109. Embrued

I woke with a start, then immediately groaned in pain. It wasn't quite as bad as before, it was more of a dull burning ache now. And it still hurt a bit when I breathed, but at least I was able to breath.

"Oh thank Gods!" Kelly gasped.

I felt her hand on mine, and she gave my hand a gentle squeeze as she said "We thought we lost you Tegan!"

I slowly became aware of my surroundings. I was at home, in our bed. Kelly was sitting crosslegged on the bed next to me. She was wearing one of her weekend laze-around-the-house outfits, leggings and a large top.

"What..?"

My voice was rough and weak and my throat felt dry. And it hurt to talk.

Kelly reached behind her then brought a glass of water into view. There was a straw in it, and she helped me to drink a bit.

As I was taking a few little sips she explained, "Me and Keira did as much healing to you as we could. It's going to take another day or two for the magic to finish doing its thing. You'll be ok though. You're going to make a full recovery."

After drinking some water it wasn't as hard to talk, though I was still in pain.

I thanked her for the water then asked, "What happened?"

She sighed, "Someone tried to assassinate you. And they very nearly succeeded."

After a moment she added, "Drink some more water, then try and rest ok? We'll talk more when you're feeling better."

I had a few more sips of the water, then let myself drift back into sleep.

The next time I woke I definitely felt better. I was still weak but it no longer hurt to breath. Kelly was still with me, she was laying next to me on the bed reading something on her tablet.

"What time is it?" I asked. "And what day is it?"

Kelly put her tablet aside and looked towards me, she was obviously happy to hear some strength had returned to my voice.

"It's Tuesday, about one in the afternoon." she replied. "You sound a bit better now, how are you feeling?"

"Still weak," I replied, "But it doesn't hurt as much now."

She helped me to sit up, and piled some more pillows behind me to keep me comfortable. They'd undressed me before getting me into bed, and as she was helping me sit up I got a good look at the scar. Or at least, one of the scars. I knew there'd be another one on my back too.

On the upper slope of my left breast, about two inches above and one inch to the left of the nipple was a large pink scar. It was a diagonal line nearly two inches long. The line bulged in the middle to nearly a half inch thick.

I stared at it for a few moments, then finally realized the arrow head wasn't a small bodkin tip. The man wasn't trying to pierce chain or plate armour, he knew I'd just be wearing normal clothes. So he was using a broad-head hunting tip, designed to cause a much larger wound and to encourage rapid blood-loss.

From the look of it, from the position and angle of the wound, it probably missed my heart by about a half inch.

"It'll fade eventually," Kelly said as I continued staring at the scar. "And you'll be fully healed in another day or so. There won't be any lasting damage."

"Yeah," I said quietly as I pulled the blankets up again so I wouldn't have to see it.

Once I was comfortable she gave me a glass of water and had me drink it.

Then I asked, "So did you and Keira catch the guy?"

Kelly hesitated a moment, like she didn't have good news.

"Don't tell me he got away?" I asked with a frown.

She shook her head, "No, he didn't get away."

"What's wrong then?" Suddenly I felt a shock of fear, "Where's Keira? Is she ok?"

"Keira's fine," Kelly replied, her words and tone set my heart at ease again. "She took the bus back down to the city this morning to gather up the stuff we both left behind yesterday, and to bring the car back home. She'll be here in another hour or two."

I let out a sigh of relief, then frowned again. "Is there going to be any trouble for you two? Did anyone see you teleport away?"

"I'll have some explaining to do, about why I suddenly ran off." Kelly replied. "Keira will have a little more explaining to do. She doesn't think anyone saw her teleport, but she said she basically ducked around a corner and vanished, and she's pretty sure people will want to know how she did it."

I nodded slightly as that sank in. Finally I asked, "And the assassin?"

"He's dead," Kelly replied. "The second man, the courier? He had nothing to do with it so we let him go...after Keira made sure he wouldn't say anything about what he'd witnessed."

I sighed, "So what happened?"

"After we got your message, we both used scrying spells and saw the situation. I teleported directly to your side and put up a shield spell, just incase the guy tried shooting at you or me through the doorway? Then I got the arrow out of you and cast a couple healing spells on you."

Kelly sighed and continued, "Meanwhile the courier guy was screaming and freaking out and the assassin was trying to get into the workshop. Keira teleported around the back of the workshop and circled around. She hit the guy with magic, knocked him out cold. Then she used a sleep spell on the courier."

I was quiet for a few moments as I took that in. Then I asked, "So what happened, how'd the assassin die?"

Kelly was quiet for a few moments, then finally admitted "Keira killed him. He was fae, he was dangerous, and we couldn't just let him go. She felt it was the only option."

It's more or less what I was expecting to hear. It didn't make me any happier knowing I'd guessed right, but there wasn't much else we could do. There's no fae law on Earth, and most fae here consider themselves above human law. We don't have a dungeon in our little converted farmhouse, and I wouldn't want to keep someone prisoner here anyways. If we weren't in self-exile we could perhaps take a prisoner over and toss him in my mom's dungeon, but I knew he wouldn't last very long there once my mother found out what his crime was.

