He nods. “It hurts. I can’t feel my feet.”
My tears come harder. He’s still bleeding. Why isn’t the magic working? I thought I was healing him.
“I can’t feel my feet,” he says again, this time louder.
“You’ll feel them soon,” I promise. It’s all happening too fast. He’s lost too much blood.
“My legs,” he groans. Then, his breath stills. There’s something about his face that is youthful as it relaxes from all of the pain he’d been feeling seconds before. He looks boyish.
“No,” I gasp. Desperation claws at my chest, and I press my hands to his bloody wounds, trying to feel for a pulse. Nothing. “NO! I was healing him!” I scream.
I’m surrounded by people, but none of them attempt to approach. Ulla has already moved over to the other injured Enduar, apparently having more success, judging by the lack of screams. None of them look at me, except Arlet.
Her eyes are fearful as she looks between me and Vann. I look down at my bloody hands.
“I was healing him,” I say. No one responds, wrapped up in Vann. I wrap my hands around my rib cage and back away.
I need someone. Anyone.
I keep backing up until I hit something hard and inhuman. I don’t need to look up to see an Enduar. My erratic thoughts have betrayed me once again.
“My star, what have you done now?” he asks, snaking a hand around my midsection and pulling me further from the scene.
The tears continue to spill down my cheeks. “You came.”
He smiles sadly. “You called.”
I start to sob and collapse in his arms. He picks me up with comforting ease and carries me as I cry.
1 Shit.
2 Calm down.
Chapter25
Aquamarine
TEO
Every bone in my body hums in relief. I’m exhausted, but with Estela close, I feel stronger. Whole. It’s ridiculous, honestly. So many days spent apart—all for what?
I do not know if the recognition of a mate could be considered love at first sight, but when Estela walked into the viewing room, I knew we belonged to each other and quickly prepared to put everything aside so that she would stay in the mountain and rise to the destiny fate had chosen for her. Unfortunately, she didn’t want me or any of this. The scheming human tried to kill me, even with the stone in her chest nudging her toward matehood.
Perhaps I had used those words too lightly—had expected too much too soon—because, after more than a day of hating her, of wanting to punish her for the crime she’d tried to commit, she is in my arms. Simply because she called for me. Perhaps it is not love, but it is something much stronger than recognition or mere attraction.
It was good that I had come. With the tunnel search having gone wrong, and my studies of the elves interrupted, I could be there for my people. They need someone to be strong, even if my stomach is churning. Two dead in a matter of days.
As I returned to the queen’s suite, Estela holds onto my neck and cries. The right side of my leather tunic is thoroughly soaked with her tears, and it is as instinctual as breathing to stroke her back. The crystals in our chests hum insistently, but the sensation is not demanding. The magic knows best. It simply soothes Estela as her millions of tears dry up.
Her small hand slides down from my neck, but still rests on my chest. It is minuscule compared to my arm. For the first time, I realize how little we know about each other—there has been little time to talk—my decisions have been the ones of a king trying to secure a battle, not a man trying to court a woman.
It is time to stop chasing and let her come to me. I open the door to her room, and she looks up. Her face is red and swollen from her sorrow. After placing her on the bed, I step back.
“Why did you call for me?”
She gapes up at me. “What?”
“I was working on a meeting with the elves,” I say plainly. Then I shake my head, agonizing about what she feels. "You call us monsters. But you call for me when you are hurt, especially after the night you escaped.”