"It's the only way to truly protect her."
Lord Milori shook his head and continued to inspect the ledgers. "I will not tell the Queen that I'm advocating for your mating just to protect her fairy from the darkness. For all I know, you being her mate caused the darkness to reach her."
The argument died on his lips at that thought. She'd gone almost two centuries of being one of the happiest fairies to having the darkness try to feed on her within months of meeting her. It was a logical explanation.
Lord Milori looked up. "What, no argument?"
Shaking his head, he turned to go.
"Do you have another explanation?"
He turned and swallowed hard. "I shan't be near Her Majesty's fairies again," he replied tersely. Cool and aloof. A soldier wasn't emotional.
But Lord Milori sighed and stood. "Sleet, I feel for you. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I remember how miserable I was those three hundred years I was separated from the Queen. Find other rationale for what happened, and I will consider taking your case to the Queen again. Until it can be proven that you aren't a harm to one of her fairies, she won't grant your request."
His jaw clenched at the sour taste of truth. "We both know there is no way to prove that I won't harm her fairy. I was made to assault her females to death and cut down her males in a heartbeat. One—that's all it takes," he hissed.
Only Lord Milori didn't look afraid this time. Instead, he walked right up and held his glare. "One second to slay—One. Don't think I don't remember your birth name. But is that all you can do in one second? One moment is all it takes to fall in love and be hers forever. One second, and you'd give your life for hers. Go find other explanations for why the darkness came for her, One." Then Lord Milori turned and walked out.
And left him staring.
"Like this?" Terence took a fighting stance with an imaginary sword at the dance club the next night.
Sled snorted. "You look like a female."
Rosetta elbowed him, making him choke on his honey nectar drink.
"No, no, like this." Vidia stood from the table and pushed Terence aside to take a stance.
Sleet simply sat back and sipped on his honey nectar, as if entertained.
"No, that's not it either." Sled scooted out of the seat booth and took a form. "This is how you start a sword battle." He glanced at Sleet.
With a smile and a pat to his leg, she took a sip of a virgin martini that Sleet had ordered for her tonight. This would be highly entertaining indeed.
He walked around Sled, seeming to eye the stance from every angle. Then he stood in front of him and gave a firm flick on Sled's knee. Sled fell over.
The table erupted in laughter.
"What was that?!" Sled accepted an offered hand and stood.
"You left your leg unguarded. I cut it off and killed you." Then Sleet slid into his seat on her left, draping his arm across the back of the booth behind her.
"So show us how to do it!" Tink demanded with a grin and took Sled's place.
He sipped on his drink, pointing a finger as he held his mug. "Arm out, right foot back...more...stand up straight...shoulders back and legs closer together. There."
They all blinked.
"That? That's the magic stance? How does that give you an edge in a sword battle?"
Sleet set down his mug and shrugged. "It doesn't. It's just the proper way to stand to start a friendly sword battle. I didn't say you'll win a war."
Rosetta and Iridessa burst into giggles. "You all wasted a half hour for nothing."
His fingers absently stroked over her hair.
"How do you win a war? What does the fight stance look like?" Terence asked.
He glanced at her. "This isn't the best topic—"
"Oh, come on. Tell us how you got to be so good," Tink urged.
She cuddled up against his side and let her hair fall over her shoulder to hide placing a hand over her heart to keep away the darkness, like Sleet had taught yesterday.
"There is no stance," he said quietly. "Each swing aims to kill the next body in the way."
Silence. They all glanced at each other, as if remembering that war wasn't all glory and fame.
"So, we go to Spring and have water boat races sometimes. We might go this weekend. Would you like to come, hun?" Rosetta said, gracefully transitioning the conversation.
He looked down at her. "Shall we go?"
She nodded and let go of her chest, just in time for him to press a kiss to the top of her head.
"You two are so adorable. He's not afraid of being affectionate in public," Rosetta said and gave Sled a look.
With a smile and roll of his eyes, Sled wrapped an arm around her waist. "You know you're my princess."
A slow song came on. "Oh! Come dance." She grabbed Sleet's hand and pushed him out of the booth.
"Dewdrop, I can't dance." But he got up all the same.
"This one will be easier. Come." She pulled him onto the dance floor.
