While Obsidian was explaining the particulars, Mist returned, Maradryn sweeping into the room on her heels. The elder glanced around, shook her head at the gargoyle and then instructed Prairie Dancer and Mist as they began working on Obsidian.
Anna learned that Prairie Dancer was Oath’s cousin.
Since Obsidian trusted all the healers, Anna picked an out of the way spot along the wall and carefully leaned back. There was a second padded bench situated directly in front of him, but she didn’t want to get underfoot. Sighing, she let her guard down, her mind going blank for the first time since waking. It had been an emotionally draining day, and her ribs were a now constant throb.
“Why isn’t a healer seeing to Anna?” Obsidian raised his head, turning to look at her with both eyes. With an unhappy grunt, he levered himself a bit higher off the bench.
“Stay down,” Maradryn ordered before Anna could say the same. “Prairie Dancer will see to your Kyrsu momentarily. We just need a bit of extra power to breach your defenses.”
He grunted unhappily but stayed put. Though his tail flicked in agitation.
The three healers summoned a warm, soothing power that reminded Anna of lazy summer days and green, growing things. Oddly, the magic was a shimmering silver. As tree Fae, Anna had somehow expected their power to be green.
Unaware of Anna’s frivolous thoughts, the three healers worked with a quiet efficiency. They were using what looked like a cross between physiotherapy, massage, and magic to realign and repair the damage to Obsidian’s spine and connective tissue.
“This stubborn idiot would have turned to stone on you if he hadn’t gotten here when he did.” Maradryn smacked at his flicking tail. “He never outgrew that stubborn streak.”
“I’m no more stubborn than the average gargoyle.”
The healers rolled their eyes and continued their work, but their healing magic must have been doing the trick because they soon reduced Obsidian to a wing-quivering, groaning, and sometimes purring pile of gargoyle.
Glancing away, she sought somewhere else to look and settled on staring out one of the narrow windows at the north end of the room. She watched the patterns on a hamadryad trunk where a rare ray of sunshine penetrated the dense canopy overhead and created a small patch of dappled shadows on the rough bark.
The link between them was still active even though she wasn’t trying to access it, a full array of emotions and sensations flowed, ghost-like through her mind. They were working their way toward his tail when things got weird. Discomfort hummed through their mind link. At first, she thought it was pain.
Oh, boy. That wasn’t caused by his injuries...
Anna pretended interest in the scenery and walked to the next window, putting that much more distance between them to give Obsidian the illusion of privacy.
“Anna, where are you going?” Maradryn called from her position at Obsidian’s head. “Prairie Dancer and Mist are almost done here and one of them will attend to your injuries shortly.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. I’ll be right over.”
“Is there something amiss?” Maradryn asked, a knowing look in her eyes.
“Nope.” Just sharing a doctor’s office with a horny gargoyle. Nothing wrong at all.
A wave of something hot flowed along their link, then cut off abruptly as Obsidian erected a shield. Anna winced and grabbed her head.
“Is something wrong?” Prairie Dancer asked, not realizing what Anna and Maradryn had already surmised.
“It’s nothing,” Obsidian said.
Anna returned to staring off into space. She didn’t pry, because she didn’t want to accidentally break his mental shields and get an eyeful of his thoughts. He obviously had a thing for either Prairie Dancer or Mist. Hell, he was a young male. Maybe he liked them both.
Maradryn glanced up at the other healers. “Mist, why don’t you go see how Reaver’s healing is coming. Prairie Dancer, you can see to Anna’s injuries now. I’ll finish up here.”
Anna could have kissed the woman. Observant and discreet—the best kind of ally.
At least that’s what she thought until Prairie Dancer walked over to the other bench and patted the blanket covered surface. “Take a seat here.”
Anna groaned mentally, and then glared at the dryad’s back as the woman turned to go retrieve some forgotten supplies. If she suggested they move to another room, it would only serve to highlight that she was embarrassed.
She’d die first.
