“You okay?” I asked.
He nodded. “This couch has some stories to tell.”
My cheeks reddened. Our first kiss had been on that couch.
He seemed to realize what he’d said. “I mean because of when I was injured.”
“Right.” I chewed my lip.
How was it that you could have the most intimate experience possible with someone one week and then feel like an awkward stranger the next?
The door opened before I could think on it any longer, and Kira walked towards us. Her hair was mussed from sleep, and her eyes were bleary. The second she saw the black horned wolf on my couch, she paused, and her gaze rose to meet mine. “Making a habit of this, Lily?”
I winced. “Trying not to. Can you help him?”
She moved forward hesitantly, and Cam whipped his head around to look at her. She froze, eyes lighting up in terror.
“He won’t hurt you,” Liam said.
She swallowed hard before kneeling in front of him and examining the wounds. A frown pulled at her face. “A shifter? And someone has already worked on him?”
Panic seized me. I wasn’t ready to be “out there” with my freaky sun powers. “Mara,” I said before anyone else could reveal me.
She seemed satisfied with that. “A poor job, but she saved his life.”
With that, she went to work, blue light filling the living room. Cam whimpered, and Liam tensed. “Do you have that pain elixir?” he asked.
Kira nodded. “Just made a fresh batch. It’s in my bag by the door.”
Elle had been perched quietly by the front door, and she moved now. She bent down to get the bag and riffled through it until she found the bottle. When she handed it to Liam, he thanked her, then gave the bottle to Kira.
“One teaspoon,” she told him, not looking up from her healing work or reaching for the bottle.
He pulled his hand back and cracked the lid of the bottle as I moved into the kitchen to grab a spoon.
After we coaxed the dose down Cam, the wolf fell into a deep sleep. Kira finished up the healing and looked at Liam. Her forehead was drenched with sweat, and she seemed tired.
“He’ll be fine. I’ll bring over some healing stones in the morning. I think they should be laid on him while he’s in his human form. More effective that way.”
Liam bowed his head deeply, then took her hand to his lips and kissed it.
The gesture shocked us both.
“Thank you,” he said. “I owe you everything. Name it, and it’s yours.”
She blushed as she pulled her hand out of his grasp. “No payment is necessary.” Then she looked at me. “Lily, a word?”
She walked to my back porch, which overlooked the garden my mother and I had planted years ago. It still thrived. Living in perpetual spring had its upsides.
“Thank you so much, Kira,” I murmured. “I promise this won’t happen again.”
She nodded. “I came by after the queen’s afternoon healing today. You weren’t here.”
I frowned. “Yeah, I was Seeking. What’s wrong, is she worse?”
Kira’s voice shook. “Well, I have been keeping the queen under constant surveillance like you asked. If I can’t be there, then I’ve sent my sister, Nika.”
Nika was a sweet nine-year-old healer-in-training. Not exactly the best person to look after the queen, but better than nothing.
I nodded. “Kira…out with it.”
The healer chewed the inside of her lip. “When Nika was watching over the queen, she said that Indra came in and gave her a potion. Told Nika it was just something to help her sleep and that it helped with the earthquakes.”
“What?” I nearly fell over.
Kira nodded. “Then Indra tried to change her memory to forget the incident, but she must not know that you can’t do that to a healer. Our memories cannot be tampered with, as our bodies constantly heal, burning up the spell.”
I started to pace the balcony, the wind cooling my flushed face. This was treason of the highest order.
“Do you believe Nika?” I hated to pull that card, but she was nine. Once, when I was nine, I had told my mom I’d broken my ankle just because I wanted attention.
Kira shrugged. “I didn’t at first, no. But then I went to the queen and smelled her lips.”
I froze and looked at the healer. “And?”
“And it was snoozeberry juice. Clear as day.”
Holy shit. Was the queen actually sick, or was Indra keeping her in some drug-induced sleep?
I suddenly felt unsafe talking about this out in the open, even if it was the middle of the night. Unlatching the door, I pulled Kira inside. My thoughts raced a mile a minute, and I wished so badly that my mom was here. A moment later, I remembered her journal and the book I’d swiped from the Elder library and promised myself to read later.
“Okay, go back to the queen,” I said. “I’ll talk to Trissa and start having her take a shift.”
I trusted Trissa in my gut—she had been my mother’s most loyal guard.
Kira nodded.
“And no more snoozeberry juice,” I added.
She wrung her hands nervously. “I’ll…try to tell her not to, but she’s an Elder.”
I stilled, my hands fisted at my sides. “No, you throw your body over the queen and forbid it. You are the healer, you are the potions master—why the fuck are we bending to the Elders, anyway?”
It was like a veil had been lifted. We were brainwashed. Do this, do that, ask no questions, smile sweetly, bow your head. Fuck that. I was over it.
Determination settled on Kira’s features. “As you wish. I will protect the queen with my life.”
I pulled her into a hug. These were dangerous times, and I’d just asked her to put herself on the line. “I won’t forget this, Kira. Thank you.”
When we pulled away, her eyes were misty, and she bowed lightly to me.
She left, and
