6. Six

Six

Willow

"Little wanderer," Draken breathes as he, Caspian, and Corentin finally approach me, boxing me in the middle of the four of them.

I try but fail to hide the small hiss that whistles through my teeth as Draken softly traces his fingers over the puncture wounds on my neck, but they all hear it and immediately tense up. Stepping back and removing their hands from me does nothing but make my bond whither and send out a pulse of longing.

"Hold on, Will, we'll get you fixed up. Jamie," Tillman calls out, strained.

Corentin and Draken step farther away, making room as Jamie hustles forward, his eyes widening more and more the closer he draws to me. His gaze bounces all over me, searching out every wound, the streaks of blood, before finally settling on my face. The look reflected at me has my stomach rolling.

"Let me get a sense of everything going on, okay?" he asks softly, holding his palm out for me to lay mine in.

With a trembling nod, I lift my shaking hand and place it in his. The comforting touch of his magic washes over me, and my body begs for it to seep everywhere, soak up all the pain, but the gruesome sight of my wrist on clear display for everyone around to see makes me want to jerk it back and hide the evidence of what I went through from them.

"Oh, Willow," he says softly.

"Oh, Willow, what?" Caspian asks darkly.

"You're almost completely drained," Jamie says, holding my gaze rather than Caspian's. The indescribable mixture of noises that leaves my men has me confused and admittedly, I don't know why it matters.

"I…I know. The spell took everything, then Dyce gave me a healing vial, but I used what little I had left in me on using my flame. What does that mean?"

"If I heal you all at once, it'll drain you completely and slow down your magic's natural ability to charge back up. It's the give and take relationship. I give to you, you take, but you have nothing to give back to Elementra right now. Typically, anyone who's gotten this dangerously close to being completely drained, we'd put into a medical coma and let their body do what it needs to do. It could be a couple days, sometimes weeks, depending on the individual."

No, no. I'm not going into a coma.

Days? Weeks? I barely survived hours.

I just got back to them.

I have so much to tell them.

What if I don't wake up?

"Calm down, little warrior. You don't have to go into a coma, it's okay," Tillman whispers, pulling me closer, hearing the panic coursing through me.

"What's option two?" I ask nervously.

"You'll need to slowly be fed healing vials, spend time with the elements and your Nexus. It'll be a much slower process than being healed all at once like you're used too, but once you build a little of your power back up, I can heal you in sessions until you're back to normal."

"Okay, okay, that doesn't sound so bad, but is there…" I trail off, swallowing harshly because I know what I want to ask him is going to upset the guys. "Is there anything you can do for the pain?"

They all do a wonderful job hiding their emotions from their faces and they don't react outwardly, but I think sometimes they forget I can feel everything they feel. At once, all their anger, their guilt, regret, relief, everything they're feeling hits me square in the chest and I suck in sharply from the onslaught.

"Can you guys back off her just a second? Your bonds are messing with what she's actually feeling right now," Jamie scolds lightly and like a tap was cut off, the flow of their emotions seizes immediately, and they all whip their heads to me to check me over.

"I can take your pain away, but remember, it's like a bandage. You're going to feel better because the pain is blocked out, but it's not real healing."

"I understand. Will you just take the pain away from the worst of it until we go home?"

"Of course," he says softly, then releases his magic again.

I sigh in relief when the first area his magic washes over is the handprint on my chest. Slowly, the sting dissipates, and if I let my mind convince me otherwise, I could pretend it's not even there. Next, he moves to my wrist, then my hip, then my thighs. With each painful point being blocked, I do already feel better, stronger, but like he said, I know it's just a blanket for what's been done.

Gulping, he asks, "Any…anywhere else?"

"Please no."

I hear Draken's mournful mental whisper and I glance over at him. Tears of rage and sadness well in his eyes, and he's standing tensely still. It's then I notice they all are, waiting dreadfully for me to answer.

"No, no. They…No, it's okay," I mumble through my closed throat.

My heart cracks open when Jamie gives me a relieved nod and steps away from me. They each visibly relax a little and knowing that they've been fearing the worst causes guilt to nearly turn my stomach inside out.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper.

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?" Corentin asks, strained.

His tone, like an arrow, pierces my chest. His face is a blank mask, more closed off than the day I arrived, and I want—no, need so badly for him to show me some sort of emotion, affection. He hasn't looked me in the eye, there's no tipping of my chin, and he's put the most physical distance between us out of all four of them. He's so upset with me, and I feel it keenly.

