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Brand must’ve noticed or sensed something was off, because he dropped Gaulnir’s hand like it bit him and stood, backing away. The relief was almost instant, a flush chasing after the desolation he’d unknowingly wrought.
Only seconds passed, but it may as well have been an eternity by the time Gaulnir was healed. As always when she finished, Lunara plastered a soft smile on her face.
“Good as new,” she rasped, giving him a pat on the knee.
Gaulnir stretched, a contented groan rumbling out of him. “Such a blessing you are, m’lady. I feel right as rain again.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
Brand and Gaulnir conversed in hushed tones, but Lunara wasn’t sure what they said. Her head was swimming—a whirlpool of chaotic, muddled thoughts, her mind trying to put pieces and clues together with very little success.
It wasn’t until quiet descended and Brand took to the healing bench that she came back to a modicum of awareness. The sound of distant hammer blows matched the pound of her heart when he reached out, his fingers hovering mere inches away from her arm.
Not touching, though. He never touched her voluntarily anymore.
“Do you have a gift nearby?” he asked. “Or would you like me to…to fetch Fern?”
It might be the overwhelm, but she swore there was the slightest note of something akin to jealousy in his tone.
“It’s there,” she answered, jutting her chin towards the long table directly behind him, laden with various supplies for those who came to her. There were light foods, water, cloths and oils—whatever someone might need to feel like themselves again once their healing was complete. “Beside the strawberries.”
His brow furrowed, Brand slow to grab it for a handful of seconds, but he finally presented her with a silver flask.
Lunara didn’t look at him while she partook of Fern’s stormy offering. His proximity only amplified how wrong the taste was. How it sank in her stomach, even as it restored her to some semblance of normalcy.
“Thank you,” she murmured on a sigh, the worst of her discomfort easing. “I was dangerously close to embarrassing myself by passing out.”
Her own fault, really. It was already late afternoon. She probably should’ve partaken hours ago, but the healing had been near constant, and Lunara was loath to stop. Not when Brand was performing his task of finding the injured and leading them to her through the haze so well. When he was behaving so like himself.
“Why do I feel like you never truly embarrass yourself?”
She couldn’t help a small laugh. “I have no idea. I do it quite often, so you must be thinking of someone else.”
“No.” He leaned forward. “I don’t think I am.”
The conviction in his words rooted deep, blooming within her. Lunara was at a loss, though, unsure how to respond other than a soft smile.
Brand straightened, his jaw ticking as he glanced over her shoulder, then behind his own. “How do you feel about escaping our nursemaids for a short break? I think we both need one.”
“Nursemaids?”
“There is always someone watching me, no matter where I turn.” Brand nodded pointedly in both directions. Lunara followed the gesture and saw Magnus, Fern, and the twins on the periphery of the square, their silhouettes prowling through the swirling dust. “This morning, I wanted to—” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “A quarter hour is all I ask. Just a moment to breathe. I’m not used to never being alone, never choosing how I move, and I…”
Lunara felt his long sigh all the way to her marrow, and a quiet stillness settled over her—the universe holding its breath.
“I know exactly what you mean.” Heart pounding, she stood and cupped one hand at her mouth to direct the sound. “Magnus.”
As she knew he would, and despite the fact that she hadn’t raised her voice, Mag instantly perked up, and she waved him over.
“Are you alright?” he asked, worry in every syllable.
“Perfectly fine.” She sent her flask to the ether and gathered her hair, winding the mass into a knot on top of her head. “Brand and I are going for a walk on the beach.”
Magnus visibly relaxed, his shoulders dropping. “Oh aye, a wonderful idea. Pet loves the sand.”
“No. Brand and I. Alone.”
He recoiled. “Are you—”
