Chapter 38 - Keep Your Hair On

"Are you crazy!?" I shrieked as I leaped forward, getting a hold of his injured arm. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"To test your abilities," he said as he gave me a sidelong glance. "Don't worry for I can tolerate this much pain. Now try to heal this."

"What?" I asked incredulously. "How do you want me to do that? On command?"

He sighed. "Just focus all your strength towards this one cut. And...release it!"

I gave him a look that implied he was crazy.

"Try it!" he urged, thrusting his arm forward.

"Reynard, you're giving me a hard time believing that you're sane," I hissed worriedly as I watched the blood drip down his arm onto my skirt. 

Reynard didn't reply.

I knew what he wanted me to do. I knew it very well...but I hadn't any idea how to do it. Shifting my weight from one leg to another, I cleared my throat and hesitantly focused on the bleeding.

"I'll start now," I said quietly, my head dipping lower. 

Reynard remained silent but I could feel his eyes on me.

I cleared my throat once again and gripped his forearm, my eyes widening as I focused with all my strength toward the heart of the injury. The more I looked, the more I discovered about the cut which had looked like a mere red line from a distance. Against his tan skin, the blood didn't look much red. It would have looked real bright if I had been the one scraped instead of him. The cut wasn't too deep as it had been made by his nails. I wanted to move my gaze to his fingers so I could see how long his nails actually were, but I kept staring steadfastly at the blood dripping slash. 

I kept thinking 'Heal! C'mon heal up!' but nothing happened. I gazed more intently at it, my eyes widening further up to the point it started hurting. I dared not blink, I dared not breathe...I just kept observing it and willing it to heal.

'Heal, heal, c'mon...' I whispered under my breath, gripping at his forearm tighter, not even noticing that he had just winced. I was so immersed, but after a couple moments, it was clear that nothing was going to happen. 

I removed one hand to brush the bonnet's frills out of my eyes and it just so happened that a piece of my hair dropped onto his arm. Both of us noticed it and I was about to pick it up when suddenly, the hair started to glow white as it came in contact with the cut and before our very eyes, the slash started healing up. 

Little by little, the skin started coming together and the blood started to vanish until his arm was all healed up...giving the impression that nothing ever even happened. As the last thread of skin merged together, the little hair vanished into thin hair. 

It felt like my eyes were going to pop out of their sockets. Stunned, I looked up and saw that Reynard was gaping at his arm as well.

"What just happened…?" I asked, dazed. 

Reynard lifted his eyes which came in contact with mine and widened further.

"You've done it, Ashli Rivers," he whispered. "You've just gone and done it."

"B-but how..."

He shook his head and held his own arm, looking it up and down. "It seems that your hair played the most major role in the healing process. Guess it was special after all."

My hand instinctively went up to my head, feeling it in a new light. Now that I remember it, last night My hair had also been escaping out of the bonnet's loose ties. It could have been that my hair had triggered the pain in my chest to ease. The light I saw before I had felt at ease yesterday...was it the light emitted by my stray hair strands? 

"Anyways," Reynard grunted as he stood up off the floor, "keep your hair safe, do you understand?" He smirked as he walked towards the door. "And don't try to chop it off like you did that one time."

I sprang off the floor, my face red. "Wait, how do you even know that?"

He gave me a sidelong glance, standing in the doorway, "When it's my father you go out with, word gets out." And with that, he vanished beyond the threshold. 

I sprawled my legs on the wooden floor and fanned my face with my hands, the same hands which I thought had magical abilities. The only difference was that it was my hair which possessed the curative powers. 

My eyes moved down Zoie's brown skirt till they reached the small blood drop which was still there. It was the only proof of the existence of my divine powers and the only way to tell that something extraordinary did happen. 

Suddenly, I noticed Faustine pop her head through the doorway. 

"You alright, love?" she asked, her forehead creasing as she looked at my figure against the bedside. 

"Yes," I answered, smiling, as I stood up and patted my dress. "I'll be out in a second."

