Chapter 7 HEALING TOUCH
CHAPTER 007: HEALING TOUCH
I grabbed a wooden stick by the door and bent low to check under the bed and scan everything but as I was about to stand up, then a rat suddenly stormed out, making me jump in fear and Sofia screamed.
“How did that get in here?" I asked, my chest heaved.
"I don't know. It might have followed in through the window.” Sofia explained.
" I could have…" My words were cut short, as the door opened, revealing Morgana.
She was standing at the door with her eyes shooting daggers.
“Who was that fool making that noise?" She asked, angrily.
Sofia was the one that screamed.
“I… I… wa…s …the…” Sofia stammered.
" I did. I was the one screaming.” I cover up for Sofia. She nudge at my arm for covering up for her.
" Who do you think you are, to be screaming all around the whole school?” Morgana screamed.
" I am no one but I'm sure you don't have to talk about me screaming or do you have a problem with that?” I fired back.
"How dare you…?" Morgana raised her hands to slap me but stopped as Cassian entered.
“...To try to speak up.” He said, completing Morgana's statement.
" Why do you even care about this seductress?” Morgana asked Cassian.
" Do I have to say anything to that? Between you and her, you're the seductress?” Cassian mocked.
Morgana frowned, her face blazing with fire. This has caused the whole school attention.
Cassian doesn’t even ask as Morgana’s sneer is still hanging in the air, and the next his arm slides under my knees and behind my back and lifts me up swiftly.
“Move.” He says to the crowd gently but everyone steps away fast.
My heart throbs, my breath shakes and the room feels blurry, there are too many eyes watching and too much noise, and Cassian’s hold is the only steady thing.
“Put me down.” I mumble, even though the thought of standing makes my knees wobble.
He doesn’t look at me. “You’re hurt.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to carry me like a bag of rice.”
His mouth twitches. “You’re lighter than a bag of rice.”
“Wow! Thanks, so can you drop me now?”
He didn't laugh, he just walked fast, his eyes glowing faint gold like embers. The hallway is quiet except for his footsteps and my breathing.
“Cassian, I can walk.”
“You’re shaking.”
“I’m cold.”
“No. You’re scared.”
I swallow the lump in my throat, and I hate how he figures out my emotions.
When we push into the infirmary, the air changes. It’s warm and soft. He lays me on one of the beds gently. When he pulls his hand back, the heat leaves with him and I almost reach for it again.
“What was that girl’s problem…?” I mutter.
Cassian didn't answer. He rolls up his sleeves, and the room brightens as a faint glow spreads across his palms.
I stare at his drama. “Why do your hands look like that…?”
“Phoenix magic.”
“You mean healing.”
He gives a slow nod. “Healing is one thing it does.”
His fingers hover above my shoulder. The glow warms my skin before he touches me. When he finally touches me, heat spreads deep into the bruise, pressing the pain away. I gasp softly.
“Sorry.” He murmurs.
“It’s fine. I'm Just… warm.”
“Good warm or bad warm.”
“Good… very good.” I clamp my mouth shut.
Cassian’s eyes look at mine for a second and something flickers there, maybe surprise, or maybe something softer. Then he returns to his work, the light getting brighter.
“Cassian.” I whisper. “You said… phoenix, like a reborn phoenix.”
“Yes.”
“But you said earlier this wasn’t your first life.”
“Not even close.” He says.
“How many times…”
The glow fades a little as he looks at me. “One hundred and twenty seven.”
I blink. “That’s not a number you say casually.”
“I don’t say it casually.”
“But you died one hundred and twenty seven times.”
His jaw clenches. “Yes.”
“What happened…”
He breathes out slowly, like remembering the memories hurts more than the wounds he heals. “Every life ended the same. It was fast and violent. I never saw the face of the person who killed me. I just… woke up again in a new body with the same fire and same curse.”
“Curse?”