Several nights later, something didn't seem right. Lord Milori had assigned him to night watch at the royal cabin. It offered a modest view of Silvermist's home, which was the only reason for accepting the new post. The night was quiet in Winter. A glance over at the guard tower on the Spring side revealed the same in that season.
A strange chill ran through, not unlike the night the creature had attacked.
"Would you take over?" he asked the other winter guard. "I want to do a perimeter sweep to make sure."
"Is something wrong?" the soldier frowned.
"I'm not sure. Keep an eye out."
"For what?"
"Anything." Taking off, he did a wide sweep from up in the sky.
A weak scream cut through the air. The warmth in his chest flickered. Silvermist.
Flying at full speed, the window smashed as he charged through and slammed against the far wall.
There. A black silhouette stood over her bed, it's gnarled hand laying on her heart.
"Noooo!" The war cry tore out, every instinct screaming to protect her as he shot at the thing made to kill him.
The creature spun around, those hollow orange orbs for eyes glowing in the dark.
Silvermist shot upright in bed just as he barreled into the creature and tumbled to the ground.
It grabbed his neck and squeezed, its strength far greater than his own. A piercing screech caused agonizing vibrations in his head. Its lips curled back to reveal hideous fangs. It clamped onto his arm, shredding flesh and crushing bone.
Screams of pain made the creature chomp harder.
Suddenly, the creature darted back and let out a hideous hiss.
Panting through the pain and trying to comprehend what had happened, instincts took over that said to scramble upright and draw a sword.
But a blinding light brightened the house like daylight. Silvermist stood where the creature had been, her hands fisted at her sides and her back to him. The red tint to her impossibly bright glow portrayed her anger.
"Don't touch him," she ordered and took a step forward, without any sign of fear.
The creature screeched, flashing its fangs.
"Silvermist, no." He took a step to stop her.
Its head whipped to him and it moved to leap.
She was suddenly on top of it, pinning the creature to the floor as it writhed and screamed. Her glow grew so bright it was hard to see.
The stench of burning fur and cloth wafted through the house, smoke rising from every spot where her body touched the creature.
"I love him," she hissed
It screamed even worse.
She wrapped her hand around its neck, the creature somehow weak and helpless. Ignoring its snapping fangs and struggle to get free, she leaned down to it and whispered, "I love him as much as he loves me—I'd die for him." Then she set a hand over her heart and a wave of white light burst from her throughout the room.
In the next instant, a black silhouette of ashes lay on the floor under her and her light dimmed from blinding to lighting up the room.
She slowly stood and turned to him, her eyes skimming over his face to land on his arm.
He blinked in shock and slowly followed her eyes.
His arm sat at an odd angle, the flesh ripped apart and his hand already blue from lost circulation. Reason said there'd be no saving it, but the shock still didn't set in.
Silvermist stepped forward and took the mangled appendage. The pain suddenly ceased, but she didn't appear to hurt either. Then she set it over her heart and pressed her lips to his.
A strange tingling ran down from his fingertips to elbow, and it grew warmer. And warmer. And almost hot.
She finally broke the kiss with a gasp and collapsed against his chest, her glow back to normal.
His good arm wrapped around her. "Silvermist, are you alright?"
The pain returned, although not nearly as intense. A glance down. The flesh would need sutures, but the arm had color again and no longer sat at an odd angle. He wiggled his fingers.
"Spruce needs to do the rest," she said tiredly with a soft smile.
It'd been two hours. Spruce had stitched what he could of the shredded skin and bandaged it. Lord Milori and the Keeper had made Silvermist repeat the story twice. The shock made putting two coherent sentences together impossible yet.
"Or no?" Spruce set a hand on his shoulder.
He jumped. "What?"
"I think you're in a bit of mental shock—you're jumpy and can't concentrate, your muscles are very tense, and you look like you have a headache. What if we try a mild sedative..."
The words faded away upon looking at Silvermist again. She smiled and seemed like her normal self, but something had happened that even the Keeper couldn't explain. Had the creature done something to her? How had she banished or killed or whatever it was she'd done to it? Why had it been after her? Were there more coming? It suddenly grew hard to catch his breath.
The machines started beeping faster, and Spruce shot up from where he sat on a stool beside the hospital bed.
Sleet paled.
