Sera was arranging flowers in the vase on the corner table when she suddenly felt confusion. It wasn’t her feeling, it belonged to Matt who up until then had been unconscious. Excited that he was finally waking, she hurried over to him and gently sat on the edge of the bed. He was still a little pale. She placed a soft hand on his cheek, reading his overall health. Everything was fine; with some food and fresh air, she was sure he would be back to normal health quickly.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, then blinked a few times before looking up at her. She smiled. His eyes were a light blue, and beautiful, as she had known they would be. “It’s all right now,” she told him, feeling his increased confusion.
He took a deep breath, licked his lips, and swallowed before whispering hoarsely, “Why...” He cleared his throat. “Why am I here?”
“I'm taking care of you.”
“This isn’t the Plain of Darkness. I’m supposed to be in hell.”
She smiled, thankful that he wasn’t. “You’re not dead.”
He frowned. “But… you… you’re an angel.”
She had been told plenty of times that she looked like an angel, but no one had ever mistaken her for one before. Her smile widened, and she bit her lip for a moment to keep from laughing. “No, I’m not. I’m Tess’s cousin, Sera, and I’m just a healing cleric.”
He sighed and rubbed his face. “Where am I?”
“The temple of Aryst in Port Vallyn. You’ve been unconscious for almost three weeks.”
He closed his eyes, and after a moment, she felt his worry. “Tess,” he said quietly. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” Sera reassured him, and instantly felt his relief at the news. “She’s alive and well, thanks to you.”
He looked at her again. “Where is she?”
“She went home. Back to Brunya City,” she told him. His feeling of disappointment made her worry. She still wasn’t sure what he felt about Tess. He had saved her life. Ayden thought Matt was in love with her, but was he? Sera couldn’t help feeling a twinge of jealousy at the thought—something she had never felt before.
“And Ayden?” he asked.
“He’s home too,” she answered. “He and Tess are together now.”
“Good.” He said it almost immediately, and the feelings behind it were sincere. He didn’t love her. He cared, that much was very obvious, but he wanted her to be with Ayden.
Sera smiled happily. “I have a message from her.”
“What?”
“She says thanks, and that you don’t have to be the bad guy, that you’re not anymore. She also said that you do choose your destiny… that you did.”
Matt scoffed, his feelings taking a bitter turn. “She’s so naive,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Like one good deed—no, not even that. All I did was save her from something I got her into—and she thinks that makes me a good guy all of a sudden?” He laughed harshly.
“You are what you choose to be,” she said softly. “If you decide you want to be a good guy now, then you are.”
“Doesn’t work that way,” he grumbled.
She held in a sigh. She wouldn’t argue. It would take him time to deal with everything, to realize that he did have a choice now. He was no longer under Malluk’s influence, so he could really be his own man now. “I want to thank you, as well,” she told him sincerely. “I can’t imagine a world without Tess in it.”
He rolled his eyes again. “I was the one who was going to kill her in the first place.”
“Regardless of how she got there or why you did it, you risked your life for her.” He was going to argue more, but he realized he didn’t know that his mark was now missing. “Saving her was a very selfless, heroic thing to do, and the proof of it’s on your wrist.”
He lifted his right arm and stared at the spot where his hellhound birthmark, Malluk’s symbol, had been. He frowned deeply. “How’s that possible?” he asked quietly, disbelievingly.
“By doing something that was completely good,” she was happy to tell him. “By showing mercy and compassion.”
He was quiet for a bit while he continued to examine his wrist. She could feel his resistance to the idea, but then his emotions turned tender—he really did care about Tess, and knowing now that it wasn’t in a romantic way, the thought made Sera happy. Then his feelings changed again; now they were slightly angry and disgusted. “You went against everything Malluk stands for,” she added. You’re not His anymore, she thought, but didn’t say it out loud.
Still, her words annoyed him and he dropped his arm. “Doesn’t change who I am.”
She wondered whether she should leave it alone for now, or push. People stopped listening for the most part when they got too upset. Sometimes pushing moved them in the wrong direction, but she decided to push a little more. “Who you were before can never be changed, but who you are today and tomorrow? That’s for you to decide.”
He rolled his eyes. “You don’t know me. And I have no intention of changing.”
Whether he chose to change or not would be a decision he would make later. She’d leave that one alone for now. “I know more than you think,” she told him. “And yes, I know what happened between you and my cousin.”
He rubbed his face again, his anger growing. “You still know nothing. Tess knows nothing.”
She put a hand on his shoulder, hoping to soothe him a bit, but it had the opposite effect. He shrugged her off and snapped at her, “Stop touching me!”
She held in another sigh. “Sorry, it’s a healer’s habit,” she said, taking her hand away slowly. “I do it without thinking,” she added apologetically.
He glared at her, then softened, his emotions shifting to guilt and shame. He frowned and sighed. “You shouldn’t be touching someone like me.” She knew he hadn’t meant to say it, but it was the truth of what he was feeling. But a moment later, he was angry again. His look turned menacing as he met her gaze. “You don’t know what I do to girls like you,” he told her nastily.
She could have laughed at his attempt to scare her. It was probably a ridiculous response to his fierce tone, but she thought he was adorable. She kept herself from smiling and instead went for disapproving. “Oh, shush,” she demanded gently. Standing up, she took his hand and tugged, urging him to get up, but he didn’t move. “It’s a beautiful day, and you’re almost fully recovered. All you need now is fresh air, sunshine, and lunch at a cute little place down the street that has outdoor seating.”
He scowled more and stayed firmly where he was.
“Come on,” she said, using a sweet, coaxing voice now, then teased, “You can even bring your mean face and scare off the people walking by.”
She felt his amusement. He tried not to smile, but didn’t quite manage.
“What do you know, he smiles,” she said, smiling herself.
Finally, he sighed and sat up. He was about to get out of bed, but then he thought of something and frowned again. After a moment, he ran a hand through his hair and muttered, “I don’t want to go out there yet. I’m too well-known here.”
She hadn’t thought of that. Of course Malluk’s people wouldn’t be happy with him, and he wasn’t in any condition yet to deal with any of that. The thought of him having to deal with it at all worried her. But she pushed it away for now and kept her voice light. “Okay. Well, we already have an open window; I’ll just bring some food up, and we can eat in here.”
As soon as she was out of the room, she leaned back against the closed door and sighed. All she could think of was how wonderful he was. His captivating eyes, his throaty voice, the way he ran his strong hands through his hair, and his perfectly full lips. She sighed again as she imagined kissing them.
Practically bursting with feelings she couldn’t show yet, she hurried down to the temple kitchen to make him some lunch, and did her best not to smile too much.