"This is all my fault."

His body visibly shudders, and without a word, he turns on his heel and walks away, yelling for the palace team to come with him. I take a step toward him, but Tillman grips me gently around the waist, stopping me.

"Give him just a minute, Will. He's not upset with you. He's been blaming himself for all this. You just rocked his world saying you believe it's all your fault. Neither of you is to blame for any of it, and you both need to understand that."

"Why would he blame himself?"

"He needs to explain that to you."

Knowing Corentin, whatever it is he's blaming himself for is a deeply rooted, misguided belief. I have a feeling it stems from his need to claim everyone as his responsibility, when really, there's so much out of his hands, my hands, that he can't do this to himself when something happens. Things are going to happen that we don't want to.

"Drink," Caspian demands, holding a healing vial in front of my face, dragging my attention away from his brother's retreating back.

Just like when Dyce gave me his last one, the liquified miracle travels through my bloodstream before I fully drink it down and the amazing sensation intensifies when Tillman's magic joins in, gliding across my body, clothing me in a soft robe that doesn't pull or rub my wounds at all.

I try to not fall into a false sense of strength when the healing tonic settles because despite knowing I'm not healed, I feel like I could move a mountain compared to how I felt ten minutes ago.

"Did we lose anyone? What about the academy?" I ask rapidly.

Now that Draken isn't standing directly in front of me, the death I see is almost overwhelming. There're so many bodies, I can't tell if any of them are hostages, E.F. members, any of our friends. I couldn't care less about the Mastery members, but the thought of anyone on our side laying down their life for me today doesn't sit right.

"No, we didn't lose anyone here. Don't worry about the academy right now. We took care of it as much as possible before we came, and Gaster is taking care of the rest. I need to organize the palace teams to move the hostages and your father—"

"Franklin." I growl unintentionally. Me nor my dragon can tolerate that title being attached to him any longer.

"Franklin. We need to get him moved and secured. Then get you home," Tillman continues, not missing a beat after my interruption.

"Did Aria come with Lyker?" I ask.

"They're at the structure with Corentin and the palace team. We'll ask her to weave her rune around his mind," he says, answering my next thought.

Taking my first step in the direction of the structure, the three of them each take a step closer to me, and I know they're all about to attempt to carry me. As much as I'd love that, I'd eat it up any other time, I can't right now and I don't want to explain to them here in the open why that is.

"Please let me do it on my own. For now," I whisper.

There's only a beat of silence before Draken steps to my side, linking his fingers with mine, and gives me an understanding nod. Followed by a cold hand wrapping around the other and I feel tendrils of shadows coiling around the both of us.

"Anything you need, Primary," Caspian states, unwavering, standing tall at my side.

His recognition flows through me, and I'm grateful he completely understands without me saying anything more. There's nothing worse than going through something like this, then having everyone around you stare at you in pity.

"What happened to the hostages that were outside?" I ask as we make our way to the structure.

"When we broke through the ward, the Mastery left them standing there right in the line of fire. I sent three palace teams to retrieve them and start transporting them out. This group…it's not looking good," Tillman says solemnly.

I believe that just based on how they all were when I arrived. Their prone forms lying there, unmoving as we walked by, worried me and made my mind conjure up the worst things imaginable.

"Fortune teller."

I'm shocked frozen momentarily as Lyker wraps me up in a gentle hug, his muscles trembling around me, making my whole body vibrate. The embrace is awkward, not because it's him hugging me, but because neither Draken nor Caspian will let my hands go so all I can do is stand here.

"That's enough." Draken growls, giving Lyker a shove that may or may not cause a small twitch in my lips.

"I'm sorry, Willow," Lyker says, ignoring my growly mate.

"What are you sorry for?" I ask, cocking my head to the side curiously.

"The vampire got away. I got distracted by Mr. Vito's Tasmonium, but I swear to you, we'll find him."

"I'm sorry, his what?" I know he's talking about Dyce's form, but I have no clue what that is.

"I'm a little ol' mixed mutt, my favorite daughter-in-law. A cross somewhere between a Tasmanian tiger, jackal, and demon, sprinkle in some magic and wa-la you have me. And I told you, Lyker, it's just Dyce." Dyce comes around the corner announcing excitedly, bebopping like he just finished playing his favorite game.

His happy-go-lucky attitude mixed with the crazed energy around him reminds me so much of Draken, there's no denying he had a large part in raising him when the guys' Nexus bond snapped into place. The mischievous gleam in his eye screams Caspian, and I know instantly who the troublemaker amongst my Patera-Nexus is.

