Shardless

by Stephanie Fisher

  “And she’s asleep,” Skye grumbled tiredly, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

  It wasn’t much, and they still had a long way to go to get back to where they were before, to find that level of trust—but it was a start. And in the end, he supposed it didn’t really matter who convinced her to stay. Even if she wasn’t ready to tell him the truth, she clearly still wanted him around, still valued him enough to seek him out when she was delirious and in need of comfort.

  For now, that was good enough.

  Leaning down, Skye pressed a kiss to her brow. “Welcome home, Tink,” he said as he pushed himself to his feet. “Let’s just hope you still remember this conversation come morning.”

  Chapter 11

  -A relaygram from Lady Sarina Castaro of House Fairmont

  The 18th day of the month Meridian, during the 251st year of the Empty Throne

  Synna,

  If you could, would you please look into acquiring the following texts at the Ebondrift market? Talya has recently taken ill, and it is of the upmost importance. I will double your usual fees if you can deliver them within the next two days. Triple if you can have them here before morning.

  - A Guide to Human Infectious Diseases

  - Human Cancers: The Complete Works of Doctor Webster Emdee

  - Ten Signs Your Human Has Cancer: The Newer More Complete Works of Doctor Webster Emdee

  - Extending Human Lifespans: A Best Practice Guide to the Care and Feeding of Mortals

  - Rebellious Mortals and How to Tame Them: A Guide to Harmonious Living

  “Look up.”

  Taly sighed and tilted her head back as Aiden gently probed at her neck with his fingertips. She sat at the end of her bed, her bare feet swaying back and forth as the healer examined her.

  “No more swelling,” Aiden mumbled to himself. He was dressed casually this morning, choosing to forgo his usual waistcoat in favor of a plain linen shirt. He rolled up his shirtsleeves, revealing three parallel lines that had been inscribed on the underside of his forearm.

  “When did you complete the third seal?” Taly asked, eyeing the tattooed lines. Green for earth magic.

  “Hmm?” Aiden looked up distractedly before grabbing her wrist and feeling for her pulse. “Oh… a few months ago. The Crystal Guard won’t accept anyone that hasn’t completed at least three levels of training in their school of magic. Now, hold out your arms.”

  Taly held her arms out, tensing when Aiden pressed down with his palms to test the muscles in her back and shoulders. She had been through this same routine twice a day since she was able to sit up on her own. “I want out of this bed, Aiden. It’s been 18 days now. 18 days since I’ve been allowed outside this room. And granted, I was unconscious for eight of them, but still… I’m losing my mind!”

  “I know,” Aiden replied tiredly. “You’ve told me. Many times.” He hesitated, glancing at the door nervously. “And if it were just me,” he added in a low whisper, “I would take you off bedrest. But you know what Sarina will say to that.”

  Taly shuddered. Since mortals were far more susceptible to injury and disease than the fey, Sarina had always gone just a little too far whenever Taly got sick. Needless to say, the incident with the harpy had driven the overprotective woman over the edge.

  “Sarina’s been a little… overbearing the past few days. Still, if you—the healer—tell her I’m better, she can’t argue with that.”

  “Really?” Aiden asked, his face the picture of skepticism. “You’ve met Sarina, right? She’s the one that literally dragged you back to bed just this morning when you tried to go downstairs for breakfast.”

  Taly picked at the delicate strip of blue satin binding the sleeve of her tunic as she remembered the early morning encounter. She had little doubt that the traders in Ryme had no problem hearing Sarina’s screams that morning when she discovered Taly out of bed.

  Rolling back the cuffs of Taly’s leggings, Aiden gently rotated her ankles. “Do you still have any pain in your joints?”

  “Nope.”

  “Good,” he said with a nod. “I don’t know if you know this, but Sarina’s bought three new books on human diseases since you first fell ill. She made me read all of them.”

  Aiden reached for her arm, waving his hand and revealing the glowing threads of healing magic crisscrossing her skin. When he pushed back the sleeve of her shirt, he frowned as he ran a finger over a dark, purple welt. A smattering of bruises peppered her arm, and if she were to remove the pale lavender tunic she currently wore, she knew the welts would extend all the way to her shoulder. Her body had healed at a remarkable pace under Aiden’s care, but not all of her injuries from her encounter with the harpy had completely disappeared.

