Chapter 57

  Present Day

  “How is it that you have not seen this?” Bariel wondered, pacing restlessly through the overgrown grass. They had moved out of the fortress and into the outer courtyard, where the sunshine eased the cold from their bodies. “It is very evidently not a disease.”

  “I do not know,” Yelena replied, embarrassed. “I guess it is because I am not trained. Our healer was old and his magic weak with age, he could not train me, so… There was only my mother to teach me.”

  “Why did your parents not send you to be trained?” Bariel was surprised. “Or hire someone?”

  “She comes from Elliard,” Cerilius replied for her.

  “Still…”

  “She is half-human,” Gerica added with enjoyment. “I would guess that her parents feared that she would be too human for the Fae Courts.”

  “Oh,” Bariel stilled as he realised the implications, and then he inclined his head slightly to Yelena. “My apologies My Lady.”