Page 56 of Demon's Beauty

I try not to linger, try not to meet anyone’s eye, try not to do anything but dutifully follow Vayla’s instructions as we get our supplies ready to start mapping out locations for harvesting stellarin flowers.

It’s a nice distraction, and as we venture back up the mountainside—with plenty of guards this time—there are no more drakon spottings.

The view is also incredible, which helps with getting out of my head.

Panoramic and expansive, towering mountain peaks frame the alpine meadows where we work. The sky is a painfully clear blue, with wispy white clouds drifting lazily across the snowcaps all afternoon.

Our work is careful and tedious—right up my alley—as we comb through the meadows looking for the silvery white leaves that mark patches of stellarin. The blooms only open after dark, but we leave markers to help guide us back tonight so we can gather the blossoms.

“Only one from each plant,” Vayla explains as we move on from one patch and start searching the nearby grasses for another. “We tend these stands of stellarin carefully so we can always come back in the future.”

I nod, and keep a running list of notes in the small notepad I tucked into my pocket this morning. The most likely places to find the plants, the best ways to mark them, information about how we’ll approach the harvest later this evening—all of it gets jotted down, and my brain is so full with the information that for a few blessed hours I forget to be embarrassed that I almost turned this entire trip into a disaster.

We come back down the mountain in the late afternoon, and my eyes immediately scan the camp for… my patient.

Just for my patient.

I’ve been away most of the day, and it’s long past time I check up on him.

Vayla catches me looking with a little smirk. “Hey Glenson,” she calls across the clearing. “Where’s Finn?”

Glenson nods toward the river. “He just went for some water.”

Vayla nudges me with her shoulder. “Go get him, girl.”

“Stop,” I whisper back, more color staining my cheeks. “I just… need to make sure he’s still feeling alright.”

“Uh-huh,” she says with a dismissive wave, already heading off toward the workshop tent. “Sure you do.”

I find Finn just as the sun is beginning to set over the mountains. He’s been with the guards today, though from his lack of armor or sword, it doesn’t seem like Glenson has put him on active duty.

When I catch up with him just outside of camp as he’s on his way back from filling up his canteen, I can’t help but stop and shamelessly admire for a few long moments.

Goddess, but he’s handsome.

Moving well, too, considering everything he’s been through.

Still, as he pauses at the edge of the woods and gives his shoulder a stretch with a slight grimace of pain contorting his features, I spring into action.

That grimace disappears as soon as he realizes I was watching him.

He hides it under a grin, but I won’t be deterred. I’m nothing if not thorough when it comes to making sure my patients are alright.

The light of the setting sun hits his face in the most breathtaking way. Golden and glowing, making his already bright coloring look even more otherworldly.

“Have a good day with Vayla?” he asks as I approach, and all I can do is nod silently as I take a few more seconds to admire him.

He does the same, eyes tracing my face and one hand idly lifting to play with the end of my braid where it hangs forward over my shoulder.

Even though I can’t feel the touch, I feel the magick.

Sparkling low and warm between us, it’s just as golden and wonderful as the sunset.

But I give myself a shake.

I’m not here to moon over him, no matter how handsome he looks.

“Let me see your shoulder.”