“Be felt,” I finished the statement, and he arched a brow at me, pleased by my answer.
“Very good, Braxton. You are doing better than I imagined.”
His compliment enthused troubled feelings that I didn’t know how to process, so I didn’t even try.
With a heavy sigh, I crouched over the sand and pushed my hands into its soft surface until the granules covered my fingers. Closing my eyes, I sent my restoring magic into the lake and its surroundings, imagining the beautiful place I was now used to visiting. My sanctuary. When my eyes opened once more, the place before me was back to its natural beauty.
“Well done,” Raithian praised, before taking an elaborate battle stance that made him look like ninja and sent the little hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. The stone on his staff began to glow, illuminating the vicious expression on his face. “Again.”
With the moon gleaming brightly above the horizon, I crossed through the site-warp that Raithian created so I could leave, entering my room again. As I learned from him today, a location warp, or site-warp, was when a Wizard temporarily interrupted the veil of space, creating an opening so they could cross through it to a different place within the same timeline.
Evanna jumped from the bed the instant she saw me, rushing to my side as the warp closed behind me.
“Oh, thank the Gods!” she breathed, her soul appearing to return to her body before she pulled me down for a kiss.
“I’m sorry, Baby. I didn’t mean to scare you.” I kissed her lips again, wrapping my arms around her waist. “I had no idea he could just pull me out of here like that… Everything happened so fast, and he offered to release the people—”
“I understand.” She stole another kiss, clinging to me fiercely as though the feeling of my body against hers was the only thing that gave her relief.
I didn’t plan for this to happen, but I still felt like an ass for putting her through it. Even when I considered accepting Raithian’s offer, I never thought it would be this way. I thought I would have time to talk to her about the idea, that I would have some control…
That was life, I guessed, always screwing up your plans.
“I love you.” My vow fanned her temple, and I pressed my lips against it. “I’m sorry.”
“I love you too,” Evie whispered, pulling away to look into my eyes, finally seeming relieved.
“You should know the Warlock King kept his word,” Imogen informed from the bed, and I realized then that she had been in the room all along, keeping Evanna company until I returned.
“He did,” Evanna confirmed. “Two hundred, now freed people, were left safely in the Outlands.”
“They were terrified and confused,” my mentor added, “especially after being taken there by the same creature Raithian uses to keep them frightened and submissive. But we got them all and brought them home.”
“Where are they?” I asked, taking Evanna’s hand in mine and walking out of the room with them.
“Right now, they are in the feasting hall, being fed and tended to,” Imogen answered as we rushed down the stairs.
“Willow helped me form a committee to receive them and make sure they were well. She asked our people to gather everything they could share and thought our new family might need,” Evie explained, and a relieved breath left me, grateful for Willow too.
“Your guard insisted they wanted to assist, so I let them,” Imogen added as we rushed down the stairs. “Charlotte and Edward were particularly invested. They all helped bathe them, get them dressed in clean clothes, and gathered those in worst condition so they could be healed first.”
My steps halted at the base of the stairs with her words, and I turned to look at her. “Were many of them in bad shape?”
Evie and my mentor exchanged a dismayed glance. “All of them,” Imogen confessed.
Fuck. We only had two medicine women in our kingdom, Ava and Niha, and their ability was nothing like mine. With a nod I resumed my steps, knowing I needed to help them.
The second we reached the doors, the breath halted in my throat. The sight before me was so jarring that I literally took a step back. The people that spread along the tables were so frail some of them were practically reduced to bones. The majority shook against the tables, several needing help to even lift the spoon to their mouths.
My eyes stung with the war of emotions crashing through me, and I was forced to turn away for a moment to compose myself, fighting to hold on to my inner strength.
“I know,” Evie whispered, her eyes glistening, but she forced a smile to her lips. “Believe me, I feel it too, but they are safe now. They are here, thanks to you.”
“Okay,” I swallowed the storm beating against my chest and nodded. “Let’s go help them.” Kissing her hand, I straightened and walked inside the hall with her and my mentor beside me. “Where is Asher?” I asked the chief.
He’d immediately walked to our side after he noticed me there. “He went with the princess’ guard to collect more blankets.”
With a nod, my gaze fell on one of the nearby tables where a man, possibly over ninety years old, trembled against the seat. Charlotte sat next to him, tears escaping her while she fed him the beef stew our kitchen had prepared for them. She quickly wiped them with the back of her hand, hiding them from him while assuring him everything would be okay.
My chest constricted again, because somehow, she and her brother had been among the few lucky ones to escape the Hollow. I couldn’t even fathom how she was feeling right now. I wasn’t sure if it was the change from the high temperatures at the caves where they were imprisoned, to the fresh weather within our mountains, or simply the shock of what they had been through, but many shook where they sat like the old man did.
Charlotte helped him drink some water and then continued to feed him. The sight of blood on his arm when he pulled the blanket higher on his chest took me straight to him.
“Is he injured?” I asked, seeing Charlotte’s attention snap up to me.
“Yes, he has a rip on his arm made by the chains, but we are waiting for Ava to make her way to him. She’s trying as best she can.”
“Of course.” Crouching in front of him, I offered him a smile, gently uncovering his arm from the blanket. “I’m going to heal you, okay?” Seeing his wrinkled skin practically lifted from the bone, I gently placed my hand over the wound. “It won’t hurt. I promise.”
Swallowing the aching, I focused on his fragile gaze, sending my healing power into him. When my hand lifted from his skin, the injury was gone. His body sank into the bench with relief.
“Thank you,” he mumbled, his lips covering the visible, teethless gums. His words were weak and muffled, but I could understand him.
“This is the Dragon Master,” Charlotte gestured to me. “He is the one who negotiated with the Warlock King. He is the one who freed you.”
The man’s head wobbled as he turned his attention to her, then back to me. His response was slow, but his eyes widened when he looked at me again, and he moved from the bench, leaning forwards. He was trying to kneel.
“No, please. Don’t,” I gasped, horrified, and helped him back onto the seat. “There is no need.”