Chapter 15
Leif woke up confused. He looked around the room and wondered how he went from a chair to the bed. He looked over to see Elah still asleep on the other side of a pile of pillows. He smiled, loving the feeling of waking up beside her, he just wished he knew how he got there.
Elah moaned as she opened her eyes to see Alon’s smiling face. She loved his eyes and the way they sparkled when he smiled.
“How are you feeling?” he asked softly.
“Surprisingly great” she answered, getting out of bed.
Taking a quick glance at him, she closed the door as she went into the bathroom. Not long after, Alon heard a scream come from the bathroom and ran as fast as he could to see Elah standing in front of the mirror.
“What's wrong?" Alon asked.
"All my injuries, what happened. I mean I know I should be grateful but..." Elah said confused. She knew she didn't imagine the events from the prior day and that as evident by the dried blood still on her dress.
Alon pulled her into a bear hug. "It's okay" Alon whispered.
"Who did this?" she asked.
"I don't know?" he said, pulling back and looking into her eyes.
"But only a flora healer can heal me" Elah stated. “Either that or those pills Nissa gave me are really good.”
Alon looked at her surprised she knew about flora healers. He thought they were long forgotten, he thought his gift could remain hidden.
“Maybe these pills were good or maybe somehow you healed yourself" he said, trying to get off the flora healer topic.
"That's not possible"
"Well, perhaps we will find the flora healer but for now their secret is safe" he said, trying to get her to see that the person wanted to remain a secret, he wanted to remain a secret.
Elah looked at him and understood. She knew what it was like to have that type of secret found. "I don't want to look but I hope they know I'm thankful" she said, resting her head in his chest as he wrapped his arms around her tightly.
"I'm sure they already know" Alon murmured, wishing he didn't have to let go. "Why don't you get cleaned up and we can have breakfast together."
Elah watched him leave and went straight to the mirror. Her skin was flawless, even her scars were gone and she felt better than she had in a long time. She imagined that was how her brothers felt when she healed them.
After a short breakfast Alon took Elah to the queen. He wanted to keep it short so she didn't prob him anymore about the flora healer. Milkah was still weak and could barely move, even her breathing was laboured. Elah felt sorry for her and gave her muscles some strength before leaving her for the day. She figured Milkah would at least be able to move about a bit more, giving her some of her freedom back.
They arrived back at Elah's room to find River waiting for them. He looked like he had, had a restless night and looked like he was going to pass out in a chair. Alon took the opportunity to excused himself and softly closed the door behind as he left.
“How are you feeling?” River asked Elah.
“Great. How are you feeling?” Elah asked, sitting down in the chair next to River.
River opened his eyes in surprise at her answer. After giving her a look over, River sat up straight in chair when he noticed all her cuts were healed.
“What the...” River said surprised.
“I know, a flora healer must have healed me when I was sleeping” Elah said with a smile. “I feel amazing. This must be how you feel when I heal you.”
River’s mouth fell open. “Do you have any idea how this healer was?”
“No and I don’t want to know, if they want to keep their secret then I’ll respect that”
“Fair enough” River said, relaxing back in the chair, still looking confused.
“Is mum okay?” Elah asked, wanting to know how her mother was, since the last she saw her, she was being dragged away.
“She is doing well, I will send her a message and tell her you are here” River said, not wanting to describe how their mother withdrew emotionally when Elah was taken from her.
“Oh, thanks” Elah said, thinking her mother just got back to her life.
River could see Elah felt abandoned and it broke his heart. “Elah, when mum arrived home, she was devastated. Mum and dad tried to get you back but by the time they were able to even see the king, you were gone. No one knew where you were” River sighed, looking sad. “Mum took it hard and dad didn’t do much of anything except train. I even tried but I had no idea about it until you were long gone. I’m not sure if they will even let mum come and visit you since she went nuts at the king, dad had to drag her away, it was quite a scene” River continued, leaving out the fact that their mother threw a vase at the king.
“I’m so sorry River. I never wanted to cause any trouble” Elah said, knowing her mother tried to stop her from healing the king but she did it anyway. She did it because she thought they were going to kill her mother, she didn't think of the consequences.
“Don’t blame yourself, you only did what you thought was right”
They sat in silence for quite some time, both of them had a lot to think about. Elah let the news sink in and thought about how horrified her mother must have been. She most likely blamed herself for what happened and Elah wanted to see her and tell her she was okay and to not blame herself.
Elah thought on this for awhile before feeling it was time to change the mood, their family had been through enough enough and the events from the day before would not have been easy on River so she tried to lighten the mood the best way she could.
