Emerald's Fracture Read online

  Emmeline followed a particular Goddess tradition that required men and women to keep their heads covered with a long piece of cloth called a scirpa. The scirpa wrapped around the head at the top tied off in a complicated knot at the back of the neck. The two ends hung down about her shoulders. Fingers clutching the sides of her bowl, Natalie hastened over.

  “Em. Please, tell me all about the new babies,” Natalie begged, setting down her food and plopping into the chair opposite her friend.

  Em smirked. “Ha, too late. I already know that a certain Healer is back from the war. Have you seen him?” she stage-whispered, waggling her reddish eyebrows.

  “Yes.” Natalie kept her eyes on her plate.

  “What? Healer Perfect is indeed not perfect? Do tell.”

  Natalie picked up her spoon and toyed with her stew. “It's not that he's not perfect, it's ... well, he was injured in the war.” She dropped her voice. “He … he lost the lower part of his right arm. I don't think he can Heal anymore—or at least not well. I think he came back expecting to teach since he can’t Heal. But I have his job. He’s gone to the Headmistress to see if he can take my place."

  Em’s alabaster complexion turned ghostly ashen. “By the Goddess. That’s awful. On both counts. I feel terrible about his injury, but that’s no excuse to take your position. Speaking of awful, two Healers were sent to Whitestrand today to deal with some sort of epidemic.”

  “What?” Natalie scoffed. “We haven’t had an epidemic in over a hundred years. Do you know anything about the illness?”

  Em’s face was grim. “No, but given Whitestrand is on the coast and a port town, anything could’ve come in from anywhere.”

  The sound of the third chair at the table scraping across the flagstone floor interrupted their conversation.

  "I heard it’s spreading through Whitestrand like wildfire," said a deep voice. Natalie rolled her eyes up and glared at Juliers as he sat down across from her with his own meal. She just couldn’t deal with him right now.

  “We’d like to sit alone. Please sit somewhere else.” Natalie said.

  Juliers gave her an insolent look and changed the subject. "I spoke with Headmistress Gayla. I've got a room in the Healer's dormitory."

  "Great," replied Natalie. "Did she personally invite you to sit down at our table as well?"

  "No," Juliers grinned. "Did that myself."

  "Well, you can just as easily undo it."

  Juliers popped a bite of roll into his mouth. "What if I don't want to?"

  Natalie gritted her teeth. She’d underestimated how much he’d changed. The man who’d left had been much more civil. "It's not down to you. Please leave our table now."

  "And what about you, Healer Arnold? Would you like me to leave?"

  Em clasped her hands in her lap. “Natalie asked you nicely to leave, twice. I suggest you do so.”

  Healer Juliers looked from Em to Nat. “Why do you want me to go?”

  Natalie shot him a challenging look. "A gentleman and friend would wait until they’re invited before sitting down at someone's table."

  Juliers’s jaw dropped open and he snapped it shut. “You wound me, good Naming Professor. I shall leave you two alone."

  "Insufferable ass," Natalie muttered to his retreating back and put her bread in her mouth and tore out a bite.

  Em leaned across the table. “Okay, so sitting down uninvited wasn’t the politest thing, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Would it have been so terrible to share a meal and maybe learn more about what’s going on with him?”

  Nat folded her arms, looking away. “Be careful, you’re getting your scirpa in your food.” Em hastily removed one end from her mashed potatoes.

  “You be careful, Nat.”

  Nat glanced at Em’s pale, freckled face full of concern, and nodded reluctantly.

  After dinner, Natalie took Jake to the greenhouse. She paced the length of the building, the scent of growing plants not bringing the usual comfort to her burning temper. Although the near-full moon gave off enough light for her to avoid running into objects, it did not give off enough for her to do any serious work. Still, there was no place else she wanted to be, and she sat on the worn workbench while Jake curled up in his usual corner. The fight with Juliers kept replaying in her head. She tried to keep in mind he was a war veteran in hopes she could hold some compassion for him. She could deal with physical damage—she was a Healer after all—but not his attitude toward her. Implying she was unqualified to teach Naming. Trying to take her job and … and … being so unlike the man she used to know—the man who’d seemed drawn to her budding Healing skills like a moth to flame and then kindled them until her thirst for Healing knowledge had become insatiable. The sensation of hundreds of warm butterflies taking flight in her stomach and spiraling up around her chest made her close her eyes, heart pounding.

