“Right.” I sat at the edge of her bed, but I felt like dropping onto the mattress and letting go of the tension in my body.
I would just lay there, disconnected from the world until this feeling of hopelessness drifted away. Not before she cleaned my wound, though.
“You’re not going to correct me?” Sela dipped a towel in the water, squeezed it, and dabbed at the dried blood and pus on my stomach.
I averted my gaze. “You’re not wrong.”
“Mhmm, but most men try to deny it anyway.”
“Does it help?”
Sela laughed again. “You are way too smart for someone your age.”
“You then realise that no matter how much I’ve enjoyed our time together, I won’t be staying.”
Her smile was sad, but she gave me one anyway. “You know where to find me when you change your mind.”
I would not change my mind. Not about Isay. I just needed to find another way to satisfy this second hunger. If my assumptions were correct, this craving stemmed from passion. It would mean that one of my parents had been Felrothian. Those fae fed on emotions.
While some of them could devour the whole scale, leaving their victims numb, others had more specific needs. Love, fear, happiness, grief, and passion were some of the most popular divisions in the court of Felroth. And while sex was an easy way to feed on passion, there were other ways.
This also explained how my parents were able to not kill each other while accidentally making me. If one of them was feeding on life force and the other on passion, they’d balance each other out.
Isay did not need to feed, but she connected best to plant life… and delthers apparently. I was neither.
Chapter 16
ISAY
I WAS FREEZING. COLD SHIVERS SHOOK THROUGH ME WHILE A sharp pain stabbed at my chest. I whimpered and gasped, because I’d already lost my voice from screaming through the night.
I was barely lucid enough to recognise that I’d been dragged to the infirmary, and the room was packed. Every fae in here saw me writhe and squirm in my bed. Some of them were well enough to talk about it. I’d heard someone whisper that I was going through a withdrawal. Withdrawal of what exactly?
I knew it was morning based on the brightness behind my eyelids. There was darkness within me, though. So much of it that I could barely feel my own life force pulsing from deep in my chest where the pain originated.
I’d done something to the delthers that left their mark on my soul. Of that, there was no doubt.
Part of me was gone while the other part was trying hard to mend itself by stabbing at the darkness that had taken its hold on me. Another ice-cold shiver ran through me with biting intensity, and I curled into a ball, gripping at a blanket that did nothing to keep me warm.
“Where is she?!” a roar boomed through the infirmary as my trembling continued.
Someone must’ve pointed in my direction, because the footsteps stomped across the room to stop next to my bed.
“Isay?” This time, the male spoke softer. A warmth of a hand hovered above my cheek but didn’t lower to make contact.
I couldn’t respond through the pain that continued to course through me. Tears streamed from my eyes, and I gritted my teeth to keep from making any more sounds, but I couldn’t manage to keep in the coarse cry.
“What’s wrong with her? Why hasn’t anyone helped her?” Karmuth demanded, spinning on his heel to face the room.
“Sir,” a hesitant fae coughed out the word. “Nobody was willing to touch her.”
“What is wrong with her?” Karmuth repeated angrily.
“We think the delther venom is in her bloodstream,” the same fae replied carefully, his voice hitching slightly. “She’s been fighting it on her own.”
Even without seeing him, I knew his eyes searched me for cuts. While I was cold all over, his eyes burned on me.
“She is not marked by one of them.”
“No, sir. The warrior who brought her in said she’d pulled the ecos right out of seven delthers, though. Without touching them. She must’ve pulled the venom with it.”
Silence fell as they both looked at me contracting on the bed.
“Get me the etheris salve,” Karmuth commanded.
“Sir—”
“Now!” he roared.
The fae hurried off, and Karmuth sat on the edge of my bed. The mattress dipped at his weight and rolled my body towards his. His hand came to my back, holding me through the thick fabric of the blanket covering me.
“You’re going to be all right, Isay. Just hold on.” His hand rubbed circles on my back, spreading warmth.
“Kar…” I gasped but couldn’t even finish his name.
“Shhh, beautiful, keep your strength. I’m going to help you through this.”
More warmth spread through me at his words, and I sobbed quietly.
