A Touch of Moonlight (A Court of Moonlight Book 1)

by Zora Marie

  It took every ounce of effort Fen could muster not to go after her, to rip her from Sealar’s arms. Logic told him that would only make things worse, but it did little to calm the urge to be by her side. He stared after them as they disappeared into the house. Rina’s blood stained his hand, a warm liquid that dripped down his fingers. They were right; she needed a healer.

  The hands on his shoulders didn’t loosen as the door shut between him and Rina. Even with her out of sight, he couldn’t bring himself to turn and see who held him back.

  “Fen, is there something you need to tell us?” Sadoren asked.

  “No, I…” Fen shook his head. He didn’t think he had something to tell them. But when Rina had shifted, everything inside him had screamed for him to not let Trazar hurt her, to not let him near her. Even now he didn’t want to let her out of his sight. He couldn’t let her out of his sight, not while she was hurt. Shiting into his panther form, he shadow walked after her before his father or Arlen could stop him.

  He stepped out of the shadows just inside the back door, needing the space to gather himself before he did something stupid. He did not want to hurt Sealar—or at least he told himself that with every step he took.

  The door to her room was open. Padding in, he put his front feet on the side of her bed. The steady rise and fall of her chest eased some primal thing in him. Something moved and he growled at Sealar, earning himself a pointed look. Snuffing out his growl, Fen took in the rest of the room. Dorn was nowhere in sight.

  Confident the area was as secure as he could make it, he laid his head on the bed beside Rina. She was thinner in her fae form, her bones finer and her hair smoother. Her scent was stronger too. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t realized it before. She smelled of the forest, of tree sap and aged earth. Almost as if the forest she hunted in had seeped into her very soul.

  “She’ll be fine,” Sealar said. “How long have you known she is your mate?”

  Fen shook his head. She couldn’t be, she didn’t want that, didn’t need that. Them being mates would only make things worse. She didn’t want to be a lady of her own court, of any court. She wouldn’t want him, the son of a lord. He couldn’t be her mate. He was just being protective of her because she’s young. Because she should have grown up like a little sister to him. He stared at her hands. Even in this form, they were bent, a permanent reminder that none of them had been there for her.

  “Denial won’t help,” Sealar warned.

  “Denial of what?” Dorn asked as he entered, carrying a container of their healer’s salve. “Oh.”

  “Here, I’ll tend to her.” Sealar took the tin from Dorn. “You need to get him to talk to Farin.”

  Fen shifted to his fae form so he could speak, “No, you stay and help her. I’ll go.” He didn’t want Sealar alone with her, despite him being her best option right now. He could trust Dorn though. Dorn was family and already had a mate. Returning to his panther form, Fen stalked from the room, toward where he felt his father’s power pulsing. But every step away from Rina was a struggle of will. The need to be there and protect her was nearly overwhelming.

  “You shouldn’t leave them alone. He’ll get himself killed trying to protect her, especially if you still refuse to—” Sadoren’s words made Fen stop in his tracks just out of sight of those in the connecting hallway. He couldn’t help but wonder what Sadoren had been about to say and why he had stopped.

  “It explains why he noticed before you did the other night,” Arlen said to Farin.

  “Noticed what?” Sadoren asked.

  “She has nightmares and projects like Lyra,” Farin said.

  “Oh… What did he do?”

  “Nothing. He just showed up at their door. That’s why we’d dismissed the idea.”

  “Her scent wasn’t as strong before she shifted. That’s probably why.”

  “Fen, stop eavesdropping and come out here,” Farin called.

  Stepping out from around the corner, he crossed into the other hallway. He sat back on his haunches, his tail flicking from side to side. He didn’t know what to do, how to act. Every instinct he had screamed to be at Rina’s side, but Sealar needed to be able to work without fear of him attacking.

  “Leave us, please,” Farin said as he stared down at his son.