Sealing her lips, she settled on the bench and faced forward. At least she couldn’t see Obsidian unless she turned her head. Small blessings.
Prairie Dancer soon returned. “Can you raise your shirt for me?”
Anna obeyed. The movement made all the hurts flare with renewed throbbing. She hissed.
Beside her Obsidian made a sound of sympathy. “It was the only way I could catch you in time.”
“I know.” She glanced sideways to meet his eyes briefly before returning to studying the damages.
Well, she thought, that’s a little uglier than I’d expected.
Her brown skin was several shades darker around her torso. An inky purple coloration started at her last rib and extended all the way to her waist. Damn. That was some bruising. Internal bleeding?
She probed gently at her abdomen, but it didn’t feel hard, and no sharp pains greeted the touch.
Anna glanced back up and found Prairie Dancer staring at her shadow magic sports bra where the lower half was exposed by her raised shirt.
What? Did a boob pop out or something? She glanced down to check. Nope. The girls were where they were supposed to be.
“You’re wearing...” Prairie Dancer’s mouth fell open. “But those are only worn...”
The dryad’s gaze cut away to study Obsidian. “Only gargoyles need clothing that will shapeshift with them.”
Disbelief laced her voice, but then her healer’s instincts must have kicked in because her gaze narrowed again as she scanned Anna’s injuries.
“Those bruises already look more than two days old. Only gargoyles heal that fast...”
Maradryn halted her work on Obsidian and came and placed a hand on Prairie Dancer’s shoulder. “I didn’t think. I should have expected this after everything Obsidian told the council.” She looked away from Anna to stare down at the younger dryad. “You will heal Anna’s injuries, and once you are finished, you will tell no one what you’ve seen here. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Master Maradryn,” Prairie Dancer breathed softly.
“Good. I’ll assign you to be Anna’s primary healer. If she is injured in training, you will be the one to heal her. The council wishes this to remain a secret until Anna has earned the Legion’s trust. You understand?”
“Yes, Elder. You have my word of honor.” The dryad healer sounded more than a touch in awe of what she’d discovered.
“Good. Then heal poor Anna.” With that, she returned to working on Obsidian.
It wasn’t until Obsidian settled his head back on his folded arms that Anna realized he’d been ready to pounce if the dryad had responded in any way that might endanger their secret.
“Jeez, you need to chill bro.”
Obsidian rumbled something low and unintelligible into his folded arms.
Unaware of the undercurrent passing between Anna and her gargoyle partner, Prairie Dancer made sounds of sympathy as she began to heal the worst of Anna’s broken bones. A few light touches, a warm power that was just this side of too hot, some deeper probing, and then the dryad was leaning back to admire her work.
“There. Almost done.” Silver magic dancing between her fingers, the healer administered another round of the hot, healing spells. “You should already have full mobility back, though the bruises will take another day to fade completely.”
Her injuries didn’t take near as long as healing Obsidian’s, which told Anna just how much damage the stubborn gargoyle had sustained without asking for help.
“Never should’ve let you carr
y me back,” she sent along their link. “It only did a number on your already strained ligaments.”
“Wasn’t going to trust anyone else to carry you.” His voice came out a deep, rumbling purr.
“Is there anything else you’d like me to do?” Prairie Dancer asked the elder.
“No, that will be all.” The elder never took her eyes off her work.
Prairie Dancer nodded and then backed away.
The room grew silent, and Anna found herself watching Maradryn work. There was something mesmerizing about watching her hands knead flesh, tissue, and bone back into proper alignment. Anna even found the silvery magic the healer summoned fascinating to watch as it whirled and dipped and swayed to some unseen breeze. Would she and Obsidian ever be able to manipulate that kind of magic? It would be handy, certainly.
Hell, maybe he already had the ability.
There were so many things she didn’t know about him. But one thing was for sure, he was bound to have learned many things in the thirteen years he’d been here.