“So do you have a girlfriend yet?” Elah asked, excited to hear what he had been up to and figured even if he didn’t want to talk about it, it would lighten his mood.
“No but I’ve been busy. I just don’t have time to court anyone” he answered, not sure what else to say.
“Oh River, you're funny. Maybe you need some help” Elah said, wagging her brows at him.
“I think I can handle it myself” River groaned, giving her a serious look. “What about you, do you have anyone in mind?”
“I’m too young”
“Yes but you need to start thinking about what you want to do”
"Once I get out of here, maybe I could go into the country and sell remedies for a living”
“Seriously, are you going to become one of those ladies who talks to herself and has heaps of cats?”
“How did this turn on me”
River laughed at her, “you started it.” Elah felt happy to see him laugh, it comforted her to know she had him around.
“So what has Talib been up to?” Elah asked, wanting to know if he got into law.
“He’s doing well. He finished university early and is now living in the north practicing law.”
“Wow, that’s amazing. I’m so glad he got in”
“You knew” River said amazed.
“Yes but I wasn’t around to hear if he got in” Elah said, sad that she missed so much. “Anyway, what’s Lavi been up to?”
River signed before saying, “Elah, I think you should forget about him.”
Elah’s heart sank and felt confused. “What do you mean?”
“He is out east tracking or something, he has no time and you will only get hurt in the end”
“I don’t understand River”
“Talib told me about yours and Lavi’s little… Well I don’t know what to call it but he has moved on and so should you”
“What do you mean moved on?”
“He’s found his place and so should you”
Elah looked at him shocked. She didn’t know she had hung on to Lavi all this time and she felt a loss in her heart. Although, when she thought of Alon her heart warmed again even though she did feel guilty when she remembered how soft Alon’s lips felt on her skin. This made her wonder if moving on was the right thing to do since it felt like the right thing to do.
They sat there catching
up until Nissa came in with some lunch. Elah made her join them but Nissa was not sure what Elah and River’s relationship was and was hesitant to join them.
“So, how did you two meet?” Nissa asked, trying to be casual and wondering if Elah went around stealing hearts.
“When our parents arranged our marriage” River said, winking at Elah.
Elah laughed at him and gave him a light shove. She looked over at Nissa who had turned bright red and couldn’t lead her on. “No Nissa, River is my brother.”
“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to pry” Nissa said embarrassed.
“Oh Nissa, don’t be embarrassed he was just joking” Elah said, trying to make Nissa feel better.
Nissa weakly smiled and sat back in the chair, wishing she could sink through to the other side. As they sat and ate, Elah felt safe and content to be with her brother but noticed Nissa now had a hard time even looking in his direction. She knew Averill wouldn’t go near her when he was around but had no idea he was sitting in a cell awaiting his fate.
By mid afternoon Elah was sitting alone in her room. She started to think about what Talib and River said about Lavi and walking her own path. She didn’t know what she was going to do but knew that she would have to work for the king, which in her mind was not ideal but figured the rest was up to her.
As the weeks passed the queen improved and started walking around the castle, after Elah advised it. She thought the queen would also benefit from getting back to her normal life slowly, which Milkah seemed to enjoy. Elah also noticed that Alon was visiting her less and Elah saw the queen more and more by herself.
When alone Elah always made sure to check around corners before turning them, in fear of running into Averill. She also, wondered why Alon didn’t see her as often but figured he was just busy working and ultimately, as friends he had every right to work on his own life.
It was late in the afternoon, on a bright sunny day when River found Elah reading in one of the gardens. He sat down next to her and pulled her in a hug. Confused she hugged him back. As he pulled back, Elah could see an overwhelming sadness in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Elah asked worried.
“Elah, I have some news and I don’t know how to tell you” River sighed, swallowing hard.
“Just say it” Elah said, not sure if she wanted to know since it was so hard for River to say.
“Its dad” River got out before tears started to roll down his cheeks.
Elah’s heart sank and fear for her father raced through her body. River never cried, so she knew whatever happened, it was bad.
“What happened?” she asked, desperately praying it was something she could help with.
“He… He was killed while fighting in a battle with the dark fae” River said, quickly to just get it out.
Elah looked at him stunned, while the tears began to flow down Rivers face. “What to you mean, if he’s hurt I can help him” Elah’s voice started to crack and she started to feel even more desperate.
River grabbed her and pulled her back into a hug and whispered, “there is nothing you can do, he’s gone.”
“No, no, no, this can’t be true” Elah said, as her tears began to fall onto River’s chest.
They sat in the garden until the sun started dip behind the horizon and Elah invited River to have dinner with her in her room, even though neither of them felt like eating. They sat in silence as the news played over and over in their minds and Elah's hate for the dark fae grew.
