The Raven & The Wolf

Chapter Thirty-Two

Gedric looks me over with a slightly awed expression while I stand. I correct my shirt strap and slightly re-adjust before looking at Drew. “Are you alright?” I ask the still pale faced man.

“Not really, no.” He answers, looking at me. “I have one side of extreme anger coming through me, from Articus. The other is…I’m not sure how to explain it. I’m angry, astonished, confused, and impressed that he was able to do that.”

“There is a reason Articus was highly coveted among the Fates. If there is a loophole, he’ll find it. He may not be able to enter you physically, but he will be able to manipulate you ways you’ve never even thought of.”

“So Articus was using me to manipulate you?”

I shrug. “Most likely. However, if he has a different endgame than what we’re both guessing, he might be using you to reach that goal.”

“You think he has a different goal in mind?”

“I don’t know, but I’m certainly not ruling anything out. Either way, I’m still keeping my mindset set as my death is his end goal.”

“And why is that?” Gedric asks, looking very unhappy with my response.

“Even if he’s planning something different, always have a back up plan.” I look at Drew. “We can wait until tomorrow morning, if you wish to take a moment.”

He nods. “I would like that. Gedric, will you please see to it that she’s eaten. Maybe show her around.” Drew stands up and gives me a long appraising look before leaving.

“I’ve never seen anyone do that to him.” Gedric says while watching his father go.

“That is what happens when you have a Fate influencing you, and you realize the truth.” I look at Gedric and flash him a smile. “So I suppose it’s your turn to show me around.”

Gedric suddenly stiffens at that realization. “I guess it is.” He folds his arms as he looks me over. “But we’re not climbing anything today.”

A laugh bursts through my lips, surprising me a little. “I can live with that. Let me get dressed and we can go?”

Gedric nods. “With that arm, it’ll give me time to get cleaned up. I’ll send Stanya in to help.”

I stretch my back while I look around, attempting to find my clothes. In the corner is a dresser so I go over to open it. Surprisingly, I find clothes that look like they’re for a man. If I were to wear one of these shirts, it’d go down to my knees.

Stanya’s voice comes up from behind me. “What are you doing?”

I jump and catch my breath. “You scared the crap out of me,” I tell her while I close the drawer and turn around. She’s smiling at me while I look her over. She’s wearing a thin blue dress that has flowered ends that stop at her knees. Her hair is pulled up and she looks absolutely stunning. I motion to her outfit. “Okay, first off you look very pretty in that. Two, are you still trying to capture Halthin’s interest?”

She sticks her tongue out at me. “So? We’re here for a month, so I may as well work that to my advantage.” A smirk grows on her face, “Now, what were you doing?”

“Trying to find my clothes actually.” I jerk my thumb back towards the dresser. “Those aren’t it.”

“That’s because you’re in Gedric’s old room.” She measures the surprise on my face before speaking. “Gedric wanted you to be within easy access to his father at all times.”

There is a small flip in my stomach as I take that in. It does make sense, considering the condition I am in currently. I know I was worse when I was brought here. “I suppose that makes sense. How bad was I before this,” I ask, motioning towards myself.

Stanya looks me over. “Yeah, that’s why he did it,” she answers with a note of sarcasm. She immediately widens her eyes before speaking. “And you were pretty bad. Gedric and I pulled enough magic overload out of you to make three statues, and to add magic to all of the other cities shields, especially this one. The shields were from the left over overload that his father removed alone. I never knew we had a magic “well” before this. Did you?”

I raise my eyebrow at her, ignoring her question. “What did you mean by; ‘yeah that’s why he did it.’ And don’t tell me any lies.”

“I meant exactly what I said,” she answers quickly.

“I’m not buying it.” I tell her, giving her a hard glare.

“Look Nat, I literally cannot tell you. Please, do me this favor and let it go.” She touches my loosely hanging arm gently. “Trust me; okay?”

