The Song of Blood and Bone

Chapter Eleven

Every day seemed slower than the day before as Aliyah impatiently waits for Hayden to return. But while Hayden was out Aliyah had her own mission. Lynce gave Aliyah her first task, which was to kill a man causing problems in the kingdom. So she sat there crouched on the balcony of an abandoned building looking through the window of the one across from it. The man was vile, Aliyah’s learned from watching him the past week. He brought several different women to his room a night. And when they were there none of his guards were present.

So Aliyah crouched there and waited for him to return. She had spotted him at the Tavern scouting for women and decided to post here with her bow and quiver.

Finally when she thought he’d never show he light a candle in the room and opened the window. Just like he did every other night. A woman followed in tow. Aliyah knocked the arrow and pulled back the string. She let the arrow fly and it hit her mark. The woman let out a scream but Aliyah threw the quiver over her shoulder. But to her surprise a man stood in the doorway of the balcony.

Fearing being captured Aliyah turned and jumped off the balcony. She immediately heard her leg snap. Biting back a scream she got up and ran pushing the pain away. Behind her people were shouting. Eventually the shouting faded behind her and she threw her bow and quiver to the side then ducked into a tavern. She pulled off her hood and went to a back table the grabbed an abandoned plate of food and a cup of ale.

Everyone was to drunk to notice her doing so so she sat taking the weight off of her leg. Her vision began to blur just as men burst through the door. Aliyah looked at the men with a c****d brow just as everyone else did.

“Do these belong to anyone?” They held up the bow and quiver but most just turned away so Aliyah did too.

After a few long minutes of the men looking for something suspicious the left the tavern and Aliyah cursed herself. She got up and used everything in her way to lean against until there was nothing left.

It was a long trip back to her rooms but eventually Aliyah made it. Before she could even close the door she collapsed on the floor. Hazel crouched next to Aliyah and rubbed her back. Aliyah opened her eyes but didn’t dare to move a muscle. Her cheek pressed up against the floor.

“What are you doing?” Her mom asked.

“I.. I’m laying.. laying here.”

“No, what are you doing to me?”

“I- I left you.” Aliyah’s body began to shake and she threw up again. The pain pulsating through her body. “I left you and- and I don’t regret.. I don’t regret it.” Her words began to slur.

Hayden rubbed Aliyah’s head gently. Her leg was beyond his power to heal. The bone cut through skin several muscles.

Lynce stride in through the infirmary door and looked at the scene with curiosity. Hayden turned towards the king and bowed his head.

“Your highness, I can heal little by little every half hour, still it wont heal it completely. The rest will have to heal in its own. I cannot heal bone. After the muscle around is healed I’ll split it. It will be a few months before it completely heals.”

“Do you care for her?” Lynce asked with a sort of sadness.

“No, your highness, but I am a healer. Its a healers job to nurture. I was a healer for nearly a hundred years. Its only my first nature.”

Lynce sat in a chair next to Hayden. “I loved a woman once so long ago, but she chose another. And I grew mad with hate, I took this kingdom, but for the life of me I don’t know..” Lynce trailed off but shook his head. “I can see the way you look at her. Just don’t get her pregnant, it’ll be bad for everyone.” Lynce got up and walked away.

Pregnant. Hayden started to panic they hadn’t used a tonic after the had s*x. It was possible she could be, but it’d be too soon to tell. His heart beat rapidly in his chest with terror. It was unlikely, but possible. He ran a hand through his hair and looked towards the shelf of medical supplies. It was doubtful that she was, fae had a hard time conceiving considering their cycle happened once a year, but Aliyah hasn’t had her fae abilities until just recently which scared Hayden the most.

“Well you look like hell.” Aliyah croaked from beside him. He turned to look at her but her eyes were closed again. She put her hand out to grab his so he took it.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I have been trampled by a million horses. My head is pounding.” Aliyah chuckled but quickly stopped. Hayden didn’t like seeing her in pain and truth be told he went crazy. All the other healers got their head bitten off if they tried to touch her. Eventually they figured things out and left them alone, he was a very good healer after all.

“Well some good came out of this,” Hayden said waving his hand towards her current state. “Lynce has decided that you’ve proved yourself loyal. The guards will be removed from your room.”

Aliyah smiled lightly, Hayden chalked it up as her feeling successful. “So where do we go from here?”

“You’ll meet the queen. She tends to the gardens at night. Normally Lynce keeps her chained to his hip but he allows her in the gardens at night.”

“Why hasn’t she run?”

“The walls in the garden are to high for her to climb and there is no other way out other than through the castle, but there are to many guards. Besides where would she go?”

