For over an hour he worked until finally the wounds began to heal over to leave her with a shiny pink scar that covered most of her shoulder.
"There you go," he breathed, looking down at her.
She glared back up as him and his brow lifted in challenge. She was hurting and angry, resenting them all and so she drove her knee into his back, throwing him forward and rolling as he flipped to his feet and came at her, aiming a kick for her side.
She threw herself to her feet, but he was on her in an instant, pinning her against the wall.
"Now wife, I think you're in no state to be fighting me," he growled in her ear as he grabbed her hip and jerked her into his groin.
"Epharis stop..." she pleaded but he ignored her, grunting as he took her again and then again until he was finally spent completely, several hours later in bed.
Rolling off her, he sighed and pulled her into his arms, ignoring her protests.
He had satisfied himself upon her and punished her for running off, now he was calm.
She sighed and rested against his chest, frustrated but helpless. He was her husband, she knew she had to submit to her duty as a wife, but it was hard when she wanted to be left alone to lick her wounds or be with her friends. Her last thoughts as she fell asleep were of Jaia and his desire to kill Harla for hurting her.
An odd sound woke her in the night, curled up against Epharis's side, or at least she thought she had been. Something was touching her head, eight gentle points of contact that was drilling into her mind.
"Epharis?" she asked groggily, trying to turn her head but he kept her still.
"You will not kill him until I'm ready," he whispered, his voice echoing inside her mind to make her brain ache. "You will no longer hate him, will not try and kill him. You will remember what he did, but you will not rage. Not until I am ready to move, my precious wife. We will have our revenge for what he did, but not yet."
Squirming under the force of the pain in her mind, she groaned but there was no escaping him, no escaping the words that were drilling their way into her brain.
Looking to the side, she whimpered as what she thought had been Epharis at her side turned out to be the corpse of a human man, his skin grey and eyes wide. His mouth was hanging open in an anguished scream. Looking up, she found Epharis leaning over her, his eyes glowing a toxic green.
"You will not kill Alaric, you will treat him as though he did not give the order. And now, sleep."
She did sleep then, the memory of the corpse, his words and the fear fading into nothing more than a vague dream in the back of her mind.
She slipped out of bed hours later, a headache leaving her grumpy as she made her way into the sitting room and noticed the plans that had replaced many of the books on several tables. Crossing to one of them, she frowned as she looked down at the maps and realised they were troop movements. The king and his brother were preparing for the war that she had forgotten all about.
Her stomach knotted when she thought of Nayishma and she shook her head at the stupidity of men.
"You play a significant role in the war," A voice said and she glanced to see Epharis watching her, wearing nothing but a pair of black pants.
Her eyes trailed down from his long silver hair to his toned, yet slender chest and then down to his bare feet.
"How so?" she asked, her eyes flicking back up to his face as he brushed his hair back. He looked almost human in that moment and she shivered at the sight.
"You will be on the front lines with Alaric, I'll be back with the twins," he slouched into the room, looking tired but content, especially when his eyes traced over her nudity as she bent over the table, her hair not doing anything to cover her.
"I'm not sure if I would be that good on the front line and Alaric certainly shouldn't be."
Epharis snorted and came to her side, his hand trailing up her back to make her shiver again.
"You haven't seen Alaric when he is in his titan form and you are an exceptional fighter. You just don't have training in swords."
He met her frown and doubt with confidence.
"You can learn while you're here," he said.
"You know I will have to go back to Faerie," she said and his contentment faded slightly.
"Alaric… Isn't going to tell them he got you back," he said warily and she straightened.
"That is an exceptionally bad idea. If they think you're hiding me, they will come."
"Have you ever heard of what happens when Faerie goes to war?" she asked, certain he hadn't.
He shook his head and she frowned.
"Ayathian will be wiped off the map. A future warning for anyone who thinks they are clever enough to go up against them again. No one will survive"
He frowned at her and she shook her head, knowing he wouldn't believe her.
"Well, I only hope Alaric knows what he's doing."
"We all do," he sighed and pulled her down to detail the map and all of the movements in it.
Later that day she had slipped away in search of the twins, knocking gently on the door to their rooms and finding Versalis.
He greeted her warmly, pulling her into a tight hug and guiding her inside, the twins reading.
"Etani, glad to see you're back," Kai said brightly, getting up and hugging her.
***
Jaia hesitated, watching her warily and his reaction made her nervous.
"What's wrong?" she asked, anxiety in her voice. "Are you still unwell from yesterday? Are you injured?" she approached Jaia, ready to yank up the back of his shirt to check his back when Kai stopped her.
"He's fine Etani, he's just a little shocked."
"By what?" she demanded, angry and scared for him.
"With what you said in the dungeon," Kai said slowly.
She stopped and looked from him, to Versalis, who was looking particularly sullen, and then to Jaia.
"What did I say?" she asked, her tone defensive.
"Don't you remember?" Jaia asked and she shook her head.
"What do you remember?" Kai asked, glancing at his twin.
"I said a lot down there, what point are you talking about?" she asked.
"After Harla bit you and before Epharis showed up," Jaia said.
She frowned, thinking about it.
"Harla bit me, I was laughing because of what he did and how he ended up as a humanoid, and then I was thinking about Catsit and then Epharis was there and I was trying to squash Harla's throat."
"What's a Catsit?" Kai asked.
"Catsit is the first mythical I came across in the human world. He is a little talking black cat with a white circle on his chest. He told me a lot about his world and to avoid the witches."
She looked between them and shook her head slightly.
"I was drugged wasn't I?" she sounded irritable again.
"Yes dear, you were drugged," Kai said gently.
"What did I say?" she demanded, looking between the three.
Jaia was watching her, his face both relived and terribly sad.
"Jaia?" she asked, wanting to go to him but afraid of his rejecting her.
"It's not important now. You're safe, everything is going to be fine," he breathed, his tone sounding devastated.
She looked at Kai, who had been watching her intently, almost accusatory.
"What did I say Jaia?" she demanded, starting to get scared.
"Don't worry, it isn't important now," Jaia said gently and took her hand, leading her down onto the couch.
She didn't like it one bit and she knew they had been talking about her. But she sat down and her eyes levelled on Versalis. He looked back at her, and then he looked suddenly nervous as the intensity of her stare. He knew she was going to grill him for information later.