Page 68 of To Tame An Angel

I shook my head at listening to him. “Father? Father is here?”

He nodded. “Oh, yes. He’s spent each night right here in case you woke.”

A breath caught at my throat, and I looked around. It was so much to process that I felt afloat and needed grounding. I sat up with a groan. “Help me up. I need to see Tannor.”

“You need to rest –”

But I cut him with a look. “I need to see him. I need to make sure he’s alright.”

He held my arm but gave me a slightly hurt look. I took his hand and wobbled when I stood. He helped me steady, placing his hands on my shoulders. I stared up at him, taking in his face, trying to change the visions I had of him as a child to the grown man before me.

“I-I don’t know you, Allon. So much has happened, I just need –”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Something you’re familiar with.”

It was strange that without knowing much about me he keenly understood what I implied. We stared at one another, and I studied the person I’d been born with. My fingers dug into his forearms and his wings shuddered, as if in happiness.

“I know it’s a lot right now. But the good thing is that you’re safe. And we’re safe and able to spend as long as we’d like in order to know one another. To make up for all the years,” he said with great sincerity.

His words and voice were so soothing that on impulse, I threw my arms around him. He gripped me tightly. The moment I was in his arms it felt like this dormant connection, once severed, was sewn up. The threads linking us brightening and delighting in their union.

Outside of the small hut where I’d healed was a moderate sized village. Allon held my hand as he showed me outside, pointing to various buildings and explaining what they were. It was a small colony of men and women living harmoniously. Many, I was surprised to learn, had run away when they’d fallen in love during a taming. Others were men who lived together after running away from the pits. Children ran around, little boys with their wings spread open, and little girls laughing, flicking their magic haphazardly. I awed at the spectacle, at how normal everything was.

An old woman, with long braided white hair and dark skin, walked to us, using a cane which she heavily depended on. She smiled and the creases of her wrinkled skin made her eyes get lost in her face.

“She woke, I told you she would wake,” she said and stopped before me, looking me over and inspecting me. “She’s got ancient strength in her.”

“Nalla, this is Lady Mayora, our leader,” Allon said and I nodded at the woman.

“Thank you for taking us in,” I managed. “I want to see Tannor. I want to be with him while he heals.”

The woman nodded and started to walk towards another hut. “Of course you do. I was much the same when I arrived here with my own wounded angel. He’s passed now, but I recall how desperate young love is.”

I stared at the back of her white head. “You were also one of us?”

She paused and turned to me, her withered jaw shaking. “I was the Queen’s Mistress of Secrets. The position no longer exists after the mess I left behind. But even with my high rank, falling in love with the Queen’s new pet was more than just frowned upon. It was right down treason, and so we escaped. He barely made it out. Just like your young man, he was tortured. But we made it and lived a delightful forty years of freedom. My own granddaughter is engaged to your handsome twin brother.”

I turned to Allon who seemed a little red in the face. He gave me a lopsided grin. “Like I said, we have much to get caught up on.”

“Come, come, youth is desperation personified,” Lady Mayora said and waved us into the tent.

I rushed ahead, desperate to see Tannor. I found a clean, cool room, which held a bed in the center. A few medics worked inside, both men and women. They paused when I entered and turned to stare at me. I didn’t care for any of them. My eyes were on Tannor who looked pale under the sheets and was covered in bruises and bandages. When I stood next to him, seeing him so frail and broken, I wanted to cry but I willed myself to be strong. His hands were bandaged, and I held on to his wrist, hoping he could feel me.

“Let’s give them some time, yes?” Lady Mayora waved her cane around and the rest moved out. I leaned over Tannor, studying his face, which admittedly looked better than I’d seen it last.

“He’s very strong,” Lady Mayora said in a low tone. “I worked on him myself when they first brought you. He was at the brink, dear. Very close. But he has a strong heart, and I was able to stabilize him.”

I looked up at her. “With magic?”

She gave me a knowing smile as I combed Tannor’s hair from his face.

“They never really tell us all that our magic can do. They want us to think it can only be used for control and pain. But that is not the case. Most of it lives dormant within each of us. It can save those who need saving and it can heal.”

I studied Tannor. Many of his cuts and burns were completely closed and healing nicely. Even his wings were bandaged and devoid of blood.

“Do you think he can hear me?” I asked her, pressing a kiss to Tannor’s cheek.

She nodded, giving me another smile. “Yes. Stay with him, it’ll help him.”