The Healer and the General

Part 16

When Demi came to, only a few minutes had passed. Groaning, she managed to sit up. All around her was forest, she could hear the river, but it was far away. Meaning that Demi had run very far. Again memories flooded her. And before she knew it, Demi was bent over throwing up everything she'd eaten the last few days.

Demi had always hated throwing up because it felt terrible and left a horrible taste in her mouth that no amount of water could wash away. It reminded her of the kids. Shit. She had left them alone. When she was done, Demi leaned her head against a tree. The twins had known how she'd react, or maybe it was Eric that had known. He did usually have a sense for her emotions.

"Demi," She perked up, but relaxed when she saw that it was just Eric. "You shouldn't have seen that." His wording, damn his wording.

"I shouldn't have seen it?" Demi yelled. "You don't get to decide that. I do." She was tired of it. Being told what to do. If she was truly free then he couldn't dictate that. "And what would you have done to help the poor man? Hmmm? Who would've tended to his back and made sure he got no infection?" That was the second thing bothering her. Eric would've forgone the man's health just so she wouldn't know.

"I'm an adult, I can decide what I can and can't do, what I can and can't take." It was true. Demi was going to be turning nineteen soon, in a month actually. She stood up.

"Well, you clearly couldn't take that." Eric retorted. No, she couldn't take it, but if she'd been told she could have prepared. "Look," He sighed and ran a hand through his already tousled hair. "I'm sorry. But I've seen the scars on your back, or at least the top of them," He had? Of course, he had. It wasn't exactly something Demi had gone above and beyond to hide, but that was still something personal.

"I knew what would happen if you saw that. You already wake up every night from nightmares." Demi's head whipped up. How did he know that? She'd make sure to question him later about that, but for now, she needed to tend to the sick, and the wounded man. She quickly put her hair up.

"Bring him into my tent please," Was all Demi said before walking off. 

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Shit.

The word kept pace with Eric's pounding heart. He knew he'd messed up with- with everything. His wording, mentioning her scars and nightmares. Eric knew that underneath her calm composure, Demi was fuming. He knew she was angry mostly because Demi had put her hair up. Whenever she did that she was either getting ready for a fight or to help a patient.

Eric was pretty sure that she didn't even know how far she ran. Neither did Eric, but it had taken him ten minutes to catch up to her. Which was another indicator of her anger. He was quite surprised by her speed.

The male, Durere, didn't really deserve a whipping, in Eric's opinion. He was caught stealing from the winter rations, nobody knew why, but Eric guessed that it was for his pregnant mate. But the law is the law. Someday, after his father was dead, he'd be able to change it, but not now. Now, he needed to focus on his mate, who seemed to have not noticed the giant gash on her forehead.

It reminded Eric of the night he first saw her, dazed, confused, and bleeding. She had been very frail then as well. Now that she had three meals a day, Demi had started to fill out, and she was more beautiful than ever. Her beauty only increased with her anger. Her lean body had also become muscled, probably thanks to Eva. The two had tried to hide their training from him but failed. The earlier mention of her being an adult made Eric wonder how old she was. When it comes to fae you never know for sure, but humans age more rapidly.

When Demi took a second to lean against a tree he became worried, "You know you're bleeding, right?" Eric watched as she touched her forehead and winced. When she pulled her hand away there was a lot of blood on it. Demi cursed under her breath.

"I get my clumsiness from my mother." She explained and laughed at the memory. Eric smiled, Demi talked about her mother vaguely sometimes but had never really given him an explanation. And she never mentioned her father. It made Eric incredibly curious about her family.

"What happened to your mother?" Eric finally asked when they started walking in silence. Demi took a deep breath. It was clear that she didn't like recalling the past.

"She died of some kind of wasting sickness when I was twelve, after healing the Urans for two years." And suddenly everything started to snap into place. Demi's mother had been the healer at Ura for two years until she died and then Demi took over healing when she was twelve. Demi had been healing for six years, making eight. Which meant that Demi had been ten when she was enslaved and was eighteen now.

"Your father?" Eric watched as she stiffened and fear entered her scent and eyes.

"Not important." Was her only reply. Demi's answer only made Eric more curious. He was about to ask more when she gave him a look that said not to bring it up.

"Any siblings?" Eric couldn't help himself, he just needed to know more.

"None."

"Aunts? Uncles? Cousins?"

"Nope."

"Nobody?"

"Have you ever heard the expression, curiosity killed the cat?"

"Yep, but satisfaction brought it back." Demi laughed, and so did Eric, "What about blood's thicker than water?" he asked.

"That may be, but water sure as hell tastes better."