She darted over and helped Spruce lay him back against the pillows. "Sleet, it's alright. Tell me what's wrong?" she said softly and took his trembling hand.
"You should...you should have...died," he panted, breathing far too fast.
"He's having a panic attack," Spruce said and barked orders at a nurse who ran in.
"Look at me. Deep breath in." She breathed in through her nose loudly. "And out."
He struggled to copy.
Spruce injected something. "Just enough to take the edge off without making you sleepy," he explained.
A moment later, his breathing evened out and the shaking stopped.
"What's wrong?" She touched his cheek.
"What's wrong?! What's wrong?! You obliterated a creature that easily overpowers Alamur," he hissed, his breathing picking up again. "You glowed like the sun, for the love of Neverland! You healed my arm, and we aren't mated! What do you mean, 'what's wrong'?!"
"Calm down," Lord Milori ordered and stepped over. "We're working on figuring out answers. In the meantime, the biggest threat of the creature is gone."
"Are more coming?! Why did it come?! What did it want with her?!" Hearing himself sound irrational only added to the panic. He never panicked. He was always cold. Always aloof. Always in control of himself.
"Sedate him," Lord Milori ordered.
"No!"
Silvermist held out a hand to Spruce. "Let me talk to him. Drugging him will just make him panicked when he wakes up."
Spruce looked to Lord Milori, who nodded. They stepped out.
Her shoulders finally sagged. "I don't know what happened either, but I need you to not have a meltdown. I'm as freaked out as you, but that's not going to help."
For some reason, that helped calm the panic.
She climbed into bed with him.
It felt good to hold her. "What did it do to you before I came?"
"I think maybe it was making me have a nightmare again—the same one where I couldn't take the torture. I felt...cold and alone and sad, like last time. I think it was making the darkness come back."
"But why would it want the darkness in you?"
"No! You can't go! If one of the creatures find you, it'll kill you!"
It was more heartwrenching explaining the mission orders to her than expected.
"You don't even have your stitches out! What if, what if it can smell your sugar?!" Her voice rose with hysteria at her home a few nights later.
"Alright, calm down. First, it wouldn't matter because I have Bright Fairy sugar, so the creature wouldn't even be attracted to it. Second, Lord Milori is giving me some of our best soldiers. Third, we aren't going to hunt a creature, we're going to find out what other lands know of it so we can figure out what it wanted and prevent more from coming." He set his hands over hers. "It's only for three or four weeks." Leaving her possibly exposed for more creatures to come try to force the darkness in her—and with him being lands away to not even feel if her glow dimmed—was the most terrifying part of all of this.
"Why did he pick you? It's because of the kind of fairy you are, isn't it?!"
"Silver, Silver, take a breath—"
"Please," she whispered. A single tear trailed down her porcelain cheek, and she laid her head against his chest. "I watched the Queen shrivel when Lord Milori was gone with the Lost Nine. I can't do that."
It'd been a week since he'd left. The beautiful bouquet of buttercups that he'd picked himself and given at his departure had begun to wilt, like a bad omen.
Sleeping during the nights right after the creature's attack hadn't been a problem because Sleet had kept watch during his night shifts at the Queen's cabin. Despite having defeated the creature without his help, the fact that it had touched during sleep and caused the nightmares was terrifying. It'd been too frightening to be at home where the creature's ashes outline had burned into the wood floor, so he'd taken her mattress to his cabin and had started replacing her floor himself. But he didn't allow sleeping at his cabin now while gone on the mission, for fear of her wings freezing during the night without anyone around to check in.
So here she was, squeezed into bed at Tink's house. Sleet had said that no creature in its right mind would even attempt to get past the booby traps that Tink had lain out for creature breakins—even without the traps, he'd insisted that Tink's bad luck would be enough defense. And then he'd warned her to let Tink go in and out of the rigged front door first.
A hand flopped onto her face. Easing it back down on Tink's side of the bed, she rolled away. It was nice not being alone at night, but it made the homesickness to be in Sleet's arms even worse.
"Silvermist, may I have a word?"
Stopping midflight, she looked to the border on the left.
Lord Milori stood there.
So, she landed on the warm side of the rock at the border. "Yes, Lord Milori?"
"How are you faring with everything? After the attack and with Sleet being gone, I mean." He was far too perceptive.
