Bella

A wave of magic washes over me as another chaos aura makes itself known; I turn toward the smithy and Sarah puts a hand on my arm, “Are you okay?”

“I think he woke up,” I reply, "Maybe I should head back…".

“Ian will take care of him.” Carrie says, taking a hold of my other arm, “You need to get out of the house.”

“But if he’s not completely free of the curse--” I begin, tugging against their hold.

“He’s practically skin and bones; Ian can handle him,” Sarah says as they pull me along.

“But if he shifts--” I say.

Carrie snorts, “You said yourself that his body will resist shifting for a while.”

I sigh but let myself be towed along, “You’re right. I’m just worried.”

“Ian can take care of himself,” Carrie says reassuringly. As we get up to Marcus and Troy, they’re haggling with the butcher.

Marcus turns to me, “Do you think we’ll need meat for your patient?” the old man asks with a raised brow.

I shake my head, “Not right away. His body won’t be able to handle much, given his emaciated state.”

“I still say we should have just killed him,” Troy grumbles.

Sarah smacks the young man upside the head, “Stop that, the poor man didn’t have any control over his actions. We can’t hold him accountable for the curse.”

He rubs the back of his head and looks at me suspiciously; I don’t bother to hide my glare.

He turns his head away and grumbles something else, but I tune him out. We continue to get supplies, some of it for the house, some of it for myself when I leave. I stop outside the weaver’s shop and linger at the fabrics in the window.

Sarah sees me stop and comes up beside me. “Do you need cloth? You did lose that one set of clothes and the cloak.” She says.

I shake my head, “I can’t afford it. Besides, I wasn’t thinking about me.”

She blinks, then smiles mischievously, “You’re worried about him. Is it because he’s a Fae too?”

I flush slightly, “A bit. It’s been a long time since I spoke to another Fae.”

She smiles, “It’s always nice to have kin nearby. How long do you think you’ll stay now that he’s awake?”

As we walk away from the shop, I smile weakly, “I’ll be here for a little while at least. I want to make sure he recovers properly, and I can’t climb the mountain since the snow has started to fall. Unless you know of a better way?”

She frowns, “I don’t think you should be in a rush to leave.”

“I’m not,” I answer with a sigh, “I’m just planning,”

Her smile widens as she takes my arm and pulls me toward Carrie and the others, “Good. Since you’re not leaving, once the Hound isn’t needing constant supervision, maybe you can look for work? Then you can buy some fabric.”

“What sort of work?” I ask with a raised brow.

“You’re a good healer.” She suggests, “If you know things about herbs and medicines you could help the apothecary.”

I smile, “I’ll look into it.”

She grins and we continue to the next shop.