He keeps his glowing hand on my shoulder but his eyes drift away. “I always come back with pieces missing, some memories gone and people I care about gone but there was always something, a feeling like I was looking for a person. Someone important.”
A chill crawls down my spine. “Someone? Who?”
“I don’t know.” His voice is low. “Every time I died, the feeling grew stronger. I could feel a pull, a name I couldn’t say because I didn’t remember it and a face I couldn’t see.”
The warmth from his hand sinks deeper. I don’t know which feeling overwhelms me more, the pain fading or the strange heaviness in his voice.
“And now… now that I’m here…?” I ask.
His eyes meet mine. This time he doesn’t look away.
“Since you arrived, the gaps are changing. Some memories are coming back, not really fully but just the flashes and also enough to know this…”
His fingers tremble on my skin.
“...I’ve been looking for you.”
My breath Hiccups. “Me? Cassian, that makes no sense.”
“I know but it’s the truth.”
He moves closer, his knee hits the side of the bed, and suddenly he’s inches apart from my face. His hair falls slightly, shadowing his eyes. I can feel his warm breath.
The glow around his hand dims, but he doesn’t move it.
“Cassian…” I whisper.
His gaze drops to my lips, like he’s been thinking about this for far longer than I have known him.
He leans in.
Heat rushes through me stronger than the magic. My chest tightens, my thoughts scramble, and for a second the whole world feels suspended in that tiny space between us.
Then he stops.
His breath shudders. His fingers curl against the bed sheet beside my hip.
“Not yet.” He says, his voice strained. “You need to remember first.”
My heart kicks hard. “Remember what…”
“I don’t know.” His voice cracks at the edges. “But I know you have to.”
He pulls back fast. The warmth leaves again.
“Cassian…”
“Don’t trust the headmistress.”
The words hit me like a slap.
“What? Why?”
He steps away, rubbing the last of the glow from his hands. The light disappears fully.
“I shouldn’t have said that.” He murmurs.
“Well, too late. You did say it.”
He looks over his shoulder. His eyes don’t glow now. They now look afraid.
“Just be careful.” He says. “There are things you haven't seen yet.”
“Then show me.”
He hesitates. “I can’t, not until you remember.”
I sit up a little too fast. The pain is gone, but my mind isn’t steady. “Cassian, you can’t drop a warning like that and walk away.”
He opens his mouth like he wants to explain. Then his face shifts to something cold, something alert. He looks past me, toward the doorway.
“Cassian?” I whisper.
“Someone’s coming.” He says.
Before I can turn, the infirmary lights flicker. His body stiffens, the same way someone tenses before taking a punch.
The door opens slowly.
Headmistress Elara steps inside, her smile soft but her eyes sharp like glass.
“Thalira.” She says. “I heard you were injured. I came to check on you.”
Cassian moves subtly between us. It’s small, but I see it. He doesn’t trust her at all.
She notices too. Her smile widens. “Is something wrong, Cassian?”
“No!” He answers. The lie sounds like it burns his tongue.
Her gaze shifts to me. “Your first week here has been… interesting.”
“That’s one word for it.” I mutter.
Cassian shoots me a look that screams don’t provoke her.
Elara clasps her hands gently. “I hope you’re adjusting. Duskmoor can be overwhelming, especially for someone with your… potential.”
The word potential scrapes my nerves. It shouldn’t bother me but it does. It sounds like she knows something I don’t, something Cassian is scared of.
“Thank you for checking.” I say carefully. “I’m fine.”
“Good.” She steps closer. “I look forward to seeing how you grow here.”
Her eyes linger on me for a moment longer. Then she gives a small nod and walks out, leaving the air heavy behind her.
The second the door closes Cassian grabs my hand.
“Pack your things.” He whispers. “Now.”
My pulse lurches. “Why.”
His eyes burn again, bright and fierce.
“Because she knows.”
I freeze. “Knows what?”
He leans close, his voice barely a breath.
“That you’re the reason I keep coming back.”
