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Chapter 18
Bree
Bree watchedEurig slowly transform back into his fae form. His limbs twisted, his bones cracked, and his face twisted into brutal agony. Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched the hair on his arms slowly slide into his skin as if they were knives being sheathed. Was this what she looked like? Is this what her body did when she made her own transformation? Bree had never watched her own shift. She wouldn’t be able to. In her head, she had tried to imagine what it looked like, but her imagination had not conjured anything as quite as violent and gruesome asthis.
After several long moments where Bree felt as though she wanted nothing more than to reach out and place a hand on Eurig’s shuddering shoulder, he was finally back as himself, one fist braced on the dirt as his body curled over it. Despite herself, Bree couldn’t help but gaze at him. His muscles trembled and his skin was slick with sweat. As he stared down at the ground, his back was turned toward her. Red marks crisscrossed down the entire length of him. Wounds. No, scars. Ones that looked both old and ancient as well asnew.
Slowly, Eurig lifted his eyes to meet her gaze. His voice was rough when he spoke. “I suppose you’re wondering what these are all about.” He jerked his thumb behind him, clearly referencing the multitude of scars on his back. “I had not meant for you to see them, at least not for a while. They are not something I’m proudof.”
Bree lowered herself to the ground, her knees now digging into the dirt, just like his. “Why would you be ashamed of them? We all have scars. Some are just more obvious thanothers.”
“Because they are a constant reminder of the weakest parts of me and what I was unable to do to save myfamily.”
Bree lifted an eyebrow, and her breath stilled in her lungs. “What happened, Eurig? Who gave you thesescars?”
Eurig let out a long, hollow sigh, one that shuddered through his entire body. “It is such a long story. I do not want to boreyou.”
She grasped his hand in hers and squeezed tight. “Stop it. You will not bore me. I want to know what happened toyou.”
“Fine.” His jaw rippled as he clenched his teeth together. “If you truly wish to know, then I will tell you. But let me tend to your wounds while Ido.”
Bree felt that Eurig was the one who needed to be tended to, not her. While she had a few cuts and gashes sprinkled across her skin, it was nothing compared to the deep gouge in Eurig’s leg. Her bond with Taveon would ensure she healed. Eventually. Eurig? He didn’t have that luxury. But despite her protestations, he insisted on looking at her woundsfirst.
Eurig grabbed a rough blanket from their rucksack and draped it around Bree’s legs as he settled in behind her. As he moved, her eyes flicked across every inch of his exposed skin. He didn’t seem the least bit self-conscious, even though he was fully naked before her. Her own cheeks were flushed from the heat of her embarrassment. She wasn’t wearing a damn thing either. Not that he seemed to notice, a fact that disappointed Bree far more than she would haveexpected.
His strong, rough fingers trailed across her back, and she shivered underneath his touch. He gathered her hair in his hand and gently brushed it away from her skin so that it dropped over her shoulder and spilled across her chest. Her entire body trembled, and she could not stop her heart from thundering like the hooves of a frantic horse. A part of her yearned to twist her head to look over her shoulder at Eurig, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it, not trusting how she would react if their faces came so close to one another. So, instead, she merely swallowed hard and kept her eyes focused on the dirt-packed ground beneathher.
“The cut here is quite deep,” Eurig said softly as he gently poked a finger at her wound. Pain shot through her back, and Bree winced. “I’m sorry. I did not intend to hurtyou.”
“You’re not the one who hurt me, Eurig. You’re the one who saved me. Again.” Bree sucked a deep breath into her lungs and winced when Eurig’s hand traveled south toward another one of her cuts. “I thought I was improving with the whole fighting thing, but if this has shown me anything, it’s that I have way more training to do if I want to be useful toTaveon.”
“I daresay that Taveon would not agree. It seems that he understands what you are worth, even if you donot.”
Bree’s heart warmed, as well as her cheeks. She hated that the outposter had this kind of effect on her, but there was no stopping it at this point. She may have distrusted him when they’d first set out on this mission, and she certainly hadn’t liked him, but a lot had changed in only a couple of day’s time. Now, she couldn’t help but yearn to know him. Toreallyknowhim.
“Speaking of knowing your worth, I think we had an agreement. I let you check out my wounds, and you promised to tell me about yourscars.”
Eurig’s hand stilled on her back, and she heard a sharp intake of breath. “Very well. We did have an agreement. Where would you like me tobegin?”
“At thebeginning.”
Eurig let out a harsh chuckle. “If I started at the very beginning, we would be here all night and all day and for many nights and days farafter.”
Bree wouldn’t say it aloud, but that didn’t sound like a terrible proposition to her, not with his strong and warm hands on herback.
“I will start with our previous ruler. King Clarke. He ruled the outposts for many centuries. He was very loved, but he was not feared. In fact, he was so loved that many believed the outposters would never see another ruler, not for many, many long centuries. Unfortunately, being loved wasn’t enough. One of our kind rose up against him and killed him while he sat on histhrone.”
Bree gasped. Not because she found it difficult to believe but because she could have so easily guessed that was where Eurig’s story was headed. This realm, as beautiful as it could be, was full of so muchdeath.
“Her name was Queen Freya. She was the King’s wife, but she had never been able to give him an heir. His death meant that she took his place on the throne, despite the hate and anger all of the outposters felt toward her because of what she’ddone.”
As Eurig told his story, he spread something soft and cool across Bree’s wounds. A strange new sensation of warmth shot through her core, but this time, it was different. It had nothing to do with Eurig’s touch and everything to do with whatever magic he was rubbing into her skin. This salve was healingher.
“But even though King Clarke had no legitimate heirs, he had at least a dozen bastards.” Eurig’s voice went hard and rough, reminding Bree of the look in his eye when he often stared at the horizon, his mind somewhere far away and in the past. “I was one of these bastards. I mean, Iam.Not was. I will always be his son, and the new queen knew that. And I was his eldest. She worried that the outposters would want me to become the ruler instead of her. She killed the other bastards, and then she took me prisoner. She would have killed me, too, but Taveon convinced his father to make the new queen to deal. And so she set mefree.”
Bree’s heart roared in her ears, and she twisted to face Eurig, catching the crumpled expression on his face. “That is why you are so loyal toTaveon.”
Eurig gave a quick shake of his head. “That is part of it, but that is not all of it. You wanted to know how I got my scars. This is how. While the Queen kept me prisoner, she made sure to remind me of exactly where I stood in the grand scheme of things. So, she had me tortured. I was nothing. Nothing but an ant she could stomp out whatever she wanted. Truth be told, I stillam.”