  Shrugging, Sadoren wandered out the back door, while Arlen walked toward him. The male patted the panther on his head on the way past. Turning, Fen watched Arlen head off in the direction of his rooms, where Rina lay. A low growl worked its way out of him before he could smother it. He wanted to be the one at Rina’s side, not stuck out in the hall talking.

  Sinking down beside him, Farin leaned against the hallway wall. “Listen. I realize all of this is probably confusing for you.”

  Shifting, Fen said, “It’s not that it's confusing. It’s that I don’t know what to do. I want to be here for her, but I don’t want to scare her away. She just got here and then Trazar attacked Arlen and she shifted. I should have stopped her, but I couldn’t. I just froze.” He shook his head as images of Rina gasping, struggling to breathe, burned in his mind.

  “I don’t think even I could have stopped her. She has the gift of light, something we haven’t seen since the last queen and king.” Farin let out a long sigh. “Fen, I don’t think Rina is ready to make decisions about having a mate. I don’t want you to accidently push her away, not when she needs all of us right now.”

  “I know,” Fen whispered, “I’ve seen the lost look in her eyes. I just don’t know what to do now that I know.”

  “Give her space. Let her have time to adjust to her fae body and realize the connection on her own.”

  Fen nodded. He would do it, for Rina, even though every bit of him screamed that he should be by her side.

  “And Fen, stay close to home. I don’t know if Trazar noticed your bond, but if he did, he’ll target you. I can’t lose you, too.” Grief shone in his father’s eyes, causing Fen to look away. “If you won’t do it for me, do it for her.”

  “Father, I… You won’t lose me. I’ll stay close, but I don’t think he noticed. I controlled myself even though I wanted to rip him apart.”

  “Well, you’re not the only one. I think all of us would like to.” Farin rocked to his feet. “How about you go help Ash coordinate the new guards. I’ll let you know if Rina asks about you.”

  “Fine,” Fen conceded. Shifting, he padded out to find Ash, knowing that if he didn’t find something pressing to do soon, he was going to end up right back in that room with Rina.

  22

  Arlen

  Rina lay unconscious in the middle of her bed. She’d been laid on her side, a pillow snuggle between her arms. Leaning over her from the edge of the bed, Sealar’s long fingers were threaded through her hair, his eyes closed. Arlen shuddered at the thought of how that power had felt under his own skin every time they’d called one of the water court healers. Skilled healers could bend the water in a person’s blood, making the magic feel like it was a crawling thing beneath your skin.

  Kneeling along the far wall, Dorn added wood to the fireplace. The tension in his mate’s features soured his stomach and he slid his gaze back to Rina. She’d looked a lot like her mother before, but in her fae form she was the spitting image of her mother. There were little pieces of Rye there too but her face was like Lyra’s, soft and gentle in sleep, yet savage when someone she loved was threatened.

  A hand touched his side and he hissed at the sudden contact, pain radiating through his side. “I’m fine.” He brushed his mate’s hand away, silently cursing himself for being so distracted. “How’s Rina?”

  Withdrawing from Rina, Sealar rolled his shoulders back. “Let’s have a seat in the other room.” He gestured to the sitting room.

  “Why?” Arlen asked as they followed Sealar.

  “Sit,” Sealar ordered and waited for them to sink down onto the couch. “Rina has a skull fracture, it’s minor, but it isn’t her first one.”

  “What
?”

  “Her ribs are also in pretty bad shape. It seems Trazar broke some partially healed fractures. I’m surprised she stayed on her feet as long as she did.”

  “I…” His mind started to race through every interaction he’d had with her, but he shut that down. There would be time for that later. “Will she be all right?”

  “I doubt the head injury will cause any permanent damage this time. She may be disoriented for a while when she wakes up, but you should know that she’ll be prone to head injuries and migraines the rest of her life. The first one never healed properly, and it happened too long ago for anything to be done about it now.”

  “Prone to…” He blinked. This was his niece, not even officially an adult yet.

  Sealar nodded. “She’ll always be prone to head injuries like this one. We won’t know about dizzy-spells or any other lasting symptoms until she’s had a few days to recover. I’ll have Wafren add her as a priority patient as soon as I get home.”

  Arlen nodded absently. Wafren was Sealar’s best. He could trust her, but they couldn’t heal Rina. Not wholly. And she had broken ribs. Rina had grimaced earlier in the clearing, while they were training. He had thought it was just from being knocked off her feet, but he could have made them worse or he could have made her hit her head. “I hadn’t known,” he whispered. “I could have hurt her.”

  “Judging by the way her breaks have healed in the past, she probably didn’t think anything of her ribs and she probably didn’t know about the head injury.”

  “She told me about how she had been knocked unconscious for a few days, but I didn’t think to look for any lasting effects. She had been trying to defend her brother.”

  “Her brother?” Sealar asked.

  Dorn’s hand settled on Arlen’s shoulder as he nodded, the gentle squeeze of his shoulder was a comforting presence amid the swirling of his thoughts.

  “He was killed by his father a few days before Arlen found her. He was Rina’s half-brother. She blames herself for his death, even though it’s not her fault.”

  “I see. Farin didn’t get that far before we got called to come here.” Sealar let out a long breath before sitting forward. “Arlen, none of this is your fault, either, and you didn’t hurt her. I’m going to make sure the swelling stays down, but then I’m going to take a look at those ribs of yours. We’ll need you in one piece.”

  Arlen nodded. Holding his gaze, Sealer returned the gesture, then rose to his feet. He placed a hand on Arlen's shoulder before heading back to Rina.

  Dorn cupped Arlen’s face in his hands, forcing him to meet his gaze. “She’s going to be all right. And don’t you dare blame yourself for this. You’ve given her something to fight for, something to live for.”

  “But what if bringing her here was a mistake? I’ve put her in danger and you know we won’t be able to keep her from ever getting hurt again.”

  “Arlen, she wouldn’t still be alive if you hadn’t found her and brought her here when you did. I knew the moment I met her that she had been lost—a kind of lost that you don’t come back from on your own. I know because you had been that way for a while after Rye died. If it hadn’t been for your promise to find Lyra and their child, I don’t think I could have kept you here on my own. Even your bond to Farin was frayed for some time.”

  Tears filled Dorn’s eyes. The sorrow in his mate’s gaze tore at Arlen’s heart as he realized he was the reason behind that pain. He had been so lost that he hadn’t noticed how he’d been hurting his own mate, the one being he loved more than any other in this world. They’d both lost their best friends in those few short years. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I’d made you fear losing me too. I don’t deserve you.”

  A flicker of a smile crossed Dorn’s lips. “Maybe not, but you have me nonetheless. And now you have Rina, too. She was willing to take on a lord to protect you.”

  “And here I had planned on just distracting him long enough for Farin to show up.” He shook his head. “She could have gotten herself killed for that.”

  “She knows. Fen on the other hand…”

  Fen. Arlen didn’t know how he hadn’t noticed their bond sooner. “What are we going to do about Fen?”

  “For now, nothing,” Farin said as he stopped to lean against the hallway door frame. “He knows she’s not ready for that and will give her space.”

  “You really think he can do that?” Arlen knew how hard it was to stay away from a mate, especially a new mate. He and Dorn had struggled for a long time before Dorn had been disowned by his father.

  “He will because she needs him to.”

  23

  Rina

  Rina pried an eye open and squinted at the moonlight flooding through the window. Her head felt like it was being cracked open. The room was familiar, but she couldn’t place how she knew it. “Tomilin?” she rasped, her throat dry.

  “Lie still.”

  That voice, that’s not Tomilin’s. That’s… “Arlen? What happened?” Memories of the past few days crashed into her and she tried to focus on the recent ones, the ones that were hazy rather than the ones that were all too clear.

  “You collapsed. How do you feel?”

  “My head hurts, but I’m fine.” Her voice cracked, and she knew Arlen would see through her lie. His weight shifted on the bed beside her as though he were leaving, and she reached for him. Her vision swam from the movement. Arlen went fuzzy around the edges. “Don’t leave me, please.”