  “Sarina’s convinced herself that your extreme reaction to the harpy venom, the initial difficulty we had getting you to gain weight, and these bruises mean that you’ve caught some mortal disease called cancer,” Aiden went on. “Now she thinks that we need to keep you in bed until she can bring in a special healer from Faro.”

  “That’s absolutely ridiculous,” Taly replied, pressing her lips into a thin line. “Mortals don’t catch cancer. And even if they did, I’m pretty sure harpies wouldn’t have anything to do with it.”

  “I’ve tried telling her that, but she won’t listen. She insists it’s cancer.” Aiden stood to his full height and massaged the back of his neck. “How are the premonitions? Better? Worse?”

  “Better and worse,” Taly replied with a shrug. “The premonitions are popping up more often, but I’m having an easier time making them go away now.”

  Aiden nodded. “That means you’re starting to gain some control over your magic, so I’ll take that as good news. For what it’s worth, I still think we should tell the others about your… condition. I can’t begin to stress how much easier that would make these next few months. Hell, Ivain and Sarina’s older sister was a time mage—they might be able to give you some rudimentary training.”

  “For the last time, my answer is no,” Taly replied firmly. “I don’t want to tell them. Our deal was that if I stayed here, you’d keep your mouth shut. I held up my end, Aiden, so don’t go getting any ideas.”

  Aiden gave her a pointed look but held up a hand in surrender. “Okay,” he conceded with a weary sigh. “I still think you’re being a stubborn idiot, but okay. For now, I’m going to keep you on the faeflower until the bruises on your arm go away. Other than that, I don’t see any reason to keep you on bedrest.” Taly squealed excitedly but quieted when Aiden held up a hand. “Sarina’s not going to feel the same way, but I’ll let you handle that problem on your own.”

  “That’s bullshit, Aiden! She’ll just think I’m lying to get out of bed. You’re the healer. You have to tell her.”

  Aiden shrugged. “No. She scares me.”

  “Please!” Taly pleaded, trying her best to make doe eyes at the healer. “She’s not going to listen to me. At this rate, I’m going to be stuck in this bed until I die of old age!”

  “Uh-oh,” a new voice interjected. The door creaked open, and Skye appeared, a smirk on his face and a half-eaten piece of toast in hand. Knowing him, that was already his third meal of the morning. “I hear complaining—which must mean Taly’s up.”

  Taly scowled. “Ha, ha… very funny, jerk.”

  “I thought so,” Skye replied, lazily shuffling into the room. “Hey, Aiden—Ivain and Sarina are about to leave. They wanted to know if you needed a ride into town.”

  “Probably,” Aiden answered, turning to face Skye. “The hospital was supposed to receive the new medical provisions for the temporary clinics this morning, so I should go and help the menders sort through it. There’s no telling where it all will end up otherwise.” Aiden bent down to start gathering up his supplies, neatly arranging everything inside a small black bag. “You know, I’m really starting to regret offering to help you and Ivain with preparations for the Aion Gate connection. The amount of work these temporary c
linics are taking to set up is truly astounding.”

  Skye stifled a chuckle as he sat next to Taly on the bed. “I tried to warn you.”

  “Yeah, I know. I didn’t listen.” Standing, Aiden leveled a glare at Taly. “Please take it easy. And whatever you do, don’t get me in trouble with Sarina. I’ve been good to you this week, so try to have a little mercy.” When Taly rolled her eyes in reply, Aiden just shook his head and gave her a fond smile. Then, with yet another tired sigh, he turned and disappeared through the open doorway, his footsteps echoing down the hall as he muttered to himself.

  “What was that all about?” Skye asked, scowling when Taly plucked the toast out of his hands and finished it off.

  Licking the remaining jam off her fingers, she smiled broadly, bouncing on the bed as she turned to face him. “Aiden took me off bedrest!”