"Sure, hon, no hurry," she said distractedly as she looked at something in the living room. "Cael, get off the table! That's where our food goes, not you and your toys. Get off this instant!"

heard a faint grumble and a scraping of wood against the floor. While that happened, Faustine turned to me.

"It's good to see that you're doing well on your legs now." She smiled heartily. "Eggs for breakfast. I'm about to set the table, so it'd be best if you clean yourself up and come out in a minute or two or else they'll get cold. Your love's already seated."

I tilted my head, confused. "My love…?"

"Why, Reynard, of course!" she exclaimed and went away, laughing. 

***

Breakfast consisted of a plate topped with two sunny-side-up eggs sprinkled with salt, a large chunk of the leftover meat from last night, some vegetables for the side and a cup of tea. Quite different from what I got used to eating at the palace but delicious nonetheless.

Afterwards, I helped Faustine clear the table against her many protests and even wiped down the table while Faustine tried to bathe little Cael. 

The only problem was that Lennard was still sitting at the table and was observing me as I cleaned the table with a spare dishcloth. 

"You really are very beautiful," he mumbled under his breath, making sure Reynard didn't hear him as he stood in the room I slept in, checking the labels on the several bottles of medicine Faustine had brought in earlier today. The door was wide open so Lennard knew he was in Reynard's line of sight, though he did not care at all.

"What?" I hissed when I heard his remark. 

He stretched his arms behind his head before settling back in the chair. "What?" He mocked my tone. "Don't girls like you like it when any other guy compliments you?"

I looked at him, taken aback. "Where's all this coming from?" I demanded. 

"Well," he grunted, as he put his arms behind his head, "I find it a bit unfair that Reynard got you when I'm way older than him. How did you even meet a guy like him?"

I didn't answer, so he continued talking,

"And he says it's been quite a long while you've both known each other," he said, scratching his chest. "But I've yet to see a genuine connection between you supposed lovebirds. Are you sure you guys are a real item?"

"None of your business," I said quietly, trying to scrub at the table quicker. "Get up," I told him. "I need to clean that bit of the table where you're sitting."

He flattened himself against the back of his chair, hands up. "Here, do it." He smirked.

I threw the rag against the table and walked away. I'm not going to deal with creeps like him, no way. I'd rather the table clean itself.

"What's up?" Reynard said as I approached him.

"Deal with your 'friend', man," I sighed, leaning against the wall. "I can't always be fighting against the urge to punch his teeth in."

Reynard looked at me wide-eyed, his mouth parting slightly. My hands went up to my mouth as swift as lightning when the words I had just spoken started registering. For a second, I had forgotten I was a princess.

Chuckling awkwardly, I dismissed my recent comment as focused on something else.

"Reynard, do something about my hair."

"Like what?" he asked, his attention back on the medicine. 

I sighed. "I can't always pull it off by hiding all of it under this flimsy hat," I said. "And I need new clothes as well. I fear that your friend has started suspecting us." 

"Really?" he said, putting the labelled bottles back on the table. "Well, isn't that interesting?"

"Right?" I smiled. "I thought he was plain dumb, but looks like he's got some brains to him." 

We both laughed it out for a second or two, oblivious of Lennard's suspicious glare all the way from the table.

"Okay, I'll see what I can do about your clothes and your hair today," he said after a while. "I need some work to get done so I'll be leaving now. Make sure to stay well away from Lennard and help Aunty around the house a bit, Your Highness," he said. "Even if you don't like it. We have to create the impression that you, in fact, really are Ashli Rivers and not the imperial Crown Princess. You got all that?"

"Yes," I answered like a student does to its teacher.

"And I bet," he said again, "that Lennard's got his own matters to attend to, so you need not worry much about running into him. Don't leave the house and don't show your hair at any cost. Protect it with your life. Alright, I'm going now, tell Aunty that I left." 

He walked across the living room, said something to Lennard because of which he finally got off the table and both of them left together through the door that led outside.

After a second or two, Faustine made an appearance. 

"Was that the door I just heard shutting?" she asked, drenched with sweat and water.

"Yes," I said and smiled as I turned around. "The guys just left. Want me to help you with Cael?"