If Corentin hadn't explained to me how DNA works for true Nexuses, you wouldn't be able to convince me there's any sort of relation between them, other than the whiskey eyes, that are much, much lighter in Dyce than his sons.

"She's your only daughter-in-law, Dad," Caspian comments literally.

"That's why she is and always will be my favorite."

My chest swells with his easy acceptance of me, and the rush of feeling like being a part of a family sends feverish love spreading everywhere within me, but it's quickly doused out when I remember the rapist sperm donor of mine, lying somewhere outside restrained.

"Lyker, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. You got him away from me and that's what matters most. We'll find him, them, in time. But I need Aria's help. Where is she?"

"Right here, babes," Aria calls out, strolling up to me with Oakly at her side.

For the first time since falling into Tillman's arms, I step away from them and embrace my friends. There's just something about a hug from your girlfriends that makes everything so much better and just seeing these two makes my heart feel lighter.

"Thank you both for coming to get me," I mumble with my chin sitting on both their shoulders as they hold me back.

"If you ever pull some shit like this without me again, I'm gonna freaking rage, Willow." Oakly mumbles murderously, causing me to snort but also makes my throat close up.

"I'd never in a million years let you endure something like this. Ever. Either of you. It had to be me, only me, and we just have to accept that for now," I tearfully murmur.

For another moment, we just sit there, and no one disturbs us, but after watching more and more hostages be moved out, the numbers dwindle dramatically within a few minutes, and I pull away to ask Aria for her help, knowing we're about ready to go home.

"I need you do to something for me. My…Franklin's outside and he's high on the Mastery's roster. If you can, I need you to weave a rune around his mind so the Summum-Master doesn't kill him off before we can try to get answers from him."

"Absolutely. Is he being moved to Rebel Castle?" she asks.

Not knowing the answer to that, I turn to Tillman, but it's Caspian who chimes in first, "I say we kill him now before the Summum-Master gets the chance."

"As much as that would please me, he has answers, a lot of them. Both about the Mastery, and…and me. I need those, Cas," I plead when I see the decision already made in his eyes. He knows better than anyone what that man has put me through, and he wants to rectify that here and now. But we can't.

"Yes, he's being moved to Rebel Castle," Tillman dictates when Caspian takes too long to agree.

"We'll move him for you and Aria will get the rune weaved. If there're any issues, we'll let you know." Lyker easily volunteers, and to my relief, because I'm not quite ready to face Franklin at this moment, Tillman nods along, happy with letting them take care of that.

"What do you want to do with the guy you got trapped in the fire, Willow?" Dyce asks.

Oh shit. Trex.

"What guy?" Caspian, Draken, and surprisingly Corentin ask as the latter walks up, while simultaneously Tillman asks, "Who the hell is Trex?"

"Uh, Trex is…" I don't know how to describe who Trex is without getting him killed, honestly.

"Why would we need to kill him, little warrior?" Tillman asks dangerously low, taking a purposeful step closer to me with his eyes narrowed.

He's hardcore eavesdropping right now, but I'm not going to block him out. He's listening in so closely because he needs it, and I want the safety of knowing he can hear me, but I need to explain this before he gets a whiff of Trex's role in all of this and flies off the deep end.

"Can we just put a pause on questions and answers for right now, and I'll explain everything when we get home, please?"

"Did he hurt you?"

"Not…It's hard to explain, Tillman. Just trust me for right now, okay?"

He doesn't mentally respond. The clipped nod is all he gives me in terms of agreement, so I just have to go with that for now.

"He needs to go to Rebel Castle as well. Let's move. It's time to go home," Tillman declares, and as if on cue, the palace team pops back in, empty-handed from the last transport of hostages to the healing wings.

Not going to lie, I'm incredibly nervous as we walk out of the building and head toward where I left Trex captured in my ring of fire. I'm not confident I made the right decision capturing him rather than letting him die or escape.

When we approach the flaming wall of fire, I hear nothing coming from the other side, and for a split second, I freak out thinking I accidentally let him burn to death. That reaction alone answers, my last mental thought, so it's obvious I don't want him dead, but I still don't know why.

"Trex," I call out.

"Willow, what are you still doing here? What's happening?" he fires off furiously. So not dead.

"His gift is mind transference, and his element is water," I tell my Nexus, and well, everyone else, so they'll be prepared for when I let the wall down. There's no telling how he's about to react, so better to be ready than caught off guard.

"I'll do it, little wanderer," Draken says, stopping me as I raise my hand to call my flame back to me. I didn't think about it taking any of my magic to summon it, nor do I think it really would, but I don't argue, not willing to risk it just in case.

Also, no one else has the power to wield the flame other than us, and my dragon lets out a sultry little purr, excited to watch our mate control our fire.

"Careful, sweetness. I have him hanging on by a thread," Draken warns me heatedly.

All I can do is nod, because same. My dragon wants badly to push through and attack them. She couldn't care less about anything other than getting closer to them.

When he finally drops my gaze, I push her back down enough again to focus on this one last thing we have to do before we can go home. Everyone's standing around, patiently waiting to see who this is I've secured behind my wall, and I have no doubt Trex is going to freak out coming face to face with a small E.F. army.

There isn't a millisecond of time between Draken dropping my flame, to Tillman locking Trex's hand in stone, and Caspian wrapping him up in shadows. He doesn't fight or yell or anything. He stands there just as bored and unconcerned as when we were in my torture room.

"Tit for tat, huh?" he says when I step in front of him.

"No. Nothing that happened to me will be happening to you," I tell him honestly.

"That's undecided," Caspian retorts.

Trex's eyes scan the many people standing around him. For the most part, the palace members and E.F. teams I'm not all that familiar with are standing back, giving us room, but still he's surrounded by my Nexus, Oakly's, Aria's, and add in Dyce. There're some imposing people confronting him right now.

"The infamous Vito heirs," he says, shaking his head and looking down at me. "You should've run when I told you to. From the Mastery and from them."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Corentin asks coldly.

Trex pointedly ignores him and continues to stare at me to the point I know he's seconds away from losing his eyes, so I turn to Lyker and give him a nod to go ahead.

"You'll be safe where they're taking you," I say, stepping closer and bending down to grab the bag of vials and dagger I laid here when I trapped him.

Looking at Aria, asking only with my eyes, she nods in agreement, and I know she'll weave a rune around his mind as well. I don't spare him a backward glance because he just feels like a mystery I still have to unravel, and I don't have the energy for it now.

"Aww, you got me a present?" Nikoli asks teasingly as I walk up to him and hand him the sack of vials.

"There're five vials of the Bane of Essence. Will that be enough for you to try it and detect its ingredients?"

Time seems to stand still as the entire clearing goes utterly silent. No one moves. No one breathes. I knew this would come as a shocker to everyone because this means I've found our way into the forest, so I stay quiet as well, waiting for everyone to compose themselves.

Although my Nexus quickly steps up and surrounds me, getting a closer look, San's the first to break. The need to know, his gift itching at him to learn something new, pushes him to open the bag in his brother's hand, uncap the vial, and shove it in Nikoli's nose.

"What do you smell?" he frantically asks Nikoli.

I stare in fascination as he continuously wafts the smell of the vial toward him, sniffing around as if he's a chef catching a whiff of the gourmet meal he just prepared.

"I'm going to have to taste it to be sure, but yeah…Yeah, Willow, I'll be able to detect the ingredients," Nikoli announces excitedly, and for the first time since being rescued, a smile breaks out across my face.

Almost as if that's the permission my body needed, my smile swiftly turns into tears as my body and mind seem to decide I no longer have to be strong, no longer have to continue to hold myself up. It's the acceptance that what I was put through today wasn't pointless. A difference will be made because of this and we're so much closer to ending the Mastery than ever before.

"We're going home."

I bury my face into the warm, fiery neck of my sweet dragon as he lifts me off my feet and I seal my eyes shut tight.

There's nothing else I need to do or see here.

"This is becoming a ritual I'm not too fond of, little wanderer," Draken murmurs in my ear as he crosses the threshold of my room.

"I don't mind being carried," I mumble sleepily.

"Carrying you isn't the problem. It's the condition you're in each time I do this." His strain and heartbreak pulse through our bond, and I mindlessly reach my hand up, stroking his heart to calm him down.

My eyes pop open, and my head perks up as the smell of eucalyptus takes over my senses. There's nothing in this realm I want more than anything right now than to stand under a scalding hot shower, letting the day wash away from my skin.

Slowly, he slides me down his body and holds me steady until I get my balance, then I turn in his arms, getting a look at myself for the first time. Well, not all of me, but what I see is enough.

