They were going to make him heal naturally.

It was a very Mundane way to heal. With the Nobles, they either had someone in the family with a heal spell, or they could pay for the service from a Clinic. The Mundane on the other hand, they had to spend All on other things like food, clothing, or housing. With how little they could earn, there wasn’t left over for luxuries like a Noble Healer when a Mundane one was expensive enough.

I assumed Whisper thought it would be a good way to deter any of the rest of us from trying anything like that.

We were kept locked in the bunk for three days. That was three days with Gesai and Justia both hating themselves for having the magic to heal Jord, but not being able to use it. Three days of Ren staring at him while unable to do anything at all. And three days were Rix never left her bed. I’m not even sure if she ate or not. She just sat on her bed and stared out towards the Warehouse, which we couldn’t see because there were no windows in the bunk.

Oz was still in shock. Her usually confident demeanor shaken by a raw display of just how helpless and at their mercy we were.

It had been one thing to watch Sipher attack us. Nothing had fazed him, but he had been a nameless threat coming towards us. We’d fought back and lost, but all we’d really lost was our freedom. So far, we hadn’t been too mistreated. So while it was disorienting, we all had hope that it would be over in a few months and then it would all just be a bad memory.

When Yhan had broken out, that hope had gone from weeks away to right now. And when Whisper had killed him, he’d not just killed that hope, but also tainted any hope in the future. Now to even think about leaving had the memory of the execution as well as the broken body of one of our own tied to it. As well as the wonder of who might have to pay the price next time.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

I knew that Rix and I were the only two who knew what had really happened. I had no doubt that the redhead had worked something out so that however they’d gotten out would seem like an accident or sheer luck. That there wouldn’t be any further examples made, but I could see her going through everything in her head, replaying the angles about what she could have done differently.

Personally, I didn’t know what to do. Nothing I felt comfortable saying in front of everyone was able to reach Rix, and I wasn’t going to out her in front of everyone. I had a feeling Oz would have found an outlet for everything she was feeling and I couldn’t afford for a fight between the two of them in such a small space even if Gesai could break it up.

So I sat on my bed and tried not to let my mind wander too much. After that first night, Ren and Oz had been sharing a bed at night, so I didn’t have to worry about the feelings of guilt getting any worse. I knew that it had been nothing more than a platonic moment of comfort, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to confess. I started playing out the situation and while I couldn’t imagine spending a vulnerable moment like that with Gesai, or even Rix, I found myself not able to imagine feeling guilty if it had been Justia or Ren that had been the one to seek the security instead.

Maybe it was because I knew nothing more would ever happen with Justia and I wasn’t sure why Ren felt safe, until I made the realization of why I felt guilty about Oz. It was because there was a part of me that wanted something to happen.

I knew that it was something I wouldn’t be able to act on until after I talked to Ether. It didn’t matter if I was here with Oz, I would easily choose Ether even if I had to wait a year.

I pushed the thoughts down. It was something to talk about once we were out of this situation.