After a few minutes of silence, I asked "What happened to the body?"

Kelly replied softly, "A couple blasts of the thousand-blades spell, out in the ravine. Compost and fish-food, basically."

"Ok," I sighed. As much as we didn't want to keep a dangerous prisoner around or let a killer loose, we also didn't want to leave a body somewhere that could cause trouble if it was ever found.

It left me with some uncomfortable feelings, but at the end of the day we were fae taking care of fae business. As long as no humans got hurt, it seemed like the best way to handle it.

"I'm assuming you and Keira got some information from the guy first? Did you find out who sent him?"

"Keira interrogated him," Kelly replied. "It's probably best if we wait till she gets home, to discuss what she learned."

While we waited for Keira, Kelly got me something to eat. She heated up some stew and brought me a glass of milk and another of juice.

I ate a bit but wasn't really that hungry. Then I just rested, though I don't think I slept. Meanwhile Kelly stayed by my side and read some more on her tablet.

It was about three in the afternoon when Keira got back. She hurried upstairs to see me, and wound up sitting crosslegged at the foot of the bed.

"I'm glad you're ok Tegan," she said with a relieved smile. "You have no idea how scared we both were yesterday when we got your message."

I grimaced, "I can imagine."

The whole thing reminded me of the other assassination attempt, where Kelly was hit instead of me.

"So Kelly's told me some of the details, and she said you got some information from the assassin?"

Keira sighed, "He was hired by Prince Odhran. At first I assumed it was a lie, or misdirection? Like honestly I figured Lord Aengus would be at the top of the list for people who wanted to bump you off. But the assassin actually met the prince in person. Like he was at the royal palace and everything. It wasn't a thing where he was hired by letter and never met the customer. It really was the prince."

That brought a frown to my face, "That doesn't make any sense. The king wants me to be part of his family, under his control. He doesn't want to kill me."

Kelly suggested, "Maybe he's decided since you won't obey his orders it's better to eliminate you rather than leaving you free? Like maybe he sees you as a potential threat."

I shook my head, "It's only been two years since the king first 'requested my presence' at his court. The guy's something like seven hundred and fifty years old, you'd think he'd have more patience than that. Like, I thought he'd wait at least a decade or two before he gave up on trying to get me under his thumb."

"Maybe this had nothing to do with the king?" Keira suggested. "It was the prince who hired the guy. It's possible the king doesn't even know about it."

"Why would the prince want me dead?" I asked. "I've never even met the guy. Unless it's because I flat-out refused to marry him? I wonder if fae guys can be as fragile as some human guys."

"Fae or human, some guys are just jerks," Kelly said with a scowl. Then she suggested, "Maybe it wasn't meant to succeed? Maybe it was meant as a warning, to sort of scare you into going back to Otherworld?"

Keira shook her head, "The assassin was definitely trying his best to kill Tegan. I mean, he didn't think it was meant to be a warning or something. Like he'd been watching us for a week, he knew me and Kelly were at university and you were alone Tegan. He knew we were both fae but he figured we were too far for us to teleport home, and he didn't think you had any way of contacting us regardless. He was sure that you were isolated, and confident if he got you by surprise he'd be successful."

I sighed, "He was right. And he came pretty close to succeeding."

"Too close," Kelly said with a frown. "Babe that was way too close. We need to figure out what to do incase there's another attempt."

"Agreed," Keira stated. "I mean, that arrow missed your heart by half an inch. The next one might not miss."

I shook my head, "I can't stay cowering in the house forever. And if someone's trying to get me, they might target you two as well. Especially if they can't get to me and wind up frustrated."

The twins both looked worried, but neither of them had any solution or suggestion.

After a few moments of silence, I changed the subject. "How did it go at uni Keira? Did you run into any trouble today, anyone asking difficult questions?"

She sighed, "No difficult questions today, but I'll have to face them soon enough. I wasn't actually at the university when it happened. Me and a half dozen others were with one of our profs over at the museum. We were doing some practical work, helping set up a new exhibit. I ducked around out of sight behind a column and teleported away. All my stuff was in the prof's office at the museum, but he wasn't there today when I dropped in to collect it."

Keira continued, "Then I used a glamour to make my clothes and make-up look like Kelly's, and went and picked up her stuff. I ran into one of her profs, but Kelly helped me deal with that."

"We told her that I got a text saying you'd been injured at work," Kelly added. "And we said I was in such a panic I left my stuff behind and forgot to say anything."

"So Kelly's probably all set," Keira concluded. "The prof was glad to hear you were going to be ok and just told Kelly to try not to be so panicky if anything like that comes up again. I'm sure I'll have some tricky questions next time I see that prof, or any of the others who were there with me yesterday. But I don't have to deal with any of that stuff till next week."

Kelly suggested, "Now why don't you get some more rest, Tegan? I think that's enough stressful conversation for you today."

I sighed but nodded as I settled back into the pile of pillows behind me.

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