  “I’m not. Wafren just asked me to wake her if you stirred. Now please lie back down.” His hand rested on her shoulder as he eased her back onto the pillows.

  “Who?”

  “Sealar’s niece. She’s a healer. She’s just in the other room. I’ll be right back, all right?”

  His warmth disappeared and he favored his left side as he headed for the door, his steps heavier than normal. The dim light of candles flickered beyond the open door. Closing her eyes against the throbbing in her head, she wondered how she’d ended up in bed. Her memories were a little fuzzy. She sucked in a breath to sigh and froze. Beneath the smell of blood and sweat, several scents lingered in her room, smells she’d never noticed before. The shadows beyond the door shifted and she blinked through the pain in her skull. She hadn’t felt this bad since that time she’d fallen out of a tree and cracked her head on a root. Someone entered alongside Arlen, their scent fresh and salty as she imagined the sea to be every time her mother had described it.

  “Hello, Rina,” the newcomer said, her accent smooth and low. “My name’s Wafren. I’m the head healer of the Water Court. Do you remember where you are?”

  “The Moonlight Court.”

  “Do you remember what happened?”

  She frowned. Everything was a little fuzzy, but she pushed through the sludge in her mind for the answer. Lord Trazar had attacked Arlen and she had defended him. But Fen, he’d protected her. The thought sent a chill skittering through her, she wanted to see him. Wanted to check that he was all right. Needed to see him for a reason she couldn’t place. She mentally shook her head, and forged forward for the rest of what happened. Farin had returned with the other two lords and she’d collapsed. In the midst of it all, one realization shouted above the others. “I shifted…” She slid her hand to where she could see it on the bed. Her fingers were slimmer and longer, but still distinctively hers, crooked joints and all.

  “That you did,” Arlen said.

  “Can you move your fingers and toes for me?” the female asked. Rina did and Wafren nodded. “Good. Now I need you to sit up, but do it slowly. Your head was hit pretty hard and I want to make sure everything’s all right.”

  Rina sat up, her head spinning with the motion. She wanted to go to the bath and see her reflection, see what she looked like now.

  “Easy.” Arlen steadied her as she swayed.

  The healer held a candle up to her face, staring at her eyes. “She seems fine. I’ll check on her again in the morning.” Rina’s stomach g
rowled, causing Wafren to smile. “She can have a small meal, but I don’t want you walking until the dizziness passes, all right?”

  Rina nodded and little tendrils of pain shot across the back of her skull. “I think I’m just going to lie back down.”

  “Good call.” Arlen helped her settle back onto the pillows. “What would you like to eat?”

  “I’m fine,” she whispered, not wanting to be alone even if only for a short while.

  “Mmhmm. I’ll just get something quick, all right?”

  She forced herself to agree. As he left with Wafren, she stared across the room at the fireplace. The throbbing pain in her head blurred her vision. Thoughts of Tomilin caused it to blur further from her tears. She wished all of this had just been a nightmare even if that meant going back to Jake’s. It felt selfish to miss him when he was in a better place, no longer suffering for her sake.

  “Rina?” Dorn whispered and she flinched at his sudden appearance. The bed shifted as he sat beside her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No.” She groaned softly. She didn’t want to talk. Come to think of it, she didn’t really want to think either.

  “All right. You gave us all a scare there.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Do you remember that ever happening before?”

  “No. Well, I’ve been knocked unconscious before, but I don’t remember it ever happening like that.” Dorn was quiet for a while and she couldn’t help but feel his worry. “What’s wrong?” She winced as she rolled to face him.

  “Just promise me you’ll be careful from now on. I don’t think I could piece Arlen back together if he lost you, too.”

  “What? You’re not going to lose me.” She started to sit up, but Dorn pushed her back.

  “Rina,” he warned. “Your skull is fractured and it’s not the first time. You need to take it easy, for Arlen if not for yourself.”