“Why did he keep her alive and kill the king?”

“I honestly have no idea, there are whispers that he was jealous of his brothers prosperity. There’s no way to know for certain why he kept her alive.” Aliyah nodded and Hayden felt bad, it couldn’t be easy learning that her true family has suffered while she was oblivious to the truth. Even though she had just learned about their existence it couldn’t have been easy.

Hayden grabbed the things to splint Aliyah’s leg and got to work. They were there in silence for awhile thinking of the next steps. With so many things going on Hayden feared for their future. Deep down he knew it was selfish to want to hide away with her, but it didn’t stop the thoughts. She is his mate and the thought of the dangerous things ahead of them terrified him. It seemed like he became terrified a lot easier these days, before he had her he didn’t fear the future. Outside the bell tower chimed noon.

“Its only midnight?” Aliyah asked with confusion.

“Aliyah, you’ve been asleep two full days. Its the middle of the day.” Her brows furrowed and he could tell she was beating herself up. Everyone he knew has been in her shoes at some point in time. “Don’t feel guilty, it is not your fault. I should have been here for you, made sure the building was secure.”

“See the problem is the building was secure Hayden. I went over every inch of it and I sat above the only entrance and exit. I think I was set up Hayden.”

“They could’ve gone through a window, there are several points of entry.” Hayden shook his head. He refused to believe that someone wanted her dead. Unless that someone was Lynce and he was testing her.

“No Hayden, I feel it in my bones. I know I was set up.” It was possible, it seemed likely that Lynce would do such a thing.

“You should get some rest. These are walkers they’ll help keep you off of the foot.” Hayden set them on the chair next to her. He was about to get up when the question dawned on him. “When was your last cycle?”

“A week before I met you. Why?”

“How long until your next one?”

Aliyah’s face went pale and she sat up and Hayden felt sick. “It should have been almost two weeks ago.”

“We’ll take you to a woman healer outside of town as soon as you’re able to travel. It’s possible your body is now going off of your Fae abilities. Fae only get their cycle once a year because they’re body stops maturing at 18. Yours stopped as soon as you received your hearing, reflexes, all of those good things. I’m hoping its just that.” Hayden rambled trying to get his thoughts straight.

“We shouldn’t tell anyone. Not even Avyil or Lith. Not until things are certain.”

“I.. it is simply a matter of who we trust. I trust Avyil and Lith.” Hayden exclaimed looking somewhat dumbstruck.

“But I do not. I have not known them long and it is my body Hayden. I can only hope that you’ll respect that.” Hayden bared down his teeth but nodded.

“I’m going to make a plan for tonight.” Hayden sighed and brought her hand to his forehead. “Be careful, while I am gone please. If you’re with child I-“ Hayden cut himself off.

Without a seconds hesitation he pit her hand back on the bed and left. He couldn’t help but to feel suffocated. In a room as big as the infirmary it seemed almost ironic to feel suffocated and yet he had.

A little ways down the long hall were two men taking down a painting. The painting was one of the king and queen, they’re love struck smile and heart warming eyes made Hayden’s heart ache. Over the years he grew fond of the king and queen, but he failed to protect them both. In its place a tapestry of a tree was being hung. The tree in the tapestry was the legendary tree of life. Some legends said that the tree would bring anyone back from near death, but never back from the dead. Hayden searched for a long time after his wife died and he still had several leads when he decided it was a foolish crusade.

Though it was difficult to find anything in the big castle Hayden knew where most of everything was. Just in front of him is the giant oak doors that lead to an exquisite library. It seems odd that a man of Hayden’s nature would enjoy books, but the ability to escape in them outweighed the want for much else. He through the door open and took a deep breath, smelling the wonderful smell of the old books. Quickly he found his favorite book in a section hidden in the far left corner. It seemed untouched since he had bern there, judging from the dust starting to collect.

The book is certainly an interesting one. The tales of a traveling healer, believed to make miracles happen. Though the healer is struck with tragedy and unfortunately killed by the townspeople. It may seem like a sad book at first sight, but in between the lines is a story of a healer against the world to give families more time on the precious hour glass. Perhaps Hayden grew so fond of the book because of his obsession with healing and family. Hayden never truly had a family so it seemed nice to pretend the families in the story were his.

He read over the pages with bliss trying to escape his reality, but he could not. His mind wandered back to the possibility of a family with Aliyah. Though the timing inconvenient he could help but feel excited. It also gave him such sadness to know the horrible secret he kept from her. He had to tell her, but first he needed to know if she was with child.