Darkness Within

by Carli Castle

  She held her hands over Isidora’s face, feeling the deeper blisters there. Her hands were shaking. Paul’s voice came as if from really far away as he began to explain what she needed to do.

  “Focus on the injury and breathe deeply, letting the healing power run through your arms, to your hands.”

  She did as he asked, and her hands began to glow with a golden light. She moved them inches away from Isidora’s face, arms and neck in circular motions. She kept the link with the sleeping woman, feelings of relief washing over her. When no more relief came, she stopped and her hands went back to normal. She stared at them in wonder.

  “Touch healing is a gradual process,” Paul said as he wrote something in Isidora’s chart. “There will come a time where touch healing won’t help until her body is ready. You did well.”

  She walked beside him in a daze, baffled at what she had been able to do just seconds before.

  As the night went on, they visited a few more people. He let her work on some, and took charge on more serious ones. It was so fascinating watching his processes, and she tried to soak in as much information as possible. She even had to stop herself from giving in to the urge to take out a notepad and start jotting down tips.

  At the very end of her shift, around three in the morning, they said their goodbyes.

  “Will I see you tomorrow evening,” Paul asked as he walked her out. He still had another few rounds to make before he could go home.

  “Yes, if not to work with you, maybe in passing,” she said, hoping she would be assigned to him again, though it was unlikely since they had to rotate. “Thank you so much for teaching me tonight.”

  “You did really well, Parker. You are very talented.” He smiled, but looked tired. “And maybe I can work something out so you can be my assistant again tomorrow.”

  “You would do that?” She wanted to cry a little.

  “Of course I would. I enjoy working with bright young minds.” Paul turned to go back inside. “Have a good night, Parker,” he called, walking away from her.

  “Good night, Healer Ferrin,” she whispered, knowing fully well he couldn’t hear her.

  As she teleported to the spot right under her balcony, she thought back on all the things she’d learned in such a short amount of time with Paul. He was truly brilliant, more than she could have ever imagined, even after having followed his career so closely.

  She jumped, felt the air lift her higher as she took a deep breath, and soon enough, she was in front of the double glass doors. Once in her room, she got ready for bed, happy and satisfied beyond her wildest imagination.

  Chapter Four

  Lucas materialized on Mount Blanche early that morning, tired and weary. He hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night, his mind filled with images of Lana Juren. He was tired, but every single time he closed his eyes, all he could see were images of her lying in a pool of her own blood.

  He went through the motions of identifying himself to the knights at the door and walked inside, hoping this day would be a lot better than the previous one.

  The minute she saw him, Callie ignored the several animals—a fox, three doves, an owl, and a tropical bird—that were there to deliver the mountain of letters they got each day, and stood to greet him. She was smiling a little as she put her arms around him. His hand went to her tiny waist, enjoying the feel of her body against his. This was nice, it was really nice. She was so soft, and smelled so good, he wanted to stay in her arms all day.

  Until he felt the nudge in his subconscious.

  He wished it didn’t bother him so much, because he wasn’t annoyed that Elle had done it the day before, and Callie just wanted to help. She was a nice girl.

  He took a deep breath and let her do her best to comfort him. The effect was the opposite, though, because now he was tired and annoyed.

  Nothing like it had been with Elle yesterday.

  He’d spent so much time thinking of her the previous night he’d even lost track of time. He’d been around her enough times in the past two years of him being in the council, but he’d never had the chance to sit down with her and have an actual conversation. To be honest, he hadn’t cared to before. She was a princess, completely off limits, and she probably had plenty of things to do for him to be taking her time. But now that he had talked to her, he looked forward to a time when he was able to do it again. He had to face reality, though, because it was probably not going to happen.

  He stepped away from Callie, who looked at him a little curiously.

  “What’s up,” he asked her, holding her at arm’s length.

  She shook her head and smiled. “I just asked you how you’re feeling, but you seemed to be on another planet.”

  He wanted to laugh. “You should know.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “How I’m feeling,” he clarified.

  Her smile slipped a little bit.

  “Did it bother you,” she asked. “It never did before. I’m sorry.”

  “No, I’m sorry. I was just distracted.” He tried a smile, but it felt stiff on his face. “I’m all right, really.”

  “Are you sure,” she said it with a tilt of her head, the kind that people did when they felt sorry for you. “You seem off.”

  “I’m sure.”

  He watched her pretty lips stretch into a brilliant smile.

  “I’m glad. I was so worried about you.” She stepped to his side, clung to his arm.

  He really wished she would stop touching him, despite the fact that she was a beautiful young woman who was giving him attention. She was also nice, smart, and quite possibly the happiest person he’d ever known.

  “I was thinking, since we’ve been doing this for a while, maybe we could do something after work sometime,” she said, and he stopped and looked down at her.

  “Doing what for a while,” he asked, scared to hear her answer.

  “This whole flirting with each other thing,” Callie said smiling, moving both her hands between them. “Maybe, I don’t know, we could take the next natural step and go on a date?”

  She looked up at him with wide eyes, waiting for him to respond. He knew he was supposed to say yes, but did he actually want to date her?

