Healer's Touch Read Free Page A

Aru sees all who have need of him and charges no fee. And the Kurgae’in are…not the monsters people say. They do much good, for little money. Those without means are treated free of charge, or allowed work off their debt in the service of other patients at the hospital. Don’t let it worry you. Even if the Kurgan physicians demand payment, I know my master would never leave you in the lurch. All right?”
    The woman nodded like a trouper. “All right, miss.”
    â€œGood. Now you rest, and I’ll be back in no time at all.”
    She stood, smoothing her robe, and turned to head into the kitchen. Aru stood in the doorway, staring at her as if he’d never seen an Anduni woman before. He backed away as she approached and let her pass without a word, but she felt his terrible, beautiful eyes on her back like a caress.
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    He’d come down to dismiss her. Clearly, it was the only thing to do. Get her out of his house, and soon enough she would be out of his head, as well. He had rehearsed the words in his mind, had hardened his heart until he was sure he could resist tears or tantrums or any other form of persuasion she might exhibit. But there was no defense against her quiet, unselfish compassion. Seeing her with the woman, calming her fears, soothing her hurts, had stabbed right through him. He could only watch and be amazed by her.
    She was extraordinary.
    He had no idea how she could do what she did. How she could be drawn one day, and then the next and the next, and never show any weakness or lasting injury. In the eighteen years since his fall he had never come across anyone with such a deep well of sensuality, or such an affinity for channeling it. It was as if Salgrim himself lived in her very womb.
    She was a gift beyond price. She gave Aru back his sense of himself within the universe. With her power at his fingertips, he was as close to immortal as he would ever come again. He couldn’t have her, but that didn’t mean he could let her go.
    He watched as she worked in the kitchen, ladling stock from the pot that continually simmered on the stove and seasoning it with crushed peppercorns, salt, thyme and parsley. Adding some rusks of wheat, she carried the bowl past him where he still stood in the doorway, her eyes flicking briefly to his and then away again.
    A spoonful at a time, Viera fed the injured woman. The patient ate what she could, then took some poppy milk and lay down again.
    Viera straightened, gathering up dishes. Her gaze lifted to Aru’s, but there was nothing of import in it, not a trace of her earlier anger and hurt. “If you don’t mind, I was going to go to the market and get a few things. I’ll stop at the Kurgan hospital and let Inella’s children know they can come visit this evening.”
    Aru swallowed past an unexpected thickness in his throat. He had been prepared for tears, for recriminations, for coldness. He hadn’t anticipated this bland, detached courtesy. “All right.”
    â€œIs there anything you need from the market?”
    So civil. So unreachable. The distance between them widened into a chasm. He shook his head. “Nothing, thank you.”
    She nodded and brushed past him to the stairs. Aru stood in the infirmary, alone but for the sleeping woman, and wondered why he felt he had lost something dear.

Chapter Two
    Viera was just buttoning her cloak when the bell rang downstairs. Glancing at her face in the priceless glass mirror Aru had bought for her, she squeezed her cheeks to give them a bit of color. Her face looked naked without the paint she used to wear, but the more she saw of it, the more she thought that naked looked pretty good. Her hair, braided into one long plait, hung to her waist, and her dress was modestly cut and of good quality—for all intents and purposes, she looked a perfectly respectable woman out running errands.
    A few months could make a big difference.
    She descended the