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“Are you all right?” I ask him warily.
“Yes. Are you okay?”
His voice is low and smooth. It warms my skin, like sunlight on a chilly day.
“Yes—yes I am. Tha—” I almost say thanks to you.
He cocks his head, his eyes boring into mine.
I clear my throat. “I appreciate you helping me.”
Humor dances in his eyes. “My pleasure.”
“More like my pain,” I mutter. When he laughs, my shoulders relax. “I feel awful that you had to experience it.”
He shrugs lazily. “I’m used to it.”
“What did Ken mean—the price of your magic? Do you always feel others’ pain when you heal them?”
“It’s a balance.” His eyes bounce between mine as he studies me. “Our magic always takes as much from us as we take from it. We give as much as we receive. In my case, I quite literally assume the wounds I heal. Luckily for me, I also happen to mend quite rapidly. It’s no thing, really.”
I wonder what other abilities fae possess, and what their payments are. It reminds me of what Rainer said a while back about the cost of his life.
What is Rainer’s power?
What’s his cost?
A beat of silence passes between us, and neither of us break eye contact until Ken clears his throat.
“I’m Alessia,” I whisper.
“That’s a pretty name. A pretty name for a pretty girl.”
I’m about to burst from embarrassment and flattery. I bite my lip and glance away, just in time to see Rainer and Viv rushing our way.
“Eoin,” Rainer says as he reaches us, without taking his eyes off me.
“Rainer. It’s a pleasure to see you again. And so soon after fixing—”
“Much too soon,” Rainer says.
“How's that hand?”
Rainer scowls, narrowing his eyes at Eoin.
My gaze flits to Rainer's hand in time to catch him flexing it at his side. I had no idea he was recently wounded. I wonder what happened.
To me, Eoin says, “I suppose my introduction’s been stolen out from under me. I’m Eoin.”
“Hi,” I whisper, flustered by all the attention.
“Hi,” he repeats with a kind smile.
“You healed her,” Rainer says.
Warring emotions flit across his face, and I can’t tell if he’s annoyed or relieved.
“He did,” I say. “I’m fine.”