My hair is absolutely wild and tangled with matting in the back from where I thrashed my head around so much. There's purplish-blue bruising and blood on both sides of my face, but I can tell the healing vial took care of the majority of the swelling. Those colorful reminders will stay for at least another day, if not longer since the healing is going to be a slower process right now.

The black robe Tillman dressed me is long, past my knees, and the front crossing comes up high on my neck, but not high enough it blocks out the two perfectly circular puncture wounds. The longer I gawk, the harder it becomes to breathe, to swallow, to think.

"Don't look, little warrior. You don't have to do this to yourself," Tillman says gently, stepping in front of me, blocking out the sight of myself.

Wordlessly, I nod. I don't need a visual of my entire body to know it looks rough. I just need to wash the evidence away and go to sleep. That's what I want.

Tenderly, his magic skates across me, removing the robe and my ruined bra and underwear. When he turns me toward my shower, I pause my steps when I see Corentin and Caspian, still fully clothed, already in the shower stall, waiting for me, and Draken gently places his hand on my lower back, steering me in there with them.

It's not that I have any issues with them all seeing me naked. It's nothing they haven't already seen of me before. It's the markings. The cuts. The bite marks. The burn. My ruined mating mark. I don't want the sight of me to disgust them.

"I'm trying to give you a little privacy, but I can't ignore you when things like that cross your mind. We find nothing about you disgusting. Not a single thing."

I don't answer Tillman right away as we step under the spray and the first splash of hot water is enough to draw a hiss from my lips. It takes my body a moment to adjust to this sort of pain, but it quickly numbs as gentle hands begin to rub away the dried and crusted blood.

"It's me," I whisper.

"What's you, Primary?" Caspian asks.

"I had a not so pleasant thought about myself, and Tillman called me out about it. I was worried you all would find me disgusting because of this and he quickly shut that down. And I know it's the truth. But my truth is…it's me. I find myself disgusting."

My tears come swift and rapid as I admit that to them. It's not easy saying it out loud, but one thing I've learned since coming here is I held all my trauma and feelings in for so long, my coping mechanism became to ignore it and act like it never happened. It took considerable effort in the nonmagical realm to suck it up, survive until tomorrow, but it weighed me down heavily. I don't have to do that here.

Here, I have them, and they've helped heal so much of me already, teaching me with their actions how to trust, how to communicate, showing me how to experience pleasure without ridicule or force, and I refuse to have come this far with loving, trusting, devoting my mind, body, and soul to them, just to shut them out and let this new trauma take hold.

I won't do it.

"When I got rescued, I refused to look in the mirror for a month. I refused to face what had been done to me. I felt…vile." Caspian's quiet voice sounds amplified in the silence of the shower, and I hold my breath, waiting for him to continue speaking. I need more than anything right now for him to relate to me so I can figure out how to process this without it affecting all of us negatively.

"I wouldn't let Corentin help me. Tillman, my mom, dads, uncle, or Gaster. I didn't want it. I wanted to ignore it. Bury it deep within myself. Handle it all myself."

Yes, that's exactly what I want to do.

"You can't ignore it, Primary. It'll fester and grow into hatred, resentment, self-loathing. I won't allow you to do that to yourself," he says sternly but also sweetly, like he truly fears what will become of me if I let myself go.

"Help me."

Like sending out a SOS, they each begin to lather their hands with my soap, resuming their careful cleaning. Each of them takes delicate care of whatever wound they come across, and the comfort of each touch overshadows any pain I may feel.

Once the water quits flowing pink, and I'm sure every surface of me from my head to my toes is clean, they stand in front of me, mapping out every last marking on my body. Even if I couldn't see their gazes running the length of me, I'd know by the rising emotions that's what they're doing.

"Close your eyes, Primary," Caspian orders, and without hesitation, I listen to his command.

Softly, I feel his fingers trace the bruising of my right black eye before he lays a tender kiss to my lid. "Tell me how this happened."

His demand takes me by surprise and at first, I don't want to answer him. It's too painful, too fresh, but then it dawns on me, that's exactly why he's asking. It's all still new, and he's not giving me time to bury it. Still, I don't know if walking them through what happened is the best idea.

"I know you all are going to get upset, and I don't know if I can handle that right now," I admit quietly.

"Don't worry about us, princess. This is about you." Corentin's voice almost pulls a sob out of the depths of my chest. I wasn't sure how much longer I could give him not speaking to me or acknowledging me before I broke down.

Nodding, I answer Caspian. I answer each question honestly as he takes his time, tracing the bruising on my face, the cuts on my arms, the swollen, busted vein in the crook of my elbow. I tell him the truth of each one.

