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“I don’t need to ask what happened,” the woman said, sounding a bit mad. “They need to stop with these archaic punishments.” She kept mumbling as she slowly peeled my shirt up.
I groaned as the blood-soaked shirt separated from my skin.
“Is it going to scar?” Aylia asked.
“No. I’ll apply some special cream, and she’ll be healed in no time. By tomorrow morning, she’ll be better.”
“That fast?” I asked, turning my head enough to see her.
“That fast. We have some enhanced medicine here to help with the process, and something like this is nothing. You just need to be sure to apply the cream when you go to bed tonight and when you wake up in the morning, it’ll be all gone. Like it never happened.”
Right. Like it never happened. Made me wonder how many people had wounds healed as if they never happened and what exactly they did to deserve it.
“Okay, I’m going to apply this cream. It’ll feel cold and like your skin is buzzing, but that’s good. It means it’s working. Wait about half an hour to give it time to work before you leave and go back to your classes. I’ll give you this tube, and you’ll apply it again tonight before you go to bed. Sleep on your stomach.”
She gave me more directions as she began to massage the cream into my back. Exactly like she said, my skin grew colder, and it felt like there was a buzz, as if tiny little people were dancing across my skin. Once she was done and gave me the supplies I needed for tonight, she let Aylia and me have some privacy.
“How is it feeling?” Aylia asked, sitting at the edge of the bed and holding my hand.
“Numb now,” I replied truthfully.
She frowned hard as she stared at my back. I was scared to look at it and see what kind of damage had been done. Frankly, I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I had been openly whipped like that. Were these the kinds of punishments we had to worry about by staying here?
“You can’t pick fights,” Aylia said. “You can’t allow yourself to get hurt like this again.” Tears seemed to fill her words as they came out thicker.
“How is it that you’re more emotional about the situation than I am?” I asked, trying to tease her.
“I don’t like seeing people I like in pain. I want to help them, but this… I can’t help you with this. I don’t even know how to help you.”
I squeezed her hand. “You’re helping more than you think. Just being here is enough.” I sighed, having trouble admitting this. “I never felt so alone before, and you’re helping me through that.”
“I’ll always be here. I’ll try to be. But you can’t keep picking fights like that.”
“I refuse to stand back while someone bad mouths my dad.” I turned my head away, unable to look at Aylia as memories of Da came up. “He did die for me. He was supposed to escort me here, but the Fae attacked and took him away from me before we even had a chance to start. We had left Xrotte early in the morning, hoping to get a head start. Unfortunately, the Fae were there and attacked before we had a chance to enter the mountains. They killed him right in front me. I hadn’t even realized what had happened until it was too late, and he was just dead. All to protect me.” I swallowed hard. “And I had to leave his body there to rot.”
Aylia gasped, and even though I wasn’t looking at her, I could imagine her expression so easily. Aylia was such an open person. Her hazel eyes were most likely huge with the shock, her hand covering her mouth as she tried to fight with her emotions.
“I’m so sorry,” she finally said, her words sounding thick. “I didn’t know. I thought maybe Coral was blowing smoke to get a reaction out of you.”
“I haven’t really talked about the details before,” I whispered. “People only know he died while we were just beginning our journey here. He never had a chance.”
Memories of him surged up, the way he’d pat my head when he was being playful. How affectionate he got with Ma. Him trying to protect me. Him dying. Me unable to believe that he was gone.
The bed moved as Aylia drew closer and grabbed my hand, letting me grip it tightly as my body shook. I fought the emotions, needing to bury them deep down before I exploded.
“The family who brought me,” she said slowly. “They’re my adopted family.”
That got my attention and helped to distract me. “Adopted?” I finally looked at her.
She nodded. “When was I sixteen, the Fae attacked my village. Killed so many. Some of us escaped but only just barely. I lost my parents in that attack. The dragons came eventually, but it was too late. All our houses were gone, most collapsed. Dead bodies were all over, some burning. Others were alive but only just enough to scream out their agony. One man found me huddled near my house, since I was too scared to leave. He grabbed me, and we ran. He brought me back to my family.”
Aylia’s smile was broken and sad as she looked down at our hands.
“I know what it feels like to lose family to Fae,” she said. “I get it. I’d have attacked her too. Your dad did nothing wrong. He wanted to protect you. He did what he thought was right, and there’s no telling if there could have been a different solution. Maybe. Maybe not. But he kept you alive, kept you safe long enough for you to survive. He did his duty as a father. I know you aren’t here seeking the dragons. You already have yours, even if no one believes you. I do, though. I saw it when that man came to get you. I could practically feel how the two of you were connected. And when I look at you, I can’t help but think you’re meant for greater things than this academy can offer.”
Something inside of me relaxed as she talked. She genuinely understood me, understood what I had gone through. She probably understood better than I did.
“The Fae really screwed up our families,” I said.