Shifting her feet, she stared down. "I'm having trouble sleeping all of the sudden."
"I'm not surprised."
Her eyes shot up to his face.
"After an attack, especially in your own bed, there are bound to be repercussions. I expect him to send a messenger within a few more days to provide an update. I'll let you know if there's anything eventful."
"Thank you. May I ask, my lord, if the Queen is aware of the mission?"
He shook his head. "She is not. And neither is she privy to the creatures' existence. She's about half way through pregnancy, so once the princess is delivered, she'll be updated. I ask that this remain confidential until then."
She nodded.
"Oh, and Silvermist? I suspect Sleet wasn't happy that you told me how he helped divert attacks on the kingdom. I have yet to discuss it with him, but I plan to reinstate him as my captain, given this new information."
A frown pulled. "You don't want proof of what he says?"
The corner of his mouth tugged up. "If I can't trust his word after this many centuries, we have bigger problems than his military rank."
"Um, Lord Milori? Would you tell him that I had nothing to do with your final decision?"
His brow furrowed. "What spurs such a request?"
Folding her hands, she met his honey-colored eyes. "Because he so whole-heartedly believes that no one but me thinks he's capable of a selfless act. He would only think I persuaded you into it."
Those white eyebrows rose. "Hm. Agreed."
"Why, Silvermist, what's wrong, darlin'?" Rosetta stopped on her way past at work a couple days later.
Brushing at her eyes, she rose to her feet at the edge of the pond. "I just..." The sadness suddenly grew too much. "I miss him and I don't know if he's going to make it back," she wailed and sank to the ground again. "I've never been this sad, and it's making a mess," she wept and pointed to the small pond.
Rosetta blinked. "Your tears made that pond?"
"When a water fairy's tears mix with water, it can double the water if enough tears mix in. I'm going to flood Pixie Hollow!" More tears fell, and the pond spread out to cover their ankles.
"Oooookay." Rosetta blinked down at her submerged feet. "Now, sweetie, let's move away from the water." She guided over into the grass. "Alright, have you touched your heart? Tink said you can sort of feel his glow like a mated fairy."
She shook her head.
"Let's do that first." She caught her hand and held it there.
As the glow grew warmer, the tears eased.
"Good. Next, we're goin' to do something fun tonight to get your mind off of him. Cryin' ain't gonna make make him come home faster, hun." She fluffed her red curls and set a hand on her hip. "What do you want to do? Ice cream, the dance club, ice skating, or...?" She tapped her chin.
"I already ate a carton of ice cream last night," she sniffled.
Rosetta gasped as her hands flew to her cheeks. "Tink let you eat an entire carton? Without me?! Ugh, I see I need to have a talk with her again," she mumbled. "How about we go to the club and show everyone how to dance? I heard there's a new wind fairy who was born last week. She's supposed to be a really good singer, and she's performing tonight."
"Fine."
"Oh, cheer up, sweetie. I'll tell everyone that we're meeting there at six."
Sled and Terence looked uncomfortable when silent tears fell at the dance club. There were so many reminders of Sleet. "I think I need to go home."
"No, what you need is to go in the mosh pit," Rosetta smiled and got up, tugging her arm.
It was sort of funny watching Rosetta screaming the lyrics to a pop-rock song and jumping up and down with the crowd.
When the band threw out a black t-shirt with its logo and she caught it by accident, Rosetta's jaw fell open. "Bust my bonnet, you got one?! Those are so rare!"
Probably because the band had just been formed less than a week ago. "You can have it."
Rosetta screamed. "Are you sure? You should have it."
"No, that's okay," she laughed and handed over the shirt.
Another scream of excitement and Rosetta pulled it on over her short pink dress. Then she started head banging.
The perfect southern belle rocking out was too funny. She slipped away to the table to see Sled staring with wide eyes at Rosetta, who still didn't even realize she'd left. "You have to go over there. It's funny to watch."
"Um, I didn't realize she liked rock music." He still looked stunned.
Tink laughed. "I don't think anyone did."
"This is awesome! Silvermist, keep her busy. I'm gonna go get my electric guitar!" Then he shot out the door.
She blinked at Tink. "He plays rock music? Does Rosetta know?"
A snort of laughter escaped Tink. "I don't think so, but I think it's gonna make them love each other more."
