Faethfully Yours: Unbound

Chapter Four

 I bit back a gasp, horrified. My world warped to a twisted slow. For a few breaths, Kheelan glared at me, parts disappointment and parts desperation. What he said was scary, but what frightened me more was that in all the time I’d known him, I never saw Kheelan look like he did then: lost and unknowing what to do. He’d always had a plan, was always ready to go down with guns blazing. Perching his hands on the ice, he hung his head in utter defeat.

Kheelan sighed wearily. “They want torture, pain—they want to hear you scream and beg me for your life. They want to smell the blood on you, and see it on my hands.”

His words cut deep, in the place where I held the memory of her—my mother. The thought of how many times she screamed and begged for her life, hurt. I bit my lip and said nothing.

“I know this is all new to you, and I hate having to degrade you, but I’m trying to keep us alive,” he said, and though his voice was soft, there was fear. “You heard Vurim, war is imminent. Kala’el and Xanthus are going to kill Alistrina. After that, one of them will kill the other. It’s only a matter of time. Regardless of who wins, every kingdom is going to fight to protect against the opposing Court. All of Faerie will be at war, and there will be no safe place for us to hide. Now more than ever, we need to remain in Gri’ah and figure out where this map is before war breaks out.”

Anger flushed my face, though I understood him wholly.  Being his Domis was the only way he could explain travelling with a human girl, and I couldn’t blow our cover. Though I hated being demeaned…and other things I didn’t understand, the greater good was at stake.

 “So then, what now, what can I do to fix this?” I asked, swallowing the wobble in my voice. Coming up beside him, I didn’t dare touch him.

Kheelan scoffed. “You are going to do nothing. I have to figure out a way for us to walk out of here without having to explain why I’m breaking the law by not branding, or torturing you until your half dead and hanging from my arms.”

I nodded dumbly, while my brain pieced together something of a plan. “Would they be satisfied if they saw blood? You have to punish me in some way for them to not come at us with pitch forks right?”

Kheelan chuckled bitterly. “A little glamour isn’t going to fool them.”

“I’m not talking about glamour…”

Kheelan stared blankly for a minute, the smoke from his breaths clouding the confusion in his gaze. I unclasped the cloak, and let it fall to the muddy ground. When I turned around, Kheelan sucked in a breath so hard I thought I heard his ribs crack. He grew quiet, and seemed to disappear behind me. Looking through his eyes, I wanted to disappear too.

Muscle and bones peeked through charred flesh, the fibers from my sweater melted to the twisted black skin that remained hanging from my back.  Kheelan’s hands shot up instinctively, but hovered at my back, hesitant. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to heal me, but the sight was gruesome, he was too afraid to touch, too shocked by my disfigurement, too hurt by my pain.

“Why didn’t…,” his voice cracked, sounding breathless. Through his eyes, everything blurred. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt? Why--I could have healed you—I need to heal you—”

“No!” I spun and shot a hand up between us. “They need to believe you punished me. They’ll see the blood, and my skin, and think that you did it.”

Kheelan went white with offense, his eyes blinking black. “You expect me to leave you bleeding and in pain--Damn it, Charlotte, I’ve broken oaths for you, but not this. This is where I draw the line. It is my duty to heal you. Turn around!” he roared, a crack splintering our ice prison from one end to the other. I shifted back a few steps, refusing. Kheelan seized my wrist and whirled me around, but I jerked away. My feet tangled, and my bare back slammed against the cold wall. I screamed so loud, the ice around us vibrated. My sights darkened as the pain throbbed, and my knees gave way beneath me.