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She hoped that this would work. She didn’t know what she would do if it didn’t. Rafe had left a trail of blood behind him, and his grip on her arm had weakened with every step they’d made toward Taveon’s chambers. She didn’t know how much longer he would be able to hold ontoconsciousness.
“Bree,” he wheezed as she lowered him onto Taveon’s red satin sofa. “I appreciate what you are attempting to do, but Taveon is in no shape to heal me. If you ask him to try, he may very well end up falling further into hisunconsciousness.”
“Which is why I don’t plan on asking him to try,” she chirped, shuffling over to Taveon’s tidy desk where she found a pen and ink and a scrap of parchment. “I’m going to ask Taveon what the hell I need to do to fix you, and then I’m going to do it my damnself.”
Rafe rubbed a shaky hand down his face. “Bree, I am thankful you are trying to help me, but—oh.” Realization dawned in his eyes, and he struggled to sit up higher so that he could watch her every move. “You think that because you’re bonded to him, you will be able to use his healingpowers.”
“Bingo,” Bree said, casting a smile over her shoulder as she crossed the room to Taveon’s bed. “If he can give me immortality through the bond, then surely he can give me any other power he mighthave.”
But only silence met her ears this time. Rafe pursed his lips, and then shook his head. “I do not like this, Bree. Taveon is in a weakened state, and you have never done this before. What if it somehow harms you? I will not haveyou—”
But Bree had already begun to block out his argument. She knew there was always a risk attached to trying something new, especially in the Dark Fae realm. But Rafe was injured, so much so that his breathing had become labored. Plus…she was more than a little intrigued to see if she could do it. She’d never enjoyed her ability to transform into a deadly beast, but being able to heal someone? That was the kind of power she truly wished she couldwield.
Bree stepped up beside Taveon’s bed, and she stared down at his unconscious form. He looked so peaceful like this, like he was far away from all the horror and danger of Underworld. A part of her wished they didn’t have to rip that peace away from him. But this was no kind of life to live, not being able to move, not being able to see, not being able to do anything except exist inside your own mind. If it wasn’t for Bree, Taveon would have no contact with the outside world. He would not even know if the rest of the realm even existed anymore. And, he would have no one to talk to. He would be trapped inside his own mindforever.
Bree wasn’t about to let thathappen.
As she stared down at his handsome face, she let every wall between them drop away. In her day-to-day life, Bree forced herself to keep barriers between their minds. It was too much, knowing that Taveon could feel and hear everything that she did. It was the only way to keep some element of herself as hers and hers alone. Wall after wall dropped away, and the very essence of Taveon filled her mind. Strength, power, and a deep kindness that he kept hidden from everyone else. He wanted the Court to think he was hard and cold like his father, but he wasn’t. If anything, Taveon was the total opposite of everything King Midas had always been. Probably because Taveon had never really been Midas’s son in the firstplace.
“Bree,” Taveon said into her mind, a smile echoing through his words. Bree stared down at his face, slack and still and peaceful. His lips didn’t move an inch, but there was no mistaking the lighthearted expression he wanted to show her for her arrival into his mind. Her heart squeezed tight, and a twinge of guilt ran through her. He was probably lonely. He’d spent all these hours alone with nothing to do and no one to talk to. She needed to visit him moreoften.
“Hi, Taveon.” She reached out and placed a soft hand on his arm. His skin was cool to the touch, as if he’d been dunked in a vat of ice. “How’s it going inthere?”
Bree tried keep her voice lighthearted, not wanting to scare him, though she knew the terror he would feel when he found out why she was here to seehim.
“Oh, you know,” Taveon said with a laugh. “I guess you could say I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. Not much else for me to do. What I would give to have a conversation with anyone, even LordDagen. “
Bree smiled and squeezed his arm. She wondered if he could feel it, even if he was in this weird, coma-like state. Through their bond, she swore she felt a hand on her skin and the light caress of fingers running up and down her arm. Bree stiffened, her core going tight. What was Taveon doing? Her heart raced, pounding out a frantic beat in herchest.
“What’s wrong?” Taveon asked, and the feel of his fingers on her skin fell away. “Something has happened. You did not come here just to say hello, did you? You came here to ask something of me. You came here because something has happened toRafe.”
Taveon could sense exactly what she was feeling through the bond because she’d thrown away all the walls she kept erected between them. Now, there was nothing between them but thoughts and emotions and a million tiny memories that they’d had both together and apart. She could sense his past and his future in this moment right here all at once, and she knew he could sense the same in her. It was almost overwhelming in its intensity, and it was all she could do not throw up another wall, another barrier, another shield against the onslaught of Taveon in hermind.
“Rafe has been hurt, and we came here to get your help.” Even in her mind, Bree’s voicetrembled.
Sorrow rushed down the bond, and she could practically feel Taveon trying to push through the curse, to force himself out of his coma. He was pounding against invisible walls, trying to get out of his mind and back into the realworld.
“I cannot help him, Bree. Not like this. How badly is he hurt?” The pain in his voice matched the pain in her mind when she thought about never being able to see Taveon again, at least not awake and alert and full oflife.
“He’s bleeding pretty badly,” Bree said softly. “And I know you cannot help them, not when you’re like...this. But maybeIcan help them. Or, we can help him. Together. I’ve used your powers before. Your immortality is running through my veins. Maybe if you instructed me on how to heal him, I could use your power to close hiswound.”
Taveon fell silent, and it was almost as though he had disappeared behind his own wall. But then he came back, his emotions a whirlwind, so fierce and so tormented that she couldn’t pick out a single thought to name. They were blended together, forming a tornado that wanted to suck her up from the ground and draw her into itsmadness.
“Rafe told you what I can do.” Taveon’s voice was hard, but she knew it was not directed at Rafe. Even with their bond, and even with the openness between them, Bree knew that Taveon did not want her to know all of the secrets he kept hidden from the world. She knew that she had seen them that day they’d formed the bond between them, but he had still kept them hidden from her eversince.
“I guessed it,” she said. “Rafe did not need to tell me in order for me to put the puzzle pieces together. I’m not an idiot, Taveon. He’s come to you for healing on more than one occasion. Besides, you’ve healed me,too.”
A pause. “I assumed you thought that it was the making of our bond that healed you.” Taveon let out a heavy sigh. “But I should not have assumed anything of the sort. You have shown me time and time again not to underestimateyou.”
“Glad you’re finally figuring it out,” Bree said with a smile. “Even if it did take you going into a magical trance to get there. So, can you tell me how to healRafe?”
“I worry this will not work, Bree.” Taveon’s voice was laced with worry. “Perhaps you should go to theCouncil.”
“Does a fae on the Council have special healingpowers?”
“No,” Taveon admitted. “But Conlan or Dagen might be able to find someone whodoes.”
“We might not have time for that,” Bree said with a frown, glancing over to where Rafe had sprawled out on the sofa. Blood had begun to drip down the side of it, dribbling onto the stone floor. Rafe’s face, normally golden from the glow reflected from the light of the moon, was now as white as a sheet. His eyes were fixed on her face, but they were distant. They needed to hurry. “He’s not in good shape, Taveon. You need to tell me what to do.Now.”
