Page 11 of When Sisters Collide
CHAPTER THREE
KATELL
Katell floated on a bed of clouds. The warmth surrounding her was a sharp contrast to the terrible cold she’d felt on the battlefield. Her limbs felt like wool, her body numb.
She opened her eyes to find the dim ceiling of her tent, its canvas roof draped in shadows and swaying gently with the wind outside.
“Welcome back,” a voice murmured beside her. “How are you feeling?”
She raised a hand, soft fur brushing against her skin. She was swaddled in blankets, the air laced with the scent of medicinal herbs and the metallic tang of blood. Turning her head, she squinted through the flickering candlelight, half expecting Dorias at her side, but it was Thocero’s lean face that greeted her.
The Gifted healer, slighter in build than his brother Larth, had pulled more than one Black Helmet back from the brink of death.
Katell tried to sit up, but her limbs were slow to obey, her body heavy. “I feel fine.” Her words were slurred. “Numb.”
“Don’t move.” Thocero’s cold hands eased her back gently against the furs. “Your body’s been fighting to heal itself for hours. The numbness is a side effect of my Gift. It’s keeping the pain at bay, but it’ll wear off soon.”
She lifted her linen tunic, stained with blood, and peered down her cleavage at her abdomen. A thick bandage, tinged with red, wrapped her from hips to chest, reminding her of the mummies from Kemet. She remembered Tia once explaining how members of the royal family were bound this way, their bodies prepared for the afterlife.
She grimaced and shifted, trying to sit up despite the dull ache blooming beneath her ribs.
Thocero swore under his breath. “Katell. You might be my leader, but if you undo all my hard work, so Laran help me?—”
She sank back into the furs with a huff. Though calmer than Larth, Thocero often lost his temper when it came to stubborn patients.
He placed his palm over her chest, just above the bandages. A pale light swelled beneath his fingers—as soft and cool as dawnlight on fresh snow. It shimmered, spreading in tendrils through the linen. His brow knitted in concentration. “Your heartbeat is steady again, and your body has almost replenished the blood you lost.”
He pulled back, the glow fading from his palm and plunging the tent into shadow once more. Only a few oil lamps flickered along the wooden support poles, their flames casting long, wavering silhouettes across the canvas walls.
The black leather breastplate Dorias had given her lay in pieces on the floor, crusted with dried blood—a stark reminder of her near-fatal encounter.
“That must have been some Gifted weapon to puncture your armour,” Thocero said, following her gaze.
She managed a faint smirk. “A gigantic axe with a wicked blade. Did anyone recover it?”
Thocero shook his head.
“Shame.”
Katell scanned the tent. Bloodied footprints marred the woollen rugs around her cot, dark smears ruining the intricate Rasennan patterns. At the foot of the bed lay a heap of discarded bandages, stiff with dried blood.
Her servant, Ladina, slipped past the wooden partition to gather them, offering Katell a wan smile.
But Dorias was nowhere in sight.
Disappointment twisted deep in her gut. She told herself it didn’t matter, that she didn’t need him hovering at her bedside. But the ache in her chest said otherwise. She’d felt him in her dreams—his warmth, his low voice—but maybe it had only been the fever.
“He stayed by your side the whole night,” Thocero said gently, as if reading her thoughts. “But he had to leave about an hour ago.”
Her breathing eased. Hehadbeen with her. She hadn’t imagined him.
Thocero reached into his satchel and withdrew a vial of Laran’s Tears, the black stones catching the flicker of a nearby lamp.
“He left these for you. Take one now. It’ll help you recover faster and soothe any lingering pain.”
He deposited a single Tear in her palm and handed her a cup of water. “If you feel any more discomfort this evening, call for me.”
She swallowed the Tear and, within moments, the familiar surge of power trickled through her body, soothing her aching muscles and mind.