Hurrying back onto the floor with Rosetta, who was screaming and jumping around with the other fans, she spun her away when Sled whispered something to one of the guitarist at the edge of the stage.
"Ya havin' fun?" Rosetta shouted over the music, still bouncing around, her perfect hairdo falling into a mess of curls that still managed to look pretty.
"A ton," she laughed and glanced over Rosetta's shoulder to see Sled climb on stage.
A complicated electric guitar solo took over.
Rosetta's eyebrows shot up. "Whoa, that guy is good!"
She spun her around.
The most piercing scream of excitement burst out of Rosetta, and she shoved through the crowd to get to the edge of the stage just as the rest of the band joined in on his lead. Rosetta danced and screamed again when Sled fell to his knees in front of her, playing a fast rift just for her.
She returned to the booth with Tink, Terence, Iridessa, and Vidia.
"Don't you think sometimes that they came from the same laugh, but somehow they ended up in the wrong seasons? Like Siamese twins but female and sparrowman?" Iridessa said.
The others laughed.
With a frown, she looked over at Sled and Rosetta. "They don't look Siamese."
Vidia slapped a hand over her own face. "Silvermist, how on earth did you end up with a captain?"
A flush rose. Something stupid must've been said again. It hadn't been apparent until now how much Sleet helped translate or explain things to her in situations like this.
Tink turned red. "Vidia, leave her alone."
"What? I'm just saying. He has to be super intelligent for his job."
Squeezing her hands together under the table didn't stop the tears of humiliation from welling up. Maybe she was too stupid for him, but he just hadn't gotten sick of it yet.
"Vidia," Iridessa scolded and reached across the table to set a hand on her arm. "She's just mad because she scares away sparrowmen the minute she opens her mouth."
Vidia crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in a pout.
Rosetta and Sled came over, both of them a bit sweaty. "Hey!" Then she frowned. "Silvermist? What's wrong?"
Tink scowled at Vidia. "She was making fun of Silvermist again."
"What? How could you? Vidia, you apologize right this minute! I would take you over my knee if I didn't think you'd bite like a rabid dog!" Rosetta demanded.
"Hey!" Vidia scowled.
"How do you like it? Stop picking on Silvermist. So she doesn't always understand what we're saying, it doesn't mean she's stupid!"
Although Rosetta meant well, there was only so much humiliation that could be withstood in one night. Getting up, she pushed past Rosetta and Sled and flew out into the night.
She sat on a rock at the edge of a pond, with her knees to her chest and a leaf around her shoulders like a blanket to hide the glow from bats. There had been bliss in ignorance before Sleet—not knowing what fitting in truly meant. There'd been contentment in simply being one of the group and it not mattering if she was called dumb. But Sleet had shown it was a language barrier, not a lack of intelligence that made her say stupid things. He was where she fit in—where the meaning of 'home' finally took form.
Such a deep sadness grew inside that there was just...nothing. Everything turned numb. And so time passed of staring into the black water, not really belonging anywhere and not knowing if this would be what every night of the next seven hundred years would be if he didn't make it home. A terrible loneliness seeped in, slowly extinguishing the warmth of his glow around his heart. For all she knew, it was his glow fading as a creature took his life.
Resting her arms over her knees, she bowed her head and wept.
"Silvermist? I was on my way to get the Queen, but I found Lord Milori first," Tink said. "She's been like this—just lying in bed and staring at the wall since yesterday morning when she came home," she said to someone.
"Alright. Let me talk to her," Lord Milori's voice answered. After the door shut, the chair beside the bed creaked. "Tell me what happened."
"His glow is gone," she whispered without turning around and continued to stare at the wall.
"Have you touched your heart to see if it comes back?"
"It's gone," she breathed. "You sent him away, and he was killed trying to make you trust him."
"I didn't send him away. He volunteered to go because he's desperate to find out why the creature was after you. Silvermist, sometimes...sometimes the darkness that is trapped in my heart grows, and I can't always feel the Queen's glow around my heart. It doesn't mean he's dead. I think we should take you to Healer Spruce to make sure the creature didn't put darkness into your heart, too." He scooped her up.
It didn't matter—none of it did, if Sleet was dead.
"Right there. It's not in her heart, but it's congregated in the sac around her heart," Spruce said and pointed to the picture that the fruit bat drew of her heart from its echolocation.