After the food was taken away, Elah got up and began to pace the room, she loved her father and hoped that he would visit soon. She felt completely useless and her whole body felt numb. As she paced by a bare wall, she stopped and started start beating into it. She didn't want to believe it and all she wanted was to feel something, anything. As blood started to run from her fists she started to feel pain, as least she was feeling something and knew she wasn't in a nightmare but that made the news real.
As she continued to beat into the wall, she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and pull her away. Her whole body was spun around and pulled against a strong, firm chest. She tried to pull herself free but every pull caused the arm to tighten. In frustration she let out a scream, which turned into uncontrollable sobbing.
Her whole body shock as she realised that it had been so long since she had seen her father and now she would never get to see him again. She wanted so badly to turn back time and work hard on a plan to escape the castle to see her family. Her gift had taken so much from her and she wished she could give it away before she lost even more.
She was slowly turned around and looked up into Rivers wet eyes. He gently kissed her on the head and enclosed her in a bear hug. She wrapped her arms around him and held onto him as tight as she could. His body quivered as he breathed and she knew he too was feeling the pain in his heart just like she was.
Once his breathing calmed, River picked Elah up and gently laid her on the bed and got in on the other side. They both cried until they ran out of tears and then they just stared into nothingness. Giving into the numbness that possessed their bodies. It was some time before they both fell asleep, allowing their bodies to relax.
Nissa came in early with breakfast to find River on one side of the bed and Elah on the other. She wasn’t sure what to do and left the food in the seating area before quietly closing the door behind herself as she left.
River woke up first and by the time Elah woke up he had showed and was eating breakfast. He paid no attention to Elah as she cleaned up and got dressed, he just wanted to be left with his thoughts. Elah had a few bites and left River in her room to attend to the queen. She needed to do something to take her mind off her father, even if it was just for a short time.
Elah returned to find Alon and Nissa comforting River. Elah didn’t want to deal with anyone but River and turned around, closing the door behind her. She figured that River was taking the news hard, he had been very close with their father.
Elah had nearly made it to the gardens when Alon caught up to her. He walked in silence with her to the gardens and sat down next to her on a bench. She was irritated that he had followed her but the fire in her throat kept her silent.
As they sat in silence, she healed a couple of birds who landed on the bench next to her and left as quickly as they came. “I didn’t get to see him again” Elah finally said, as tears started to well up in her eyes again but the fire in her throat had died down.
“I’m sorry Elah, I wish there was something I could do” Alon said, watching her hands start to shake.
“If I was there maybe I could have saved him” Elah said, looking up at Alon. “I should have been there.”
“There is nothing you could have done. No one could have predicted this” he said, looking to her sad eyes.
“But…” was all she got out before he pulled her into a hug.
His body was warm and welcoming and her tears flowed freely, she didn't know how much she needed someone to comfort her and was glad she didn't chase him away. She cried in his arms for quite some time before she just relaxed against his chest. He kept his arms tightly wrapped around her, even when her grip loosened and watched the rise and fall of her body as she breathed.
After listening to the beats of his heart, she lifted her head and looked up at him with a weak smile. He smiled and kissed her on the forehead, leaving a warmth that flowed into her heart.
She lifted her hand and lightly placed it on his cheek, needed just to feel his soft skin. He placed his hand on hers, grasping her hand in his and positioned her palm over his lips and kissed it gently.
She looked into his eyes and saw affection but as she leaned up to kiss him he pulled back, she wasn’t thinking clearly and he wouldn’t let her make a mistake, he knew she would hate him for it. She averted her eyes embarrassed by her actions and felt like running to hide and wondered how much worse this day could get.
“I’m sorry Elah, please forgive me” Alo
n said, placing his hand under her chin and lifting it so he could see her eyes.
“Alon, I’m the one that should be sorry, I didn’t mean to assume that’s what you wanted” Elah said, lowering her eyes.
“Oh Elah, I want to but I can’t, it just wouldn’t be right” he said, taking his hand away. He knew he should have never given in to his own wants with her in such a state but he wanted to make her fell better and take away all her pain.
“What do you mean?”
“I adore and respect you too much” he said, hoping she wouldn’t run from him.
“It's okay, I don’t think I’m in the right frame of mind anyway” she said, as he pulled her against his strong chest but she still just wanted to run and hide to nurse her bruised ego.
They stayed like this until Alon finally told Elah he needed to do some work but walked her back to her room. When she went in, River was gone and she ate lunch alone. She needed the time alone and spent the day trying to read, in an attempt to keep her mind busy it couldn't stop thinking about Alon's rejection.
A Healer's Destiny Page 15