I’ll let it go, but I’m not wasting this opportunity. I let out an agonized scream, making her jump as I fold in. She lets go of me immediately and raises her arms as she steps back. “What did I hurt? Do you need Drew or Gedric?”

I laugh as I straighten. “I’m fine. I couldn’t resist,” I say while giving her a wink before she rolls her eyes. “Oh come on,” I tell her while she turns around and follow her out. “That was funny.”

“That was mean,” she tells me while glancing over to make sure she’s following me. “I thought I hurt you further.”

“You barely touched me,” I say, reaching over and grabbing her shoulder to turn her around, “how badly could you have hurt me?”

She gives me a sadden look while looking me over. “Nat, since this has started, I’ve nearly lost you more times than I can handle. This last one required for you to be operated on. Operated on Nat. That is never heard of. If Ari even gets wind of this, he could easily kill you.”

“Not if I kill both of us.” I tell her then grimace when she flinches. “Sorry, that was rude. If he forces me into that state, Stanya, he will kill us both. He might be the definition of evil, but he’s not that stupid.”

“And the Fates?”

“They tried it once and failed, didn’t they?” I point out. “They’re not stupid enough to try it again. The main thing I need to worry about is doing it to myself.”

Stanya nods. “Can you teach me to sort the elements with earth magic? So I can actually help when this happens?”

I give her a surprised look. “You hate using earth magic. You only use it to sense things.”

“I know, but I want to help. I feel so useless. Even Gedric can do more than I can.”

I sigh. “I’ll be more than glad to help teach you Stanya, you know this. I only have one question. What took you so long?”

A smile spreads on her face seconds before she slams into me to give me a hug. My arm protests the forced movement, making me yelp. “Okay, I’m not teasing now. Ow.”

She squeezes harder and then lets me go.

“What do you want me to tell you?” Gedric demands, making us both look outside. Stanya and I move behind the wall to hide and peek outside. Gedric looks frustrated while Halthin is glaring at him with his arms folded. I look down at Stanya and she shoots me a confused look. She doesn’t know either.

Gedric rubs his face. “Look Halthin, right now the matter at hand is keeping Natasha safe. I don’t care about anything other than keeping her from being killed. If that means that she sleeps in my room and I sleep outside for this entire trip, I’ll do that. If I have to follow her through thousands of blizzards because there is even a slight chance of an overload, I’ll do it. Everything I’m doing is to help her, not to piss you off.”

Halthin deepens his glare. “Are you sure about that? Because your actions are telling a completely different story.”

“Look Hal, I’m not stepping on your toes. Nat is my friend, and a good one at that. I’m not going to give her a chance to die because you’re jealous.”

I give Stanya a curious look. She rolls her eyes and mouths, “Idiot” to me.

“I’m not jealous.” Halthin snaps, clenching his jaw.

“Then, please, explain why you’re being so hostile towards me.” Gedric motions towards him. “Tell me why you’re acting like some prepubescent boy.”

“Why were you just with Nat?” Halthin demands, taking a different direction than I had anticipated.

“To see why my dad was taking so long with her.” Gedric throws his hands in the air. “I thought there was something wrong with her.”

“There it is. That’s why I’m mad.”

“Because I checked on her?”

“No, because you can actually help her. I can’t even access my magic, or even touch magic, because of Ari. Natasha damn near killed herself to let the three of us get to safety. You and Stanya were the only ones able to help her. I couldn’t do a damn thing.” What is it with these three and helping? They do more than they think. Maybe my nearly dying a lot is making them feel more helpless than I realize. For me, this is something I’ve learned to accept since I was young. I’ve always believed I’d die a violent death. That is my fate for carrying the raven mark.

I let out a loud whistle, making the boys look over towards us. Amusingly, the boys flush deeply once they realize Stanya and I had been watching them. “Hal, how’s your chest?”

He gives me a bewildered look. “It’s fine.”

I raise my eyebrow at him and give him a pointed look.

He looks at me as if I’m insane. “Seriously Nat, it’s not bothering me in the slightest.”