"What do we do about it? Can you get it out?" Lord Milori asked.
"I may be able to get it with just a needle, but you'll need to be sedated to slow your heartrate down so I can reach it without puncturing your heart. I don't want to leave it because Sleet had said darkness can grow and spread. I'll see what I can clear off my surgery schedule this afternoon, alright, Silvermist?"
She just turned her head away to stare out the window. Sleet's glow was gone. All that was left was cold emptiness.
"This doesn't mean he's dead," Lord Milori said, as if reading her thoughts. "His missive arrived a few minutes ago. There's something for you."
Pressing her lips together, she shook her head. A note after he was gone would be too much to bear reading.
Paper rustled.
"My dewdrop, I've never written a letter to anyone before, so you'll have to forgive me for it being short. We aren't having much luck on our mission, but neither have we run into trouble. We're scouring the lands as fast as possible, and I expect to be home within days of your receiving this. I hope you're doing alright and keeping busy. I miss you terribly. I've never felt this kind of sadness before, but one of the soldiers said it's homesickness for you. Neither have I ever dreamt this much—almost every night it's about you. I can't wait to see you. I love you, your dragon."
But he was never coming home. Tears slipped down, the emptiness too profound to fully cry.
"It's taking over her heart," Spruce said to someone outside. "I think it's floating in her pericaridum fluid and I can remove it with just a needle, but it needs to be done as soon as possible."
"What? What do you mean she has the darkness? She wasn't tortured! How did it get there?!"
That voice. A very brief flicker around her heart.
"Is she fading?! Why in Neverland did her glow disappear from my heart yesterday?!" Another curse. "I flew back here in one day from three days away because I thought she was dead! I don't care if she's been prepped for surgery, I need to be in there with her for a minute!" The hospital room door flung open to bang against the wall. A gust of wind and suddenly strong arms eased her up. "Oh my dewdrop," Sleet purred and held her close, "I'll be right here with you."
Her arms wrapped around him, but the glow didn't come back. "It's so empty and lonely," she whispered.
"I know," he said against her hair. "It's hopelessness. The creature might've put it there. I need you to think happy thoughts and focus on me, dewdrop. We need to shrink the darkness as much as possible." He let go for a moment to pull off his shirt. "I won't look," he promised, and then dropped the left shoulder of her hospital gown and pressed his chest to hers.
It was like seeing the sun again after years without it. He kept holding on. The world took on vibrant colors again. And he held on. Birds' tweets outside took the form of songs. And he held. Love burst free and the glow around her heart burned so strong again. Finally, he pulled up the hospital gown and sat back.
"It's gone." She set a hand over her chest, realizing just how much easier it was to even breathe now.
He stroked her hair from her face and cupped her cheek. "Do you feel like yourself again?"
With a smile, she flung her arms around his neck. "Stay home."
"I'm staying home, dewdrop."
Lord Milori's eyebrows rose. "It's just gone? Like that?"
Spruce studied the bat's drawing for a new echocardiogram. "I can't find it anywhere. We even did an x-ray, and I can't find a trace of it."
"Maybe you should do an ultrasound, too. To check the soft tissues that wouldn't show up on x-ray," Sleet said, standing with his feet apart and arms crossed over his chest.
"It's gone. Milori's shows up on x-ray even. Let's see if your does, Sleet." Spruce ended the scan.
Sleet shook his head. "Just get her done first."
"Seeing how yours shows up will help confirm if we need to do any other tests."
"It just vanished? Like the how the creature evaporated?" She sat up.
Spruce's eyes squinted, as if studying her. Then he looked to Sleet and then back to her.
Lord Milori stepped forward and looked from her to Sleet, too.
Sleet's jaw set as he glanced from Spruce to Lord Milori, his eyes hard like he gave a non-verbal warning.
Her heart stopped. "It didn't leave—it went into you, didn't it?"
His jaw muscles flexed. "Darkness does no harm to me."
"Yes, it does. And a creature's darkness? That could manifest in you like it did in her," Spruce said. "We need to test—"
"Can she go home now?" Sleet cut in.
"Sleet," Lord Milori said.
"Can she?" he demanded of Spruce. "Just answer the question, for the damnation of Neverland."