  Natalie clamped down on the feeling right away. “Why doesn’t he think I’m qualified to teach Naming? And what if he’s right?” she murmured.

  Jake growled and gave a soft woof. Natalie lifted her head. Footsteps sounded on the cloister walk. Jake sniffed the air and thumped his tail on the floor. A friend then.

  Juliers poked his head in the doorway. Natalie folded her arms and stepped back. They’d fought both times they’d seen each other since he’d come back. What does he want now?

  “May I come in?”

  Natalie, expecting to be on the receiving end of his temper, dropped her hands to her sides. “Yes.” She cringed inwardly at the timidity in her voice.

  Juliers ducked under the doorway and sat next to her on the workbench in silence. His left hand rested on the table, idly drawing invisible patterns on it.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered, then cleared his throat. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. For how I acted at dinner. For pretty much all of today, actually.”

  Stunned, Natalie stared at him. The moonlight cast his face in gray and white shadow as he kept his gaze on the table. There in the shadows, she saw a glimpse of the man he’d once been, the man who’d recognized her talents and nurtured them. A man who now lay buried deep under the burdens he carried.

  “I don’t know how to do this,” he whispered. “I don't fit in where I used to.”

  Natalie wanted to speak so many words of comfort that they all jammed up trying to come out. Which was just as well, because when she thought twice about it, what was there to say? Life wasn’t going to be the same for him ever again. If she said it was going to be all right, he’d either laugh out loud or leave on the spot.

  “I’m sorry for what I said at dinner as well.” Sitting in the moonlit greenhouse, it was quite clear Natalie was no longer that bright-eyed student and he was no longer her teacher and mentor. Perhaps it was time they became something new.

  Natalie took a deep breath and turned to face him. “I can’t make your hand come back. And as you know, there’s literally no magic fix for the situation you’re in. But we can start over as friends. I can offer you my friendship, Juliers Rayvenwood. If you’ll take it.”

  Juliers stared at her. She stared right back, entranced by the way the moonlight enchanted his emerald eyes. Her traitorous hands ached to reach out and stroke the stubble on his chin. She struggled to swallow past the tightness in her throat, but she kept her gaze on him, daring him to accept her offer.

  “Jules,” he said at last. “My friends call me Jules.”

  Chapter 4

  R

  T

  he next morning, Natalie hunched over her classroom desk, jotting down notes about the day’s class. Many things had gone wrong during the class period, and despite the beginnings of a headache, she wanted to update her lesson plans. She finished her notes and snorted. Notes be damned. The class’s outcome had been a result of a teacher distracted by memories of moonlight shining on dark, wavy hair and enchanting green eyes.

  She jumped when the classroom door banged open. Julier
s—no, he said his friends called him Jules—stormed into the classroom and stalked up to her desk. He glared at her as if she’d committed some horrible crime, then strode over to glare out the window.

  Her eyebrows rose. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  “All the Healers I talk to say the same thing,” he snapped.

  “What do they suggest? Have they helped at all?” She leaned forward and rested her chin on her hands.

  Shaking his head, he closed his eyes, and a muscle bulged in his jaw.

  Natalie remained at her desk, their moonlit camaraderie of the night before seeming years away. Perhaps it had been a dream, Natalie thought, pinching the bridge of her nose, her headache coming on full force.

  “May I ask what they said then?” Sarcasm slipped into her voice, and she dropped her hands to the arms of her chair. The man was as forthcoming as a stone wall.

  “They said,” he parroted, turning on her, “I should see if I could use my Healing abilities if I partnered with another Healer. All of them suggested you.”