“Once you complete your novice tests, I’ll be able to help you learn at a swifter rate than I did,” Obsidian whispered sleepily into her mind, lowering his mental shields for the first time since he slammed them up hard enough to make her teeth rattle.
“I’m sorry I hurt you. I’ll be more careful in the future.”
“It’s all right. Don’t worry about it.”
Because really, Anna thought to herself, please keep the shield up next time you get horny. I totally don’t want to see that.
Obsidian chuckled, telling her he’d caught her internal thought. But he didn’t seem insulted. Anna relaxed. “This strange stream of consciousness we’re sharing is going to be a touch awkward at times.”
“We’ll be too busy training to worry,” Obsidian countered.
“Or too busy dodging trouble more like.”
“Might have noticed that, yes.” Lifting his head from his arms, he grinned at her. “That’s how I ended up needing a healer.”
“At least Reaver looked worse off than you. That’s something. Think they assigned an entire team of healers to him.”
“I totally owned his ass, didn’t I?”
“You sound drunk. Cocky and drunk.” Anna felt herself grinning at him again.
“The drunk feeling—it’s one of the side effects of healing magic.”
“What about horny? That one of its side effects too?” Frick! Where did that come from?
“You sound a little drunk, yourself.” His thoughts had a drawl to them. “Feeling a little warm and tingly?”
“Nope.”
“Really? I’ve had females flirt with me before. I know the signs.”
Damn, this conversation had gone sideways in a hurry.
“Am not. Now get out of my head. I’m tired.”
Obsidian nodded and lowered his head back down on his forearms.
She thought he was finished until he started again.
“The two dryads didn’t stir my blood.”
Gawd. “Just stop. We can take up the conversation in the morning when we’re not drunk from healing.”
“I just want you to know that it was the battle rage and bloodlust. It just morphed into other...things. It’s nothing you need to be concerned about.”
“Not concerned.” Her own gargoyle nature whispered that her statement wasn’t entirely accurate.
Argh! Her life had been less complicated before the magic.
Maradryn snorted. “Goddess! You two. I can hear every word of your conversation. And, Anna, he’s telling the truth when he said he wasn’t reacting to us dryads.”
“Yep. Got that sorted.”
Maradryn actually rolled her eyes. “I’m finished healing Obsidian, but I want you both to stay the night here in the healers’ quarters. I’ll check on you in the morning. Besides, if you venture outside in your present condition, one of you will likely reveal too much about your special bond to others.”
Anna nodded in agreement. Besides, the last thing she wanted was to attempt rope ladders with a magic-drunk gargoyle in tow.
Obsidian grunted happily and soon fell asleep.
“There are blankets in the cupboards along the west wall. Feel free to use them.” Maradryn went to a basin and washed her hands. “Sleep, you’ll find yourself growing tired. It’s part of the healing magic. I’ll return at first light to check you over.”
Anna nodded.
The elder patted Anna’s shoulder. “Later, after the festival is over, I’d like some time to study your gargoyle nature. I must admit to being fascinated. While you were locked away in stone, I even once asked the council to allow Shadowlight to convert another, so we could study the change.”
Lifting her gaze, Anna met Maradryn’s. Her earlier tiredness vanishing in a cloud of alertness. “Even after only one short meeting, I can’t imagine that was popular with your fellow councilors.”
“It wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean it’s not important to learn as much as possible about what the Battle Goddess created.”
“True.”
“Then you’ll allow me to study you and your new nature as time allows?”
“Sure.” It wasn’t like she could say no after promising Obsidian that she’d try to blend in. And this woman was like a mother to him. Anna wouldn’t make her an enemy if she could help it.
With a nod, the older woman turned and retreated, leaving Anna in the room with a sleeping gargoyle.
Laying back on the bench, she stared up at the ceiling. A silly urge nagged at her until she finally gave in.
“Goodnight, Shadowlight. Love you.”
A happy, sleepy grunt of acknowledgment came from the other bench.
Grinning, Anna closed her eyes.
