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“From your glowflies,” Lorik said.
“Yes.”
“The shadevines,” he guessed.
“Yes,” I said. “But the people I see have usually been poisoned or have some kind of rare infection that’s taken hold. Tending to flesh wounds…I haven’t done that in a long time.”
“You tell me that now?” Lorik teased.
“You were poisoned, had an infection,andhad a difficult flesh wound,” I pointed out. “I think I did pretty damn well, considering the circumstances.”
Lorik chuckled, running his hands up my sides until they clasped my waist. He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the middle of my abdomen. Against the thin dress I’d thrown on after our lovemaking, I could hear him murmur, “You did a wonderful job, my little witch.”
His praise made me want to sink into a puddle at his feet.
“How are you feeling?” Lorik asked.
“About?”
“Much has happened today,” he commented. “Did you expect any of it?”
Veras. Aysia. The Sev—the Shade. And what had happened between us afterward. That was what he meant.
“No,” I admitted. “I don’t make it a habit to sleep with my patients.”
“You better not,” he grumbled, and I settled my hand on his warm chest, feeling so protected and safe in his lap. “You know what I mean.”
I sighed. “It’s been a long day—you’re right.”
“Are you tired?”
“Surprisingly, no.”
“Good. Me neither,” he said.
“You should rest, Lorik,” I said. “Your infection was just—”
“I’m fine, Marion,” he told me. “I told you before. I’m stronger than I look. This wound will be gone by the end of the week, if not sooner, and it’ll be like it never happened.”
And then he’ll be gone,I thought, a surprising wave of loneliness crashing down into me. There was no reason for him to stay. Now that the poison was out of his system and he’d already overcome the lingering infection, come morning, he would have no reason to be here.
“Then I’ll only see you at market days,” I couldn’t help but whisper.
Lorik’s arm tightened around my back, and he dragged his hand over my hip. “Is that what you want? Only on market days?”
Sucking in a sharp breath, I met his eyes. There was a sullenness in his tone, one that matched mine perfectly. “No, I don’t want that. Not only on market days. But I’ve never seen you in Rolara on other days. You’re like a ghost.”
“So are you,” he replied. But he didn’t tell me where he lived. He said nothing else about it. “Can I ask you something personal?”
“Do you need permission?” I teased, hiding my disappointment.
“I suppose I could ask anyway and you could just tell me to fuck off,” he murmured.
“Yes, always a possibility,” I said, the edge of my lips curling before I sobered. “Ask.”
“Aysia,” Lorik said, and I tensed slightly. “Maybe it’s not so much a question. More of…I want to know you. I want to know everything about you, and she was a large part of your life. I’ve heard things in the village, idle gossip. I want to hear it from you.”
I nodded, swallowing. I pushed off his lap and went to my counter, filling a kettle with fresh water from the tap.
