muttered, tearing a clean section from the bottom of his own shirt to press against the worst of the bleeding.
Lyrian approached with a basin of water he'd found in the adjoining washroom. "Here, this might help until the healer arrives."
Zev dampened the cloth and gently cleaned around the wounds while Malik watched him with an unreadable expression.
"Those things in the Fields," Malik finally said. "They were using Rhys against you."
Zev's hands stilled momentarily before continuing their work. "Yes."
"I'm sorry."
"For what? Saving me?" Zev asked, his voice rougher than he intended.
"No," Malik said quietly. "For having to see him like that. Used as a weapon against you."
Zev wrung out the cloth, the water in the basin turning pink with Malik's blood. "It wasn't him."
"I know. But it still must have hurt."
Lyrian cleared his throat. "I'll wait outside for the healer," he said, tactfully retreating from the room and closing the door behind him.
Alone with Malik, Zev felt suddenly unsure what to do with his hands, his eyes, his words. The intimacy of the moment struck him—Malik shirtless and wounded because of him, because he'd been brave enough, foolish enough, to follow Zev into darkness.
"Why did you come after me?" Zev finally asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. "You knew what the paths would do to you."
Malik met his gaze steadily. "I've lost so many people I love. I didn't want to add your name to that list."
Zev could only stare in response to that. He remembered what Malik had said to the creature in the Fields:Even if he never feels for me what he felt for Rhys, that doesn't matter.
"You know…" Malik looked aside. "There's this game I love. Dungeons and Dragons. In that game, you can bring someone back from the dead if only you can afford to buy the diamonds to be used in the spell." Malik licked his lips. "In real life, I have somuch money, butnothingcan bring back the dead. So I have to protect my loved ones with all I've got."
Even though he was talking about a game, what Malik said made a horrible amount of sense. Zev could agree with that logic all too easily.
"About what happened in the Fields..." Zev began.
A knock at the door interrupted them. Leon returned with a severe-looking woman with silver-streaked black hair.
"This is Healer Carah," Leon explained. "She says she knows what to do."
The healer approached immediately, her sharp eyes assessing Malik's condition.
"Field's corruption," she diagnosed after examining the wounds, her fingers probing the edges where shadow taint darkened the skin. "Not deep, but it needs to be drawn out before it spreads."
She selected several herbs from her kit, crushing them in a small mortar she extracted from her bag. The mixture released a sharp, medicinal scent that cut through the air.
"This will draw out the shadow taint," she explained as she applied the poultice to Malik's wounds. "Keep it on until morning."
When she was done with Malik, Carah fixed her stern gaze on Zev. "And what about you? The Fields leave their mark even when there's no physical wound."
"I'm fine," Zev dismissed.