  It wouldn’t be the worst deal in the world. But what if they did go out, started something, and it didn’t work out? That would make for really awkward encounters in council hallways. He really didn’t want to have that kind of energy added to all the stress that came with working in the council.

  No, that just wasn’t going to work for him. Now if he could find words to say it in a way she wouldn’t get offended, he would be golden. He looked down at her, opened his mouth to speak, and to his great relief, Caleb stuck his head out of the meeting room before he could say anything.

  “Do you mind getting in here already? I need to talk to you,” he called and retreated back into the meeting room.

  Lucas thanked his lucky stars and unwound Callie’s arm from his.

  “Um, can we talk about this later? I have to attend the weekly meeting now.” He was a coward, the worst of the worst.

  “Of course.” She stepped back, her smile slipping away slowly. “Have a nice day.”

  Feeling incredibly guilty for leaving her like that, Lucas walked toward the meeting room, as Callie went back to her tall desk in the lobby. He tried his best to push his guilt aside, but it only collided with the knowledge he was going to have to retell yesterday’s story again. It almost felt like fiction, like a bad dream he’d had.

  Caleb was the only one inside the room. He had his head buried into some papers, but looked up when Lucas entered.

  “You look terrible,” Caleb observed, then returned his attention to the papers in front of him.

  “Thanks, I appreciate you too, brother.” Lucas sat to Caleb’s right, as he always did.

  “Did you get any sleep at all?”

  “Some,” he responded, pulling out his usual things to start taking notes on the meeting. He
wondered if he would have to take notes when he was the one that would be talking for most of it.

  “What, your mind too full of Elle?” Caleb didn’t look up from the papers as he said it, but Lucas still saw his smug little smile.

  Lucas wanted to shoot him a witty comeback, but his brain wasn’t working enough for him to do it. Not that he was particularly witty in normal situations, so he just sat back on his chair and tried to ignore him.

  The meeting room was spacious. Half of the walls were just massive windows that overlooked a vast expanse of the forest and the rest of Mount Blanche with its white trees, bushes, and grass. There were also several skylights on the ceiling, though Lucas thought those were unnecessary, since the windows let in enough light. In the middle of the room was an obsidian table, long and rectangular, surrounded by nine high backed chairs for each of the members of the council.

  On the back wall, behind Caleb’s chair, was a small board, also shiny and black like the table. Two names were currently engraved on it, his and Caleb’s, meaning they were the only two members to be inside the council building at that time. Once the rest got there, the board would display all of their full names, titles, and islands, or realm, of residency.

  “What, no response?” Caleb was still smiling and Lucas had a strong urge to slap him. He’d actually done so several times while growing up. Caleb had the worst, most annoying, smug face.

  “I have nothing to say to you,” he mumbled, lacing his fingers behind his neck to provide more support as he leaned further back on the chair.

  “Then I must be right.” Caleb started writing something on a notepad, then looked up less than ten seconds later. “I’m right.”

  “Let it go, Caleb.” He wanted to be annoyed by the meddling, but he couldn’t be. He even felt a smile trying to break through his stiff face muscles.

  “Or maybe it’s because of Callie and her proposition,” Caleb mumbled.

  “You heard that?”

  “Of course I heard it. This place is a like a mausoleum, everything echoes.”

  “Well, you called me at the right time,” Lucas lowered his voice and leaned forward so he could continue to speak in a low voice. “I have no idea how to turn her down.”

  “And why would you want to do that,” Caleb asked him. “She’s pretty, smart, funny. What’s not to like?”

  “I agree, she’s awesome. I just don’t think it’s a good idea,” Lucas explained. “Imagine I do go out with her, and things don’t work out. How awkward could it get in here before I decide to never come back to work?”

  Caleb chuckled, but his smile wiped right off when he looked at the door.

  Lucas didn’t have to direct his gaze that way to know Princess Harper was entering the room. The scene was always the same with those two. She would walk into the meeting room, greet anyone there, and sit at the other end of the table, and she and Caleb would pretend to ignore each other.

  They thought they were so sly, those two.

  “Good morning.” Her voice was soft, her smile shy. Her light brown hair was pulled away from her face and spilled down her back in the same subtle waves as it always did. She had pretty hair, smooth and shiny, not a strand out of place. He noticed her hair was lighter than Elle’s and wondered if either of them colored it. He wasn’t sure where they thought came from, as he didn’t know much about women, but now he was intrigued.

  “Good morning, Princess Harper,” he responded, and glanced back at Caleb, who mumbled a ‘good morning’ under his breath, but kept his face buried into his papers.

  Lucas liked Princess Harper, and he was highly aware Caleb did too. It was a different kind of like, because Lucas wasn’t the one who’d gotten hot and heavy with her.

  Princess Harper and Caleb had been having a… dalliance… for a while at that point. Lucas was not sure how long, and he’d never asked Caleb. All Lucas knew was that they saw each other quite often, though he wasn’t up to date on the details of the relationship. He did, however, understand he was not to talk about it at all, especially to Caleb or just about anyone else where it could get back to King Patrick. That could not only end Caleb’s career, it could cause him to be imprisoned for being involved with someone from the royal family when he wasn’t part of one as well. Caleb refused to talk about any of it, but Lucas was sure whatever their deal was, Caleb had real feelings for her.