"Yes, but—"
The world blurred past, and she was suddenly in Tink's bed.
Tink startled from where she ate lunch at the table.
"I need you to watch that she doesn't get ill. Dewdrop, I'll be back tonight."
She caught his arm. "You're going back to the hospital aren't you?"
"You just stay here and rest. I need to talk to Lord Milori about the mission—"
"And that the creature's darkness is in you now." She pushed up onto her feet.
He held her shoulders and gently pushed down until she sat. "Silvermist, I want you to stay here until we know it won't go back into you." With a gust of wind, he was gone.
"You shouldn't do this," Tink whispered at the hospital.
"If he's not going to tell me if he's in danger, that means I have to ask you how to find out," she whispered back and spotted Lord Milori exit a room.
"Alright, I'll go distract him while you check if that's where Sleet is," Tink said in hushed tones. "Go."
She slinked past while Tink kept Lord Milori's back turned.
The room was empty. Where was Sleet?
"Silvermist."
Slowly turning, her wings lowered upon seeing Lord Milori glaring down. "I just wanted to know if he's alright."
"Sorry," Tink said from the doorway.
He looked from Tink to her. "Instead of following one of Tink's ideas, maybe you should just ask me next time." Then his arms folded across his chest and he closed the door on Tink. "An echocardiogram showed the darkness as something much more dense and larger in him. Healer Spruce thinks it's because Alamur are direct prey for creatures that it's acting much faster in him. Spruce took him into surgery a few minutes ago to see if he can extract it with a needle like he was planning to do for you."
She swallowed hard. "Did Sleet know this would happen?"
A slow nod answered.
Bitterness rose up and she met his eyes. "A selfish Alamur, isn't he?" she whispered and walked out.
An hour of pacing felt like a millennium. Lord Milori was smart enough to keep his distance, and Tink had been ordered to go home. When it melted into three hours, Lord Milori walked over. "If you wish, the nurse at the desk can go get an update."
She shook her head. Knowing if he was dying would be worse.
He took her hand and gave a soft squeeze of reassurance. Only then did it dawn that her hands were shaking.
The surgery doors finally opened, and Spruce walked out in scrubs covered in sugar. "We got it all."
She dropped into a chair in relief.
Worry clouded Spruce's eyes and he walked over and knelt. "I couldn't get it all with a needle. It had completely surrounded his heart. I had to open his chest to go in. He lost enough sugar that he needs a couple transfusions, and he's in a lot of pain. He isn't going to want me to ask this of you, but I think you have a right to decide. Do you want to give him one of the transfusions?"
With a sniffle, she nodded. "Can I help heal him at all?"
"We both think it best for you not to directly touch him for a day or two, until we check that nothing has been left behind to fester. I'm giving him a cocktail of pain medicines to keep him as comfortable as possible, but I think having you there will be the best medicine."
Sleet dwarfed the hospital bed. A large, white bandage wrapped around his chest, and he held a fistful of the sheets as he looked like he tried to not breathe, with his eye closed against the pain. The eye patch still covered one eye.
Rushing to the bed, she took his hand in her gloved one. "You're a stupid dragon for trying to do this by yourself," she whispered and pressed a kiss to his hair.
"I didn't...think he'd...chop me open," he panted and held tight.
"It spread too fast around your heart. You do not do something like this again. It would've been just a needlestick and one night in the hospital for me." She stroked the beard stubble on his cheek.
"I promised...to protect you."
"You've been hurt enough trying to protect me. I'm going to smother you with nursing you back to health, and I don't want to hear any complaints this time."
"Okay," he whispered and squeezed his eye shut against another wave of pain.
Spruce walked in the next morning. "Why do four of my nurses look haggard, Silvermist? It's only eight o'clock in the morning."
She wiped Sleet's brow again. "They aren't doing their jobs. He was up all night in pain, and they said he had everything he could take for it. It clearly isn't working, so figure out something else."
He approached and then listened to Sleet's chest with a stethoscope. "You have congestion in your chest from pneumonia trying to set in. I know it's painful, but you need to take deeper breaths to clear out your lungs."
By the third day, Sleet had lost color and some weight from the pain draining him.
She closed the door and eased down the hospital gown draped over his chest.
"No," he breathed.