I roll my eyes. “We can practice your magic again, you dummy.”

His eyes widen and drops his arms in his surprise. “I completely forgot!”

“How could you forget that?” Stanya asks. “You’ve been talking about wanting to use your magic again for weeks.”

He points to me. “Does that answer your question?”

That springs a laugh to her lips. She steps out from behind the wall, and I catch Halthin running his eyes over her. “You’re silly. Come on Nat, let’s get you dressed.”

I follow her out the door and gently touch Gedric as we’re about to pass them. “Thank you for taking such great care of me, Gedric. You can take your room back if you want.”

His smile flickers as if it’s jelly, while he quickly flushes. “I’d prefer you stay with my family until you’re more healed.”

I shrug, “Up to you, I guess.”

Stanya pulls me away, “Let’s get you dressed before the entire town sees you in your night clothes.”

“I’m not the one that dressed me like this,” I tell her while we go through the streets. She takes me three houses down, leading us to a fascinating looking inn. It’s designed to be open and friendly with multiple large windows for each room, with long pale yellow curtains that can be drawn for privacy. The entire place is made of wood and looks to be soundly made. Lights hang above us around the ceiling, cascading in ways to mimic the stars. I’m immediately in love with it.

“Okay, I want to stay here.” I tell her, looking around.

She giggles. “Good luck getting that past Gedric.”

I give a long sigh. “He’s very protective when I’m hurt.”

“Let’s go with that,” she says, quickly tugging me after her. She nods towards the woman at the desk. She has silver hair twisted up on her head, with her bangs made to frame her young face. She’s very slender as well as curvy. I feel like I know her. The woman just smiles at us and waves.

When we get to Stanya’s room, she opens it to reveal a massive room. It has it’s own bathing pool in the center, next to a carved hearth fireplace. Her bed is three times bigger than she is. Her room has red velvet carpets, giving some warmth from the cold wooden floors.

“Okay, now I’m really jealous.”

She chuckles. “This is usually given to important guests. They have one reserved for you if you’re ever released from Drew’s charge long enough to stay here.”

“Good to know I’ll have my own room for once,” I say, looking around.

“You did at Malay’s,” she points out, walking to the darkly wooden armoire. “I put your clothes in here, after I had them cleaned, by the way. Also, I went shopping.” She twirls her dress to show it off. “For you and me.”

I raise my eyebrow. “What did you buy?” Last time she went shopping for me, she bought the most gaudy puffy dress I had ever seen. Her style preferences are much more frillier than mine.

“Relax,” she tells me, while rifling through the vast amounts of clothing she has bought. I’m not packing that back to Brighton.

She throws an emerald shirt at me that cuts off an inch or so below my breasts, right before throwing a pair of flowing green pants. They look surprisingly comfortable. Each fabric is soft enough that I want to rub it against my cheek.

“Now lets get you bathed and changed. You’re getting a little ripe.” She scrunches her nose to make a point.

I roll my eyes. “Fine, in the meantime you can tell me what I missed.”

“I’ll tell you what I’m permitted to tell you, without running the risk of screwing with your memory. Deal?”

“Okay, what am I forgetting?” I ask while gently removing my sling. “Did Ari stab me or something? Did I try to kill him again?”

“No…nothing violent happened.” She tells me while helping to remove my shirt.

I close my eyes and try as hard as I can, but I can’t remember anything. It feels like I’m mentally slamming my head against a brick wall. I give a frustrated groan. “What am I missing?”

“I’m not allowed to tell you,” she answers with a soothing tone. “I’m not doing this for fun, hun. If anything, I’m upset I can’t tell you. I want to talk about it so bad.”

“How bad could you hurt me if you told me?”

She emphatically shakes her head. “You’re broken enough. Let’s not chance making it worse.”

“Fine.” I huff before dropping my pants. “But if it’s good, you’re getting a lecture.”

She smirks. “I’ll gladly take that lecture.”