to talk to her…well, if anyone wanted to talk to her, they should leave a message at the Maidenheart Bakery. Yeah, I’ve heard of it. Supposed to be pretty popular, but it’s kind of isolated... It’s north on Route 60. Apparently she owns the place….Yeah, I know…handle with kid gloves.”
Joe tossed his cell on the floor and fell backward on the bed. His head still hurt and his stomach hadn’t seen food for a few hours, but he couldn’t shake the image of Pria curled up in the hospital bed. She’d looked angelic, with her hair spread out over the pillow. Her skin, almost translucent, with long dark lashes against her cheeks. So, how come a stepbrother showed up to take her home and not a boyfriend or a husband, he wondered. A woman like that had a man somewhere. She’d shown a lot of courage under pressure and he’d seen plenty of situations where people snapped and made things worse without meaning to. Now, it was all about damage control because she’d been wounded by a cop. Yet, the stepbrother had said everything was cool. “Cool, my ass,” he muttered, not really going for it. And, now, he was the guy assigned to smooth things with her and prevent a bunch of shit from going down in the local papers. Or a stampede of lawyers. “Great,” he muttered, unbuttoning his shirt. Still, he couldn’t help but look forward to seeing her again. He wanted answers to a lot of questions, but he really wanted to see her again. Maybe she wasn’t really as hot as he’d remembered. Or maybe she was.
As Joe stuffed his clothes into a hamper, Pria was being ushered to a bedroom in the home Miri shared with Andrieu, her stepfather, a fallen angel and healer. Although she maintained a home of her own in the Sanctum, Miri had insisted she stay with them. When they’d arrived, Andrieu had taken her into his arms, kissed her hair and led her straight downstairs from their receiving room to a small bedroom, already prepared for her.
Pria had changed into a dark purple, silk robe and sat on the bed to wait for Andrieu. Peeking around the door at her, he smiled before entering the bedroom. Miri was right behind him with a small burner and several tiny blue cones of incense. She quickly lit one and a spiral of smoke filled the air with a light scent, not unlike lily-of-the-valley.
“May I take the bandages off now, my daughter?” Andrieu asked. Ever polite and soft spoken, Andrieu sat beside her, to gently cut the white sheaves of bandage around each wrist and her bicep. “No other wounds then?”
Pria confirmed that only her wrists and bicep needed his attention. “If I could heal myself, these would already be gone,” she said, inhaling the incense, watching her stepfather’s tapered fingers move lightly over the incision-like wounds made by the wire Whitwater had used to bind her wrists. She watched as he closed his gray eyes and dropped his head. “You cut your hair,” she observed.
Although still past his shoulders and held back by a thin piece of leather, Andrieu’s dark auburn hair made him look more like a rock star than an angel or a healer. Miri was equally beautiful, but then the fallen always were.
“Just a trim,” he confirmed, blowing softly against her wrists, which he now held in his hands. As he did so, the edges of the wounds drew together, started to dry and became pinker. Eventually they would disappear completely. Pria closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. The incense was doing its job, making her sleepy, decreasing the pain from the wounds.
“Hungry?” Miri asked. “You haven’t eaten since morning.”
“Later, maybe,” Pria answered, as her stepfather turned his attention to her bicep.
“Ugly,” he stated, raising the loose sleeve of the robe. “It would be even uglier if you were human.” Andrieu’s fingertips roamed over the wound, weaving the healing grace so the wound would close and dry quickly. “You killed today.”
Pria nodded. “Not what I wished, but I did.”
“No choice,” Andrieu said in a flat voice. He moved his fingers to her chin and lifted her face. “There was no choice. It was meant, Pria. Not a random, senseless thing. You also saved a life, did you not?”
“Yeah, I did,” she affirmed.
“The life of a man who offered his own for yours.”
“Yes.”
“This was meant to be so rest easily with it. Your arm will be healed by morning but you must rest and Miri will bring you food when you wake,” Andrieu said rising.
As Andrieu left the bedroom, Miri helped Pria under the light quilt. “You want to see this detective again.” she said. “I can tell.”
“He is beautiful,” Pria said lazily, remembering the feel of Joe’s arms wrapped around her. “His eyes are the deepest brown I think I have ever seen.”
“He has the warrior heart,” Miri said in that matter-of-fact way of hers.
“I know. Are you going to remind me that I have not been with anyone for a long time?”
“No, I was going to remind you that he is human,” Miri answered.
“He is beautiful,” Pria repeated.
Miri smiled. “You mentioned that.”
“And, he is a warrior.”
“Most warriors are beautiful in their way. Our Sanctum warriors are beautiful.”
“He would have ended his life to save mine. Amazing, isn’t it?”
“Think carefully, Pria,” Miri advised. “He would have saved your life but ask yourself if what you feel is gratitude or really something more. It would not be surprising to feel something like affection for such a man after the events of this day. There is much at risk for all of us. You know, Keirc tends to rant but to love a human is a calculated risk, little one, and something that can end very tragically.”
“Miri, you are such a mother,” Pria answered, her eyes closing slowly. “He probably has a woman.”
“When your mother brought you to this world, I gave her my vow to love you and care for you if ever the day came when she could not,” Miri said, rising to pull the covers over Pria. “Rest now.”
Looking down, Miri realized that Pria was dozing. Brave, headstrong, beautiful Pria had always given her a run for her money in all ways. If Pria’s mother, Regine, were alive even she would have urged extreme caution, although she had been a true romantic at heart. This event and the detective could pose significant risks to all who called the Sanctum home. Miri resolved to watch the situation closely, as she closed the door behind her, to find Keirc waiting for her in the hall.
“Before you ask, she is sleeping and I want her to remain that way, Keirc,” she said raising her hand. “And I know what may be ahead. We can do nothing tonight. Now, tell me the hospital records have been successfully hacked and show that Pria is a normal human.”
“Of course,” Keirc answered. “The records show that she is pure human and nothing more. Actually, there was not much there, to alter or not. She was given cursory treatment. No blood was taken from her and she was given only antibiotics, a tetanus shot and her wounds were dressed.”
“She said she was unconscious for a time. Why?” Miri asked.
“Unfortunately, she was given a small amount of pain medication, which could have caused her more damage than being shot. They had trouble getting a blood pressure, but they attributed that to shock,” Keirc explained. “Besides,
