The Shadow Prince (Mortal Enchantment, #1)

Chapter Eight

I had no sense of time. For a while, black emptiness was the only thing that surrounded me. It was peaceful. Painless. Comforting, like I was meant to be there. I awoke abruptly as someone carried me away. My eyes were at half-mast, but open enough to see I'd been flung over the back of a coarse haired creature. A hound? Whatever it was, it travelled at a rapid pace. The constant movement aggravated my wounds until every inch of my body ached. If I had any energy left, I would have let out a pained scream.

The world melted away into black again, but this time, the pain remained. We must have entered a portal. Within minutes, a flash of light. I opened my eyes as someone took me up a steep hill. Heavy winds blew around us. The air was cool and crisp. Then came the panicked voices. They rattled in my ear. Some I recognized. Others I didn't. I heard my name several times, and I wanted to answer, but I didn't have the strength.

They removed me from the animal, stretched me across a tan, flat surface. I ended up in a room lined with beds and wooden cabinets. It resembled a recovery room in a mortal hospital. Except, there were no mortals here. All the wheat blond hair and lavender eyes crowding the room told me they had taken me to the air court. More than likely, their castle on top of Avalon's highest mountain.

They had splayed me across one of the beds. I laid on my stomach. It was only moments before some of my blood trickled down on their lemon scented white sheets. Air elementals hurried, mixing herbs, retrieving cloths and bandages. I'd never seen them so panicked. It was safe to assume my injuries were worse than how I had imagined them. If they looked as bad as the pain I felt, I was in big trouble.

Then, it was as if someone pressed pause. All the elementals stopped moving. Each one bowed their head. A member of their royal family must have entered the room. One set of footsteps clicked on the floor. The sound got heavier as they moved in my direction. My head was turned the opposite way, making it impossible to look. I tensed when a warm hand touched my shoulder.

"Rowan?" a male voice asked. It only took me a second to realize it was King Taron. "How did this happen?"

A female elemental stepped forward. "We don't know, Your Majesty. He came through the portal unconscious on the back of a Gabriel Hound. He hasn't spoken since he arrived."

It was Marcus. It had to be.

"Everyone leave us," he demanded. In less than a minute, the room had emptied. "I don't know who did this to you, but you will tell me when this is all over. For now, I need to tend to your wounds."

The woodland elementals were the best healers among all the courts, but Taron had a very unique ability. He could heal others without the need for herbs or other potions. It was magic only members of his kin could perform. It wasn't commonly known. I had told Marcus once about his special power. Clever thinking to have brought me here.

Taron brushed a finger around the edge of one of the gaping holes in my back where my wings had been. "Who would do such a thing?" he asked. I wasn't sure if he was speaking to me or to himself. "Rowan, if you can hear me, you were brought here without your wings. There's no way for me to create new ones for you. However, I can heal most of the wounds on your back."

A warm sensation radiated from my back. Muscles tightened. Skin pulled, closing together. It was excruciating. I needed to concentrate on something else, anything to not focus on what was happening. I thought of Kalin dancing around her room in her cupcake pajamas. The way she moved. The sound of her laugh echoed in my head. Slowly, the pain faded as if I'd been given a pain-killer. Exhaustion overwhelmed me. I didn't fight it, letting my eyes close.

I awoke some time later. Still in the bed, I was resting on my back in a reclined sitting position. Someone had wrapped my torso in white bandages. I rubbed my eyes. In the corner of the room, Taron sat silently on the edge of his seat as if waiting for me to say something. There was no question, he had saved my life. He, along with Marcus, I assumed. No other hound would have risked their life by bringing me here.