"She's... marked," Sena announced.
Noah and Ryan's eyes widened as they both froze and their faces stiffened. There expressions were blank with disbelief. A stunned silence fell over them.
"Who is her mate?" Sena asked not realizing their shocked faces. After a minute of them not replying to her, she turned to look at them, "Who marked her?"
In a trance, "The Alpha." the words slipped out barely a whisper from Ryan.
Now there was five shocked and tongue-tied people. The silence in the room was heavy.
Sena cleared her throat lightly, "I want to clean her wounds. We should get her out of her." She then was supported and rose unsteadily to her feet.
Noah and Ryan exchanged a glance, the unspoken weight of the moment hanging between them.
Without a word, Noah stepped forward and crouched beside her. He gently slipped an arm beneath her knees and the other around her back.
"We'll take her to the Alpha's chambers," he said.
Ryan looked at him, "Why his?"
"Do you have a better idea?" He left the room. The others fell into step behind, the tension in the air growing heavier with every footstep.
They got to the room, he placed the girl on the bed and stepped aside. She looked so small in the giant bed. Sena asked Zane to get some water for her to clean her wounds.
"Axel can you call Joy and tell her to bring some Yarrow, comfrey, Calendula and a wolfbane root."
"Why do you need so much?"
"She lost a lot of blood," she sat on the bed examining her. "They are just to boost her wound healing process and soothing pain, fever."
Water was brought and Sena got to work.
She dipped a cloth into the bowl, wrung it out and gently wiped the blood from the girl's face.
"Poor girl, What happened to her face?" The bