Page 57 of Shifting Winds
“No Ben.” My argument was weak and thready. Ben couldn’t stand me and there was nothing worse than a judgmental healer.
“I don’t care if you two don’t like each other. He’s the best healer we have.”
“Ground,” I said again, seeing sparks at the edges of my eyes.
He gently laid me on the ground, his fingers brushing my hair from my face. “Tell me what I can do.”
Tears streamed from my eyes, my nerves on fire. “Stay back,” I whispered.
As I expected, Caelan didn’t budge even when roots crawled from my skin, plunging into the earth, encasing me in the safety of Mother Earth’s arms. My eyes squeezed shut, sobs of pain hissing from between my lips as I forced myself to think past the agony. Even wounded, I knew the earth would heal me if it could, but I’d never felt anything like this before.
I had a horrible suspicion about what was happening, and if I was right, this might be the end of me.
Or, a terrible thought whispered in the back of my brain, it might be only the beginning.
I grew and grew, my back pressing into the moist earth. The smell of loam and green and life flowed through me as I gave myself to the world, sending my power deep into its eternal heart.
Chapter
Nineteen
CAELAN
Ben stopped abruptly, his lips pulling back into a feral snarl.
“Do not,” I snapped. “You know how I feel about her.”
The new Lord stepped forward, his eyes on what might be Evie’s living casket. “She’s under there?”
“Yes.”
His jaw clenched. “I’d rather you found someone else for this.”
“Does our friendship mean nothing?” I asked quietly. “Does she mean nothing?”
“She’s a liar.”
I snorted. “And you aren’t?”
Ben came to me scarred and haunted, and, against the advice of all the other Lords, I’d allowed him a place in my pack. We’d become the best of friends and stayed that way for years until his fascination with this Floromancer got in the way.
And she’d returned his fascination in the hesitant, sometimes ornery way she had. I was not a stupid man. If Ben had gotten his head out of his ass and questioned why she was so hesitant and allowed her to come to him, he very well might have earned her love. Even though I’d all but forced him out of my territory, she may have still gone to him.
And seeing him now, with glowing eyes and tight jaw, I think Ben knew it too.
“Dumbass,” I said with a snort.
Ben sighed and crouched, placing his hand on top of the wooden construct her body had formed. I could see inside, Evie’s form curled into a fetal position and dotted with crimson flowers. Blue magic flowed from Ben’s fingertips, and the big man closed his eyes for a long moment.
When he rose, his expression was grim. “She’s alive but in some kind of stasis.”
“A coma?”
Ben shook his head. “Not quite.” He jerked his head toward the small copse of trees.
I followed him over so we could speak in private.
“Tell me what happened.”