Chapter 17
(The Present)
SERVANTS AND GUARDS alike scurried to move aside for Captain Vaspara as she hurried down the corridor, her boot heels loud against the polished black floors. If she’d had a choice, her long-legged strides would be carrying her away from the Battle Goddess’s altar room, not toward it.
But she didn’t have a choice and now wasn’t the time to be late, let alone absent.
After the debacle with Shadowlight and Anna escaping, Gryton turning traitor, and the Avatars arriving to wreak havoc, the Lady of Battles was in a foul mood. Vaspara considered each hour that she was still breathing a win.
Especially with Captain Taryin still among the living. More’s the pity, that the Avatars hadn’t had time to eradicate the blood witch. Even though she and Taryin served the Battle Goddess, Vaspara didn’t trust the witch. Some magic was just too dark and chaotic to be controlled without consuming the user.
In a deep, dark part of her mind where impractical thoughts went to die, she wished Gryton had confided in her and Sorac. Together they might have found a way to use Anna and Shadowlight’s escape to kill the blood witch and blame it on the hybrid and cub.
But Fate never sent her down the easy path.
Perhaps it was time to plan an escape. Even the Mortal Realm was starting to look appealing.
The corridor ahead intersected another, and she heard footsteps. Her magic confirmed it was Sorac a moment before he fell into stride next to her. They acknowledged each other with a nod.
Of all the denizens in the Battle Goddess’s keep, the male next to her was the closest thing she had as a trusted confidant. They were both survivors and didn’t trust anyone besides each other. Romance had no part in their relationship, nor did she consider him a food source. Though he’d once offered, somewhat reluctantly, to let her feed after she’d been hurt out on patrol.
She’d declined. Always a wise choice. Sex with a firedrake-fertility god hybrid might ruin her taste for other men. And a half-breed succubus who couldn’t feed wouldn’t long survive. Besides, she wouldn’t risk a child. Sorac had once joked he could get even the most barren of wombs to bring forth life.
“Who do you think is getting sacrificed to the blood wit
ch today?” Sorac asked into the silence.
It wasn’t asked in jest. The Battle Goddess had been impressed that the witch had survived a one on one attack with the Sorceress. There was speculation among the surviving captains that their goddess was now grooming Taryin to replace Gryton as Commander.
“Don’t care as long as it’s not one of our soldiers or us. Worked too damn hard to train them.”
“We should subtly remind our goddess of that fact.”
Vaspara snorted. “For what good it will do.”
They continued in silence, and all too soon reached the altar room. When she and Sorac entered, they found they weren’t the first or the last to arrive. Korsha and her younger sister, Ernya, had returned early from two of the border patrol units. The elegant half-sidhe, half-demoness women didn’t have one silver-blonde hair out of place.
They were in stark contrast to the survivors of the unexpected attack by the Avatars. Vaspara’s own skin was blemished by magical fire and bruises. She was lucky not to have sustained worse considering how unprepared they’d been.
At least the Battle Goddess was not yet here. A good sign.
As they waited, another of the surviving captains arrived. Bervicta limped over to stand with her and Sorac. The harpy was in worse shape than Vaspara or Sorac. The feathers of one wing were burned away, and a third of her olive-toned skin was now charred black and oozed clear liquid.
She was a tough old bird, though, and the injuries didn’t diminish her fighting skills or cunning intelligence. In time, she’d heal, if something didn’t happen to her first. For her part, Vaspara would do what she could to protect the other female.
“Looks like you finally got yourself a harem.” Bervicta’s sarcastic comment was aimed at Sorac.
The firedrake had already commented on how he was the sole surviving male captain still in service to the Lady of Battles.
“Not how I wished to achieve such a thing, but I did notice my fellow males did not fare so well. Let’s not point that out to Taryin. I don’t need the witch setting her sights on me. She tends to devour lovers who fail to please her.”
Bervicta snorted. “Don’t fear, Pretty One, Vaspara and I will protect you.”
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 130