The tip of the sword licked his shoulder, traveled downward, raking through his clothes as it went. The attacker meant to do more than just skin him, and so it left its poison there. The battle ebbed and he had limped from the war without so much as a single pair of eyes to witness it. There was nothing left to give, and even less to return to. The pain shot through his veins with each heartbeat. He murmured nonsense to the sky, to Elain, where she drifted near the ceiling watching the man's life-force pool around him on the marble.
Elain's eyes flew open, and for the first time in hours she saw nothing save for the heavy darkness that pressed in on her from the sturdy walls of her bedroom in the Velaris townhouse.
A fairy lamp bloomed to life on the side table by her bed as she threw her covers back and clamored to her feet. She freed a sensible blue dress from the wardrobe and buttoned it down her back, followed by a neatly pressed white pinafore embroidered with with a wide array of wildflowers in luxurious jewel-tones.
She had just enough time to tie her hair back before she laced up a pair of brown boots over her stockings and took to the stairs, two at a time, pausing to make sure she was the only one stirring.
A delicate clinking and a dim light stone into the hallway from the kitchen.
Elain padded in softly to face Rhysand.
"You're doing dishes?"
"I like to," he said. "I didn't think it would wake you."
"It didn't," she fidgeted nervously as he considered her. "I need you to take me to the Spring Court."
"Lucien is here," he reminded her as he dried a glass cup and tucked it away in the cabinet. "Can't this wait for him? For morning?"
"It can't; for either," she replied decidedly.
"What did you see?"
"The spring court's High Lord. He isn't well. He's dying."
Rhysand lay the plate he worked on back down at once. "I can send a healer."
"He won't accept it."
"You're not a healer, though, are you?" he asked.
"I've been shown what I'm to do. Please," she begged. "Don't you owe him your life?"
Rhysand built for Elain a quickly assembled first-aid kit. The two winnowed from the street and landed in the lush green fields of the spring court. Rhys pushed the strap of the bag high up on her shoulder. "I will send a healer regardless. By the time I return for you, the others will probably know." Elain nodded and set out for the manor without looking back.
