A Treacherous Hex by Barker Constance & Mills Savannah

Author:Barker, Constance & Mills, Savannah
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Constance Barker
Published: 2024-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Hazel winced involuntarily as she gently dabbed the pungent, herbal-scented healing salve onto the dark mottled bruise that was blossoming across her left shoulder. The bruise was a painful souvenir from the brutal skirmish with the guild assassins in the hidden underground chamber mere hours earlier.

Though she and Harken had ultimately managed to drive off the ambushers, it had been a vicious, bruising battle, and Hazel was still feeling the lingering effects. Carefully, she smoothed more of the medicinal salve over the tender, discolored skin, hoping to speed the healing process. She suspected more than one of the assassins' blows had cracked or at least badly bruised her ribs. Each breath ached, and she had to resist the urge to wrap her arm protectively around her torso.

Across the dimly lit parlor where Hazel sat tending her wounds, Harken occupied an aged, floral-print armchair. The burly warrior grimaced and flexed his jaw, exhaling sharply through his nose as he gingerly rolled and extended the arm that had only just finished mending. One of the assassins had nearly severed Harken's sword arm with a poisoned dirk. Only Hazel's timely intervention had saved the limb, painstakingly knitting bone, muscle and veins back together.

Though the injury was healed, Hazel could tell Harken was still in considerable discomfort. She watched him surreptitiously as he continued testing his arm's range of motion and flexing his fingers. Her mind kept replaying the flawless, instinctive way Harken had moved to shield Hazel, stepping smoothly between her and the path of the first whistling blade flung towards her throat. He had very nearly taken that fatal blow meant for her.

Hazel dropped her gaze as she felt an unfamiliar warmth kindle in her core at the memory of Harken's steadfast protectiveness. In the time since they had become partners, she had grown accustomed to his stalwart presence guarding her back. But something between them seemed to have subtly shifted after this latest brush with death. Hazel could not pinpoint when she had started thinking of Harken as more than just an ally. But she realized suddenly, seeing him wounded so grievously to save her, that she now feared losing him more than any weapon or advantage.

Hazel was roused from her pensive rumination by the sudden sound of the front door bursting open, followed swiftly by rapid footsteps echoing down the hall. Jaxon appeared abruptly in the parlor doorway, his typically vulpine features creased and pinched with evident concern.

"Thank goodness!" he exclaimed fervently upon catching sight of Hazel seated by the hearth, clearly relieved to see her alive and mostly intact. Jaxon rushed over to Hazel's side the instant he spotted her applying healing salve to her wounded shoulder.

"You've been gone for hours with no word! When you and Harken didn't return or answer any of our calls, we assumed the worst," Jaxon explained in a rush.

Before Hazel could respond, two more sets of hurried footsteps approached down the hall, and then both Hazel's grandmother Ethel and Rummi came swiftly

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