Page 95 of Amidst the Insidious Courts
He bows, but I interrupt him midway, pulling him in for a hug before retreating back to the doorway.
“So, shall we not mention you were here?” Bram asks, raising an eyebrow. “Because I doubt Drystan will be impressed.”
I shake my head. “I’ll tell him.” I don’t plan on keeping secrets from any of them. “But he has bigger problems right now.”
“The trial?” Bram realises. “You’re still here. Did it…?”
“Aiyana decided torturing Jaro’s wolf was better than a fair fight,” I grate. “But that’s being seen to. How is… How is Caed?”
Is it cowardly to hide on this side of the wall? Now that I’m here, I don’t know what to say.
“Pet, you missed all the fun.” Lore blinks in front of me, sparing Bram from having to answer me. “The seelie have seriously improved their torture games since I last—”
“Theywhat?” I demand, a hint of Danu’s fury returning as I shove past the grinning redcap. He knew exactly what his words would do.
I stop dead in my tracks, blood rushing to my cheeks as I realise Caed’s naked in a bath full of murky water. He’s currently shoving Prae away as she attempts to wipe a mix of filth and blood from his skin with a cloth.
The second I step inside, both Fomorians cease arguing and turn to face me. That’s when I see what they’ve done to his face.
What happened to his eye? His lips? A bolt of the Goddess’s displeasure rushes through me, and I grimace.
Prae stands, dropping the cloth, which splashes loudly in the water. “I’ll… go.”
“Stay.” My arm blocks her exit. “This… I’m not… This can’t change anything… I just wanted to offer—” I look away, frustrated with my ability to form a single sentence. “I can heal you.” I meet Caed’s one good eye. “If you want me to.”
Every muscle in his body is taut, and he exchanges a look with his cousin. They tilt heads, twitch brows, and share a last long look before he looks back at me, and his shoulders slump. He leans back in the water with a resigned sigh of surrender. I take a hesitant step forward.
“Titania,” I whisper.
The ghost of my great grandmother floats into the room and circles the tub twice, tutting under her tongue. “This will hurt.” A pause. “I still think he deserves worse for what you went through in those tunnels.”
“She says this will hurt,” I warn, stepping closer still, until I’m just in arm’s reach and holding out my hand in offering.
He rolls his one good eye. Typical Caed. Is he not speaking to me now?
“Bree brought me here.” I keep talking as Titania draws closer. “I think he feels bad for what happened.”
Caed scoffs, ignoring my offered hand, and I take another step forward reflexively.
Titania’s hand slips onto my shoulder as I try to pick a place on his body that doesn’t look like it hurts. I settle for his upper arm, which is bruised a deep teal but otherwise unharmed, but as I reach out, I hesitate.
“They took your armbands?”
The skin is still paler where they once were, but the iron is gone.
“And your hair. I’m sorry. I know you said it was important to you.”
Caed’s eye flicks open, and he pins Prae with a glare.
She smirks and answers me, despite his warning look. “We lost them when we officially became fugitives. And Caed cut off his own hair. He was being a drama king.”
Rather than find words for how confused that statement makes me, or focus on the tiny twinge in my chest that might be a niggle of hope, I draw on my connection to Danu. Focusing on funnelling the goddess’s power to the place where Titania grips my shoulder and then down into where my hand rests on Caed’s arm is easier than trying to piece together my feelings right now.
It isn’t long before he jackknifes up in the water, sloshing it everywhere as he jerks away from me with a hiss.
Titania just tuts. “Did you think regrowing a tongue, an eye, and all of your nails in one go would be easy? Stay still.”
Thanks to her connection to me, Caed hears her this time. His glare is flint-hard, but he takes my outstretched hand, his grip punishing as her power works through me to heal him.
