The Duke and the Dryad (Elemental Series) Read Online Free Page B

and stopped in his tracks when he laid eyes upon his patient.
    “What’s the matter? snapped Wolfe. “Now stop your gawking and heal the girl.”
    The healer reached out a hand and laid it carefully on his patient’s forehead. He shook his head solemnly, then quickly pulled his hand away as if he were burned.
    “I cannot heal her, my lord.”
    “You did not even try,” replied Wolfe. “Now, I order you to do whatever it is you do, and keep this girl from dying.”
    “She is not . . . one of us,” said the man. “I know naught about healing one of the Fae folk.”
    “Fae?” Wolfe scratched his neck and sat on the foot of the bed. “Are you trying to tell me this girl has faerie blood running through her veins?”
    “She does look like a faerie, or how I suppose a faerie would look,” said Sir Braden, agreeing with the man.
    “Sir Braden, I don’t need you entertaining the absurd idea as w ell. There is no such thing as a fae.” He looked back to the old man. “Now are you going to heal her or not?”
    “Would that I could, my lord,” said the healer with a shake of his head. “But I am not qualified to heal the likes of her, nor do I know how. She is close to death, my lord. And if she does not get help soon than she will die come the morrow.”
    “Well what do you suggest I do?” Wolf e got to his feet, angered by the man’s words. Things this night were going from bad to worse. First he’d lost his bull, and now he was about to lose the bull’s replacement as well.
    “There is an old woman that may know how to cure her. She is said to be a seer as well as a healer.”
    “Then send a messenger to bring her to me anon.” He didn’t fancy the notion of inviting a seer into his home, but at this point he hadn’t another choice.
    “She does not reside in Manterra, my lord. Her home is at the castle of the dragon in Thorndale.”
    “Thorndale Castle ,” Wolfe repeated. “Aye, that’s Drake Pendragon’s castle now, is it not?”
    “It is,” confirmed Sir Braden. “And ’tis said that his wife is a dreamwalker and that fire cannot harm her.”
    “I care not to hear any more of the bard’s concocted stories. Now, send at once for this woman named Juturna. And tarry not, as I am not sure how much longer this girl has upon this earth.”
    The healer and Sir Braden rushed from the room to carry out the order, leaving Wolfe alone with the girl. He reached out and gently took her hand in his. She felt cold. So cold, that he knew he needed to warm her. He moved the candles closer to the bed and stoked a raging fire on the hearth. Then he removed his cloak and laid it atop her. Next, he sat in a chair beside the bed and removed his boots. Placing his feet on the edge of the pallet he tipped the chair back, exhausted from this weary night. He’d just close his eyes while he waited for his messenger to return from Thorndale with the old healer woman.
     
    Rae-Nyst could hear everything going on around her, but could not move nor even open her eyes. And that fool knight had moved the candles closer to the bed and stoked the already raging fire on the hearth. She’d felt her power draining even more as the mistletoe screamed out to her, when he decided to throw her woodland crown into the fire.
    Her energy was drainin g so fast that she only wished she could use her gift of telekinesis to move things by will alone. But that was a gift not really prevalent to her, since her fae mother had married a human. As the offspring of a mixed marriage, her abilities were far less than one of the pure fae blood.
    She seemed only to be able to move things with her mind occasionally when she was upset or angry. But i f she could right now, she’d knock the damned chair out from under his body. How dare he lounge as if he hadn’t a care in the world while her life drained from her and he decided to take a nap.
    Nay, she wouldn’t waste her gift on him, whether it be to teach him a lesson or not. After all, he