  Skye huffed out a laugh. “He must have a death wish. Ow!” He flinched when Taly punched him on the shoulder. “Geez, I don’t know what kind of extra magic Aiden weaved into those restoration spells, but you hit way harder than you used to.”

  Taly’s eyes widened, and she gave him a sly smile. “Awww,” she cooed. “Is the big bad shadow mage scared of the teeny human?”

  “No,” Skye grumbled, the irritation in his voice undercut by the wide grin that threatened to break through. “But maybe try to pull your punches a little. I’m very delicate.”

  Taly snorted indelicately. “So where were Ivain and Sarina headed?” she asked, moving up the bed and stretching out on her belly.

  Skye fell back on the mattress beside her. “Litor—Ivain said he needed to go check to make sure the storehouses had been repaired.”

  “Why is Sarina going?”

  Skye shrugged and closed his eyes. “Not sure. She didn’t seem happy about it, though. I have a feeling Ivain may have concocted some reason for her to go just to give you a break.”

  “If that’s the case, then that man is a saint,” Taly said, turning her head and studying Skye’s profile. The two of them had done a lot of healing since she’d decided to stay. Once he promised to stop prying, and once she stopped trying to push him away, they had found some middle ground—managed to mend the bond she had tried so hard to break and come out the other side, stronger than ever.

  Tapping his cheek, she smiled when he cracked open one eye to give her a good-natured glare. “So what are we going to do?”

  “Come again?”

  “Don’t you get it?!” Taly pushed herself up and then used the mattress to bounce into a sitting position. Skye gave an indignant yelp when she almost landed on top of him. “I’m free! So please, for the love of all that is good and holy, get me out of this house.”

  Skye groaned, wrapping an arm around her waist and tugging her back down beside him when she continued to bounce. “While I’d love to break you out, Tink, I can’t right now. Ivain asked me to go to Ebondrift today. We still haven’t heard anything from the Gate Watchers stationed there, so I’m going to go check on them.”

  “Ebondrift works too.” Taly wriggled out of his grip and hopped off the bed. Putting on her best pout, she pleaded, “Please? I don’t care where we go. I just need a change of scenery.”

  Skye stared at her from where he still lay on the bed, his expression warring between amusement and disbelief. “No. Even if I thought that was a good idea, Sarina would kill me.”

  “If we hurry, we can be back before Sarina ever knows we left.”

  “Oh, really?” Skye gave her a smug grin as he sat up. “What about Eliza and the rest of the household staff? You don’t think someone is going tell Sarina that you just took off for two days?”

  Taly growled, rocking back on her heels. He had a point there. Still, she wasn’t to be deterred.

  “Do you have a guide?” she asked in a clipped tone.

  “Nope. Only one came back last night, and Ivain needed him more.” Taly glowered at him through narrowed eyes. “What?” Skye muttered defensively. “I don’t need a guide to go to Ebondrift. The wards on the central highway have been repaired already.”

  Taly chewed on her lip for a moment, mulling over her current situation. She needed to get out of this room. And while she was sure that both Sarina and probably Aiden would have a few choice words for her when they found out she’d left the manor grounds, she could deal with that later.

  An impish grin curved Taly’s lips as a plan began to take shape. Approaching the mirror across the room, she pretended to admire her reflection. A week of good food had done wonders for her figure. Her hips and breasts had filled out remarkably, but the curve of her waist had remained slim and narrow. “That is true,” she conceded, smoothing out an imaginary wrinkle in her shirt. “You don’t really need a guide if you stick to the main roads.” When she caught Skye staring at her in the mirror, she gave him a wide-eyed shrug. His face was the picture of confusion as he tried to figure out the cause of the sudden change in her demeanor. “But what’s your backup plan if the wards are damaged? Hmm? Remember how the Fire Guild messed up the protective wards on the main road to the Aion Gate?”

  Skye’s smile slipped, but he quickly recovered. “If the wards on the highway are down, I’ll just go around. This close to the Aion Gate connection, all of the main roads have been warded by now.”

