City of Trees

COT: Chapter 14

“Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

Coral groaned. “like I told you for the hundredth time, he's going to be fine. It's you we should be worried about.”

She waved off Coral's pestering glare. If Lucas were a normal person the fire would've killed him. Luckily he had started healing right away. Kaiya hadn't been so fortunate.

Lucas had warned her that magic required something in return. If the user wasn't properly trained then it could destroy them. The spells would suck them dry until their skin sagged and their bones were brittle.

Kaiya's burst of magic had left her weak. It took almost a full day before she could stand. Her body had finally started recovering and she knew a good night's sleep would help but, she needed to make sure Lucas was okay.

“If he's going to be fine then why has he been out for two days?” She snapped.

Behind that anger was fear. He had already survived a witch trying to kill him. If she damaged him in anyway then she would never forgive herself.

“You set his body on fire,” answered Coral. “Green fire. Rest is helping him get better.” She pointed a finger at her. “You should be doing that too.”

With every minute she stayed awake she could feel the energy being sucked from her body. It was when her eyelids had become heavy that she had the clever idea to keep watch and help herself at the same time.

She laid down next to Lucas and curled up into his side. Her hand rested across his body as she tucked her head into the crook of his neck.

“Your father-”

“Can eat a bag of shit,” she interrupted Coral with a mumble. “I don't care what he thinks and I don't care what you think.”

The corners of Coral's lips twitched. “Good to know. I'll be around the house if you need anything.”

“Mm hmm,” sighed Kaiya. She was as content as a kitten full of milk.

Not many days had passed but, her body had felt deprived of his touch. His scent filled her senses and quenched a thirst she didn't know she craved. It was next to him that she felt whole again.

She had started to forgive Lucas the second he transformed into his Lycan. The creature was beautiful. It was also reckless and Lucas had taken a big risk in doing that. She knew that one wrong move by her father and he would've torn his head off. Just taking that chance for her so he could pull out the elf fire was enough to allow her to let go of the anger.

And despite all of their setbacks, he had never given up on her. She refused to acknowledge it until now but, her life had been shrouded in lies. Lucas broke through that and forced her to accept that she was more than just a girl who had physically become an elf.

He still needed to explain himself and then she would decide if she was ready to put this behind her so, they could start talking about getting her out of the sanctuary. Sier would be there in ten days and they had no plans on her departure.

And just like that, she gave into sleep. Her dreams were endless, relentless. They teased her escape, giving her a taste of what it would feel like to be free. It was a yearning she didn't think was attainable until her father made the mistake of allowing the Lycans into the sanctuary and inevitably her life.

There were so many things she wished for. The list had continued to grow since new trainees her age had entered the sanctuary. Eight years didn't seem like a long time to be locked up but, she never had a normal childhood. They were always on the run. When she heard her peers speak of their new cars, cellphones, and computers she was admittedly jealous. There were things they talked about and she embarrassingly had no idea what some of them were.