Page 46 of Spirit Rites
She’s gone as fast as she came, and I’m left wondering how in the world she has so much energy. “Well, it smells good. Should we eat it?” Harper asks.
“I don’t know; maybe we should wait for...never mind. Is it good?”
Harper nods and takes another bite. “Some kind of stewed fish, I think. Do you want to try some?”
I find a bowl in the same place Harper found one and put a little in my bowl. I’m not really hungry, but I feel like if I don’t eat, everybody’s going to give me a hard time. I take a few bites. It’s actually pretty good, but I don’t have an appetite. I’m glad I tried some, though, when Maelin shows back up at the door.
“We’re coming in,” she calls out. A second later, Maelin and a woman with long white hair stand inside Kaldar’s home. “Kinsley, this is Sryena.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
Sryena waves me off. “I already met you, Child, when I tended to your arm. Maelin told me the pain is starting to come back.” I don’t even get a chance to nod before she points at the chair. “Sit.” I do as she asks and put my arm out. “This particular salve acts as a freezing ointment; it dulls the pain by inhibiting the receptors in your arm. It’s actually still burning, but you don’t feel it as much or at all when it’s applied because your pain receptors have been dulled.” Her words make the pain feel like it intensifies, like I can see and feel my arm burning. I try to focus on anything else as she rubs the salve into my arm. “This might hurt,” she warns right before she begins to rub the salve into my arm with firmness in her touch. I bite my tongue, so I don’t cry out. When she releases my arm, I pull it back and shake it out.
“Does it hurt?” Maelin asks in concern.
“It will be okay,” I say at the same time Sryena says, “Yes.”
Sryena looks at Maelin like she’s daft. “It’s guivre fire, Child. Of course it hurts.”
Maelin doesn’t lose her smile, even though it’s filled with compassion. “How long does it take before she won’t feel pain?”
“The pain should ease rather quickly,” Sryena says. She rolls up the salve in some sort of special parchment and then places it into a leather pouch. “I will leave this with you. Use it when the pain begins again. You probably won’t be able to rub it in deeply like it needs to be because of the pain. Have your mate do it for you.”
Her casual drop of the wordmatestartles me, but I do my best to nod accordingly. “Okay. Thank you so much.”
“I’m not doing it for you.” She walks away from me and out the front door before I can say a word.
Chapter 23
“Well, she was a gem,” Harper says a moment later.
Maelin grimaces. “I know she’s a little rough around the edges, but she’s our kingdom’s best healer.”
I take in her words with interest. “Does she have magic to heal?”
“Not in the strictest sense of the word, but I believe she has a magic touch. While she doesn’t use actual magic to heal, I believe that her touch is what makes her salves and tinctures so potent. Others make the same salves, and they don’t work nearly as well. But nobody really knows. She’s old enough that nobody asks her a whole lot; we just let her do her thing. She takes care of our people really well, even if she isn’t the kindest person you’ll ever meet.”
“She was great,” I offer up. “It was really kind of her to come treat me.”
“Listen,” Mae says, reaching out a hand and putting it on my good arm this time. “Don’t let what she said bother you. That's just how she is.”
I don’t like the old human.
She’s not my favorite either, but she did help me,I remind her. I glance over at Veyra, and if a jaguar could roll its eyes, I’m pretty sure she would have.
“It’s fine, Mae. Really,” I add when she doesn’t look too convinced. “Thanks for the dinner; it was delicious.” My change in conversation does the trick, and she moves on.
"I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“It was delicious, and we saved some for Kaldar,” I tell her.
“Oh good. Thank you. Has he come back here yet?”
I shake my head, and she frowns. “I can send one of the men to find out what he’s doing.”
“Oh, no, don’t worry about it. He’ll come when he can.” I adjust my arm, trying to get it into a comfortable position. “Do you know how long the burning continues? I should have asked Sryena when she was here.”
Maelin grimaces, and I almost regret my question. “Yeah, maybe don’t think about it.”
