In the Land of Fae 2: Return to Ice ♔ (gxg)

7. praen

"Here."

Catori pulled a little glass vial from her leather bag. The vial was filled with a thick purple liquid that made Nyx cringe at the sight of it. The fae pulled the cork from the top of the vial and handed it to Nyx. "Drink it all."

It was several hours after the incident, and Nyx was feeling almost completely normal again. Catori wouldn't hear it, insisting that she needs to take a dozen different medicines. She had even forced the girl to take an herb bath filled with lavender, rosemary, peppermint, and other strange things Nyx did not understand. She wondered where Catori had gotten her hands on all these things.

Nyx made no move to take the vial until Catori said, "It's just elderberry. It's the last one, I promise."

Huffing, Nyx took the small vial in her hands and sniffed the substance. It smelled the way any berry would smell, but when she bravely put the vial to her lips and quickly drank the shot of elderberry, her face scrunched up at the taste.

"Good," Catori purred, taking the vial and placing the cork in it before returning it to her bag. Sitting on the edge of Nyx's bed, she pulled the duvet further up over the girl who rolled her eyes at the unnecessary but kind gesture. "It's going to be cold tonight."

Nyx turned to look at the window. Truthfully, she did feel a bit tired, but it was only because it was so late at night. Catori had also caught Nyx up on everything that went down outside the castle, which was a lot for the blonde to take in. She hadn't even seen Alastair since—she was hiding out somewhere in the castle. She was anxious to see her to both see how she was and to hear her side of everything.

Another thing on her mind was what happened to her own self. Could she have died? Why did she become so sick after healing Wintry?

Catori read her thoughts. "Nyx," she began with a sigh, looking down at the floor and situating herself so she was facing the girl more, her rainbow wings nudging her leg. "There may be a reason you became so ill after healing Wintry tonight."

"I'd figured that much," Nyx responded, twirling her thumbs and nervously waiting for Catori to explain.

Catori gave a sorry smile. "It's clear that the fae blood in you has gifted you with powers, but we must remember that those powers reside in a human vessel." She paused, thinking of how to word what she was going to say next without scaring Nyx. "Human bodies are not designed to be strong enough to hold these kinds of abilities."

Nyx's eyebrows cinched together. "So I can't use my powers?"

"You can," Catori corrected. "But there is a limit. You had healed that little girl at school this morning, Frostine. That took some energy, even if it was a smaller wound. But healing a wound like Wintry's—that took a lot of life force to be able to do. I must say I'm surprised you were even able to do it."

"So... What if I were to heal a wound even greater than that one? Would I..." she trailed.

"I don't know," Catori whispered truthfully. "Maybe after a while, your body will get stronger, but you will never be able to tap into your full abilities without hurting your own body."

"What about the battle?" Nyx questioned. "Al was practically dead, and I healed her without breaking a sweat."

"Eighteen years of bottled up powers will do that," Catori smiled. "All that saved up energy allowed that to happen."

Nyx nodded and sighed. It was not that great of a loss to learn that she could not use her powers to their full potential, for it was still a foreign thing to her. She just wondered what she would do if something like the battle were to happen again. There was no possible way she would let someone she loved die just to save her own hide.