Then Tillman.

I feel him lower himself to his knees in front of me, and I want to open my eyes and look down at him kneeling in front of me again, but I don't. I don't want to break this courage, this concentration I have right now on spilling everything openly.

Down each leg he goes, paying the double puncture marks of Bryce's teeth attention, lavishing each of them with gentle caresses and soft strokes. Every cut he runs his finger across smoothly as if he can erase the line with an easy swipe. With a light kiss to the scar on my stomach, he rises to his feet and tucks my hair behind my ear before stepping back.

Corentin.

I feel his presence without him speaking and my nose burns from the tears I'm trying to hold back. When he runs his thumb across my trembling bottom lip, I suck in a deep, strangled breath.

"Who did this, princess?" he asks, laying his hand right above the impression on my chest, and the emotions I was fighting off come flooding out. He gives me all the time I need to cry, never removing his hand, never hurrying me along. He just lets me weep.

"Donald. He's been given the gift of invisibility, and his element is fire."

I wait for the bombarding of questions that I know they all have. I feel them practically strumming through my mind, but none of them speak a word. They don't break our moment, and far too quickly, Corentin removes his hand and backs away, which leaves only one.

And Draken was the one I was dreading the most.

"Look at me, little wanderer."

Shaking my head, I squeeze my eyes tighter. I can't face him. Even my dragon hangs her head low in my chest, both of us shrinking in on ourselves, ashamed we didn't do more to protect our precious mark from our mate.

"Please look at me." He and his dragon purr together, sending a calming, comforting feeling that has us obeying almost immediately.

Blinking away the water from both the tears and shower, I gaze up into his sea of cobalt blue. There isn't an ounce of anger, shame, disappointment, none of that, only love, devotion, and pride.

"What are these four marks?" he asks, dotting the claw marks Max left behind.

"A saber-toothed tiger's claw marks. Well, I guess he was called a Dentemtigirus shifter. Dyce killed him."

Another wave of shame washes over me when I admit that. If I hadn't been held captive by the cuffs, my dragon would've been able to dominate Max. He never would've been able to sink his claws into me. More than that, Franklin wouldn't have…

"What are you ashamed of, Willow?" Draken asks, sensing the shift in my emotions.

"I didn't stop him. I couldn't stop him from destroying my mating mark."

"Who is he? Tell me what he did."

I let it all fall out. Everything. The moment Franklin laid the tip of the knife to my mark, causing my dragon to surface and the cuffs to burn me, the words he said about my mother, how I refused to answer who marked me, and what he did to my mark with the dagger after that. It all flows out of me in a mixture of rage and heartbreaking sobs.

"Do you feel that?" Draken asks as he reaches up and caresses his own mark slowly. I search my chest for the feeling, but none flutter in.

"I—"

I suck in a sharp gasp when the sensation of Draken surges through my hip and my mating mark tingles, pulsing all things him. Warmth, comfort, love, fierce devotion, freedom. I bathe in the glorious feelings, letting them sink into my soul and nuzzle down as deeply as they can, until the painful realization hits me square in the heart.

"You felt it."

"It's called a mate's message. You thought of me when it was happening."

"I thought of how sorry I was. How so, so sorry I was."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Willow. You are and always will be my mate, my Primary. Mark or no mark. I don't care what it looks like. If you want, we'll mark me the same so we can match. I don't care. What I care about is you and only you. You're the fire that feeds my soul," he swears, laying his hand on my hip, rubbing soft circles on the torn and damaged skin.

Pulling me closer, he captures my mouth in a devouring kiss that leaves no room for argument about how he truly feels. I can tell by each possessive, fierce stroke of his tongue, he's upset with what's been done to me, but he's far more concerned with me and making me feel better than anything else.

More hands are placed on my body, sealing up the internal wounds that were going to bleed me dry far faster than the external ones and soon, the dark veil of my intrusive thoughts fades away, leaving my mind and heart at peace. I still have much to tell them, and the actions of today will still dredge up fears and anxieties for some time to come, but I'm not going to drown in them, not with them by my side.

"We need to get you something to eat, another healing vial, and some sleep," Corentin says gruffly before leaning down, giving my forehead a kiss, leaving me and the other three standing in the shower.

Not a glance, no eye contact, nothing, and his dismissal hurts a small part of me, but I shove it away because Tillman's words ring clear, and I know without a shadow of a doubt, Corentin believes he deserves this distance.

And I fully intend to fix that.