"Yes. The tests revealed no more darkness, and you're starting to get a lung infection." Then she laid down to press her heart to his.
He shuffled around the room with her help that afternoon. "The dizziness is getting better," he protested, although still breathless.
"Then you can simply enjoy holding onto me. I don't care what you say, you aren't walking on your own yet."
That made him stop and look down at her with a scowl, "I suppose you're going to tell me how lucky I am to have a mate in this with me through the thick and thin?"
She grinned and turned her face up to him. "I wasn't, but it's so good of you to thank me."
A smile touched his lips. "Fly up here—it hurts too much to bend down." When she did, he gave a kiss.
A few days later, she sat in the booth on the right at the dance club. Sipping on honey nectar helped give more pain relief than the pain petals had in the hospital. The small cup that Silvermist had brought along made it not painful to lift either.
"Are you alright? You look worn out," Sled asked.
He nodded. "Had an injury at the end of the mission, and I'm just tired of hurting."
"Oh. Sorry to hear that."
Her tiny hand rested on his leg. "Do you want to go home?"
"I'm sick of being in bed. You can go dance. You don't have to sit here."
She linked her arm through his with a smile. "I'd rather be with you." Then she pointed toward the stage.
He turned his head. And felt his eyebrows rise. Sled played the electric guitar onstage, and Rosetta danced on the ground right in front of him, screaming and jumping.
Silvermist's beautiful laugh tinkled. "We found out that she secretly likes rock and he plays, so he surprised her by showing up on the stage one night. A perfect match, I guess."
With a shake of his head, he took another drink. "I'll never understand young fairies."
Vidia frowned. "Rosetta is only a few years younger than us."
Tink leaned forward. "You're older. You have that look, like Lord Milori."
Before he could respond, Silvermist frowned. "What look?"
"You know," Tink said and waved her hand. "That look that mature sparrowmen have—the more defined muscles and harder angles in the face."
Terence flushed, as if embarrassed that he still had the softer features of a young sparrowman.
"So Silvermist likes an older sparrowman. You don't get to pick your mate," Iridessa shrugged.
The thought hadn't really occurred before that perhaps age mattered to Bright Fairies. Aging didn't progress very much in fairies like it did in humans.
"It's fine, she needs someone who has a good head on his shoulders," Vidia said.
Silvermist looked humiliated.
His cup slammed down on the table. Everyone's eyes turned to him. Vidia had a way of making digs at fairies, and any aimed at Silvermist weren't going to fly. "What is that supposed to mean?"
A smile pulled at Tink's mouth. Iridessa's eyes widened almost as much as Terence's.
"Just...just that sometimes Silvermist doesn't get things..." Vidia studdered.
Grinding his teeth, it took a moment to calm the temper. "I don't see anyone else here who is bilingual, so perhaps know what you're talking about before you insult someone." Then he turned to her and said in Korean, "I'm sorry, I know you were worried about them finding out, but there's no harm in them knowing that English isn't your native language."
But she kept her head down and nodded. "I think it's time to go home," she replied in her native tongue.
He stood, holding his chest as the cut sternum rubbing against itself protested.
"Wait, are you leaving?" Tink hovered over her seat. "Why didn't you tell us that you speak another language?"
She bit her lip and said quietly in Korean, "I didn't want to be more of a fluff head."
His arm slipped around her waist, wanting nothing more than to shield her from this embarrassment. Self-consciousness made her not want to speak at all now. "She's so much more intelligent than anyone gives her credit for. We're going to call it a night."
Rosetta flew over. "Are you going? What's wrong?"
"Vidia was being a brat again. Silvermist doesn't speak English as her first language, so that's why sometimes she says things that we don't get," Tink said and flew over and hugged Silvermist. "I wish I spoke a different language."
Iridessa and Rosetta joined in. And eventually Vidia got up. "I'm sorry." She hugged too.
Silvermist looked over their shoulders with a watery smile.
He winked.
Sled stepped up behind him, and Terence slid out of the booth to stand on the other side. "Very cool, man," Terence said.
"Yeah," Sled added. The two of them knocked fists and then held them out to him.
"Why are we doing this delicate punch?"
Terence laughed. "Because it's a cooler way of giving a high five."
"I still don't understand what a high five is for." But he lightly bumped his fist against theirs all the same.