Estelle

I had to stop myself from covering Damien from Ivy. I knew she was helping him, but it was terrible to hear. When she finished meticulously healing his nose, she made a disapproving noise.

“Roll onto your side.” She lifted the back of his shirt, exposing a long and deep cut. “Why didn’t you come to me? You knew that I’d be able to sense any of your other injuries.”

Damien grumbled something under his breath. “I don’t know. I don’t need to come to you for everything considering that you’re not my mother.”

My heart broke at hearing him speak. He sounded to be terribly in terrible pain, and his nose was a smaller injury than the one on his back.

“Can I have one request?” he asked the mender. Ivy nodded. “Can Estelle hold my hand?”

“If she wants to.”

I nodded. “I’ll be right by your side the entire time. For as long as you need me to.”

Damien forced out a nervous smile. “Thank you.”

I moved my stool closer to the bed and grabbed hold of his hand. I watched as he closed his eyes in anticipation of the pain. Ivy braced him for it.

Three.

Two.

One.

Damien let out a low groan. His grip tightened, but just as I promised, I didn’t let go of his hand. I stayed through the entire healing, no matter how badly I wanted to be anywhere. To not have to hear him cry out in pain.

“Are you okay?” I asked him after Ivy finished. I turned to Ivy. “Thank you for healing him.”

Ivy smiled warmly. “Try to keep him out of here. Speeding up the healing process is quite painful, so I hope he learned something from this.”

“I learned to not let you heal me,” Damien grumbled. I had to hide my smile from Ivy.

“Thanks again.”

Ivy waved as we left the hospital room. I didn’t ask where we were going, mainly because I don’t think Damien even knew. He suddenly stopped walking.

I didn’t say anything until he turned to me, trying to hide the concern that was written on his face.

“Natasha just gave me a message.”

“What?”

Damien sighed. “Natasha is extremely powerful. She’s a psychic but can also mentally communicate when she’s concentrating hard enough.”

I nodded. “What did she tell you?”

Damien kept his mouth shut and continued walking. I followed after him, not asking again. I knew no matter how much I could bother him; he wouldn’t let anything slip.