  The same green eyes that had bewitched her last night threatened to consume her in flame.

  “Which Healers said this?” Natalie asked, anxious to know who thought so well of her. Jules simply glared at her. She sighed. “Is it such a terrible fate working with me? I thought we were friends.”

  “But I shouldn’t have to … One Healer should be enough for a small village or town. Two Healers for smaller assignments would be wasteful. Besides, I don’t want to have to rely on anyone. Especially you.” He turned away from her, muttering. “I shouldn’t have come back. I should leave.”

  Natalie sat speechless as he stalked out of the classroom. How dare he? My students are learning. They enjoy being in my class. And whomever he talked to must have a reason for suggesting he work with me. I am not a terrible Healer or person, for Goddess’s sake. Does he doubt my abilities?

  Her own temper, as it often did, went straight to her tear ducts. She swiped up her papers, called Jake and ran for her room before anyone saw her crying.

  “Natalie?” A familiar voice called as Natalie sped along the cloisters walk to her room.

  Natalie scrubbed the tears from her cheeks and looked over her shoulder. She spotted a stout man with carefully combed white hair, exquisite silk robes and a finely made green Healer’s cloak.

  “Healer Aldworth. It’s good to see you.”

  “It’s good to see you as well. I haven’t seen enough of you since your apprenticeship. I do miss being your mentor. Though I seem to have stopped you on your way to someplace important. I apologize.”

  “Oh, uh, no. I was just—I’m fine.”

  “May I walk with you for a bit?”

  “Certainly.”

  “I understand Healer Rayvenwood approached you about working together.”

  News travels fast. “Yes.” She didn’t want to say more lest the tears start falling again.

  “Did he seem amenable?”

  Natalie hesitated, not sure how to tell her former mentor and a member of the Council of Healers she’d been thoroughly rejected. “No, not really.”

  “That is unfortunate.”

  They walked along in silence. Healer Aldworth regarded her intently as they walked. Natalie studied the cobblestone walk at her feet with undue fascination.

  “Might I suggest you try to convince him to work with you? I’d be very grateful if you did.”

  “Why? I mean, why me?”

  Healer Aldworth smiled at her. “I believe if we are to have Healer Juliers restored to us, you are the best person for the job. And I know you won’t let me down. After all, we both know your patient who went into a coma was just an anomaly.”

  That’s what the Council of Healers decreed at the time. A patient with a severe head injury. It could have happened to any Healer. A lone blemish on the career of an apprentice with an otherwise stellar record. If only he knew how memories of that patient tortured her; playing over and over in her head with each patient she treated. Then he would know it would be the last thing to give her the confidence to approach Jules. But Healer Aldworth was her teacher; her mentor. She owed it to him to try. She couldn’t disappoint him.

  “Yes, sir,” she whispered.

  “Good morning, Healer Desmond. Do keep me posted on your work with Healer Rayvenwood.”

  Sitting on her bed with Jake licking her face, Natalie thought of all the things she should have said back to Jules. Many of them included words Natalie’s mother would skin her alive for using. But it was useless; the moment was gone and the man was still as insufferable as ever—if not worse. Fantastic, she thought, flopping back onto the bed and glaring at the ceiling.

  At the same time, she didn’t want to let Healer Aldworth down. She’d already let him down so much when that patient had gone into a coma. And, much as it pained her to admit it, she’d rather Jules be safe here in the Abbey; she did not want him to leave again. Somehow, she had to convince him to stay and work with her. Her brain churned out ideas about how Naming could work with two people. Had anyone ever tried it before? She could neither recall learning about it as a student nor reading about it in any book. Jules was right: in general, the Abbey staffed Ismereld with as many Healers as possible, but that often meant Healers found themselves Healing alone in small towns and clusters of buildings barely large enough to be called a village. People helped each other in the hospital, but only with medical tasks. Magical tasks like Naming and Activation were done alone.