  “Okay,” Taly replied casually as she started to braid her hair. It had grown out considerably under the influence of Aiden’s spells, and the gently curling waves now spilled over her shoulders, cascading down her back. “If the highway doesn’t work, which way do you plan to take?”

  “Vale,” he replied immediately. “If I can’t go through Della, then Vale is the next best option. C’mon, Tink. You act like I haven’t lived here most of my life.”

  “It’s been raining for almost a week now, so the road to Vale is probably flooded,” Taly said matter-of-factly, biting back a smile when she saw him hesitate. “I suppose you could head north and then turn south in Bago, but that’s going to add an extra day to your ride. Maybe two days if the river’s flooded. And before you even say it,” she said, holding up a hand and cutting him off, “the eastern roads would be a bad idea. The grendels are starting to come out of hibernation, and everyone knows that wards don’t do shit when it comes to grendels. That’s all the main roads, unfortunately. There are some hunting trails that are pretty safe—if you know how to find them, that is.”

  She turned to look at him and couldn’t help but bat her lashes a bit. “Do you know how to find them, Skye?” Taly asked sweetly, grinning when she saw the look of defeat on his face. She cocked her head thoughtfully, swaying her hips from side-to-side. “It’s too bad you don’t know anyone that’s worked as a guide before, recently gotten off bedrest, and is so bored she’d work for free.”

  Pushing himself to his feet, Skye rolled his eyes and started making his way back to his room across the hall. Taly followed him. “I take your silence to mean that you know I’m right but just aren’t man enough to admit it. It’s okay—we all have our shortcomings.”

  Taly smiled gleefully but quickly schooled her expression when Skye glanced over his shoulder. That was enough pushing. Now she just needed to wait.

  He stopped abruptly in the middle of his room, pinching the bridge of his nose. While he stood there deliberating, Taly sat down at his desk and started sorting the scattered pile of shadow crystals on the table by size. Skye had never been the most organized person, but his quarters were even messier than usual. She eyed the cluttered worktable in the adjacent room, and her fingers twitched when she spied a cluster of fire crystals mixed into the bin meant for water.

  “Fine,” Skye finally conceded. Before Taly could properly celebrate her victory, he held out a hand, shushing her. “But only if we go to the Swap, and there are no other guides available. And I have conditions. If anything happens—and I do mean anything—you get behind me. No arguing. Got it?”

  “Yes, yes,” Taly said in a placating tone, “you’re a big, bad shadow mage, an
d fragile little humans like myself need to stand off to the side and ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ at your impressive feats of strength. I got it.”

  “I’m not sure you do,” he replied, sauntering over to the desk. “But tell me more about how impressive you think my feats of strength are.”

  “Almost as impressive as the size of your ego.” Taly kicked at his shin—an action that she immediately regretted when she felt the telltale tingle of aether against her skin as Skye activated his magic.

  Moving too quickly for her to see, Skye grabbed her bare foot and dragged her forward. His fingers found their mark just at the base of her heel, and his grin widened when she let out a shriek of laughter. “C’mon, Tink! Let me hear you practice your ‘oohing’ and ‘ahhing.’ How am I supposed to perform these impressive feats of strength without just the right amount of adulation?” Taly almost managed to twist out of his grip, but he held fast, his hand moving up to a ticklish spot behind her knee. “Stop laughing—this is serious!”

  “Stop it, you jerk!” Taly howled. Her sides were starting to ache as wave after wave of uncontrollable laughter crashed into her. When Skye finally took mercy on her and released her ankle, she sighed and sank back into the chair. “I hope you know that you’re an ass.”

  “And you’re a brat,” he retorted, picking up a crumpled piece of paper from his desktop and tossing it at her head. Taly made no move to dodge, earning her another chuckle from the lanky shadow mage. “Although, my impressive feats of strength aside—”

  “Oh, Shards.” Taly kicked at him again, recoiling when he made another grab for her.

  “You should still be armed,” he finished soberly.

  Taly stared out the window as an image of the harpy flashed through her mind. That damned bird had made her drop all three of her pistols. “True,” she sighed. “You wouldn’t, by any chance, happen to have Zephyr, would you? I’m still not sure what happened to her.”