  Lucas glanced from one to the other, fascinated with the way they acted around each other. Princess Harper kept stealing glances at Caleb, who pretended to ignore her. Lucas could have laughed if he was sure Caleb wouldn’t hit him for it.

  “And how are you this morning, Princess Harper?” Lucas decided to break the silence, because otherwise he would scream from being caught in their ridiculous, awkward tension.

  “I am well this morning, Mr. Ferrin, thank you.” She smiled, looked down. “How about yourself? I know you had a difficult day yesterday.”

  “I’m all right. A little tired,” he replied.

  “I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you. I’m sorry you have to relive it today.”

  “It has to be done,” Lucas said and she gave him a shy little smile.

  “And he also can’t just ignore it, can he,” Caleb murmured, looking at her pointedly.

  Princess Harper shrunk into her chair, blushing furiously.

  Lucas glared at Caleb, trying to send him a message with his eyes. Caleb ignored him, going back to his papers, though Lucas knew he was not reading.

  Lucas looked back at Princess Harper. She was sitting straight again, eyes down, but face completely expressionless.

  “So, Princess Harper, have you been to any interesting places lately,” he asked her, realizing it was going to take a whole lot of talking to get rid of the awkwardness Caleb’s comment had left behind. He didn’t know what had happened there, because he was sure those two were still seeing each other, although if that comment was any indication, there was some trouble in paradise.

  “Well, the last place I visited was Meira,” she responded quietly, darting a look toward Caleb before her eyes landed back on Lucas.

  She had to travel all over the place with her royal duties, so she got to go to a lot of nice places, meet interesting people. He envied that side of her role as princess. Not that he wanted to be a princess.

  She looked back at Caleb, then down.

  “Meira is beautiful,” Lucas said more loudly than was needed. It worked to get her attention completely toward him. He felt badly for her. He would have to have a conversation with his idiot brother. “I’ve been there twice.”

  “It’s enchanting.” She smiled a little.

  “I agree,” he said. “May I ask the reason you went there?”

  “Thankfully it was not official, so I got to enjoy a lot more of it than normal. I got to take a boat through to it.” She told him about the boat ride, and he listened intently. He loved seeing new places, learning them, and even though he had taken a boat to Meira before, he enjoyed her telling him like he’d never heard of the journey.

  It was a short trip, just a few hours long, and the boat went through a long, wide river with crystalline waters. As it passed the gates of Meira, there were two giant sculptures of two light elves, one each side of the large gate. They were of a man and a woman, both dressed in long robes, with long hair that seemed to flow, even though they were made of stone. It was a beautiful place, and the weather was always pleasant, though they didn’t really get all the seasons, which was sad in Lucas’s opinion.

  “I’m glad you were able to go visit without having to work, for a change,” he said, pleased when she smiled fully. “Did you go to be with yourself?”

  “I went to visit a friend, actually.”

  “That’s great. I’m glad you got to have a good time.”

  “Thank you. It isn’t often that happens, so I will take any opportunity.” She smiled again. “You don’t get to see much when you go to a place for pure business.”

&n
bsp; “I know. That must get tedious sometimes.”

  She cocked her head and shrugged her shoulder, giving him all the answer he needed without saying a word. She was a lady through and through, Princess Harper. She would never speak ill of her duties, even if she despised them. Lucas wondered if she hated her duties or her post in the council. It was customary for the islands to appoint the king and queen’s oldest child, or another member of their family if no children existed, to take the spot in the council to represent their island. She was the only woman in it, but that was mainly because she was the only oldest child of a king who was a female. All the other islands had male heirs. It was actually pretty weird.

  Lucas watched the board behind Caleb, wondering where they rest of the council was. The other members were always punctual, mostly always there before the meeting was to start, but it was two minutes until it started and the board still only had three names on it.

  No longer had he finished the thought, when the rest of the names carved themselves on the board, each name glowing as it appeared there. Then, one by one, all six of the remaining members entered the room. Most were speaking to each other, except for two of them.

  Aali Hansen was the oldest member of the council, and had been serving for decades. For a long time, people thought he would eventually be chosen as president. In fact, everyone thought he was going to be the year Caleb had been chosen for the post. It was a slap in the face for the old man, so of course, he hated Caleb and anyone associated with him, which included Lucas. He was short and skinny, with wispy white hair, and blue eyes. He looked like he was over a hundred years old, with deep wrinkles all over his face. His lips were always set in a straight line, as if he was displeased all the time. And he probably was.

  The other member not bothering to speak to anyone else was Noren Aldalinde, Prince of Meira. He was a light elf with a bad attitude. He was tall, wand slim, and had long, nearly white hair. His eyes, a really light green, were always distrustful, and he never smiled. He didn’t like Caleb much, but he was unpleasant toward everyone, so there was really no way to know who he did, or didn’t like in the council.