  Natalie pushed the palms of her hands against her eyes. But why couldn’t Jules Name by himself? She reached over to Jake, closed her eyes, placed a hand on him and attempted to get a clear picture of his body in her head. Seeing nothing but haze, she imagined her energy dipping farther into the Isle for more magic. The misty image of Jake swirled with small eddies drifting around the outside. Giving in, she placed two hands on him, breathing a sigh of relief when a crystal clear image of her dog’s body appeared in her mind in its normal ghostly blue color.

  Goddess above, if a cloudy mist was all Jules saw now after nearly a lifetime of Healing, no wonder he’d been in a horrible temper since his return. In his shoes, she’d be on the edge of giving up all hope.

  Yet someone at the Abbey must feel there was some hope; otherwise, why would they want Jules to partner with her?

  “It sure would be nice if that person would share their knowledge with the rest of the class,” Natalie said to the empty room, rolling her eyes. “Like, do you expect us to both put our hands on someone at the same time? Would we see the blockages together? Would we detect the same illnesses?”

  Natalie sat bolt upright. Wait a minute, she had been there when two Healers had put their hands on a patient at the same time. She and Jules had been those Healers. Well, she had been a student at the time, and Jules had been her Naming teacher showing her how to Name. It had been her first Naming class here at the Abbey when she was fourteen and a first-year student.

  Juliers had started the lecture and Natalie, rather distracted by his handsomeness, hadn’t been paying attention.

  “So, let’s start with you.” Natalie’s face flushed when he stopped in front of her. “What is your name?” he asked.

  “Natalie Desmond,” she whispered, suddenly finding her clasped fingers on the desk quite fascinating.

  “All right Natalie, please join Emmeline.”

  Natalie traipsed to the front of the room and stood next to Emmeline Arnold, whom she’d never met before. Emmeline sat nervously at the front of the class. She had a cold that day, thus making her the perfect Naming practice subject.

  “Good, now, place your hands on the sides of Miss Arnold’s shoulders.”

  Biting her lip, Natalie put her trembling hands on Emmeline’s shoulders, and the two girls giggled nervously.

  Healer Juliers looked her in the eyes. “Obviously you’ll ultimately do this by yourself, but I’m going to help you for now.
It’s going to be all right.”

  She nodded.

  From behind her, Healer Juliers placed his hands over Natalie’s. Natalie stared intently at the pattern of small flowers printed on the fabric of Em’s dress. Her face felt like it was on fire, and her hands tingled.

  “Close your eyes, Natalie,” he said. Natalie was only too grateful to do so. “Now, center your awareness on your breath. Imagine that awareness dropping down through the floor and into the depths of Ismereld Isle itself. See if you can sense one of the ley lines I talked about at the start of class.”

  Hoping he couldn’t tell she hadn’t been paying attention and had no idea what a ley line was, Natalie took a deep breath in and out of her nose. She concentrated on the place just below her ribcage where her breath rose and fell, right next to the butterflies swooping about in her stomach. She imagined one of the butterflies flying down out of her feet, through the Abbey floor and into the earth, searching in the dark soil. Her awareness sharpened and clarified. She jumped as tingling in her fingers and hands increased tenfold and she became simultaneously aware of Healer Juliers’s and Emmeline’s energy as well as her own.

  Healer Juliers seemed to sense her connection to the ley line. “When you are ready, reach your awareness out through your fingers into Emmeline.”

  With more confidence, she imagined her awareness traveling down through her arms and through Emmeline’s body. As it did, she was less aware of Healer Juliers’s energy—as if she’d left it behind. She opened her eyes a fraction and saw he’d removed his hands from Emmeline. Natalie bit her lip and tried not to frown. Why didn’t he leave his hands on hers?

  “When you are ready, Natalie, describe your experience.”

  Bringing her attention back to the connection between her fingers and Em’s, Natalie whispered. “My hands tingle, especially the fingertips. Like I am holding starlight or moonlight in my hands and I am able to direct the light into Emmeline’s whole body.” She adjusted her hands and frowned. “But … There are places the light won’t go. As if the … as if the way is blocked and my light can’t get through. I can’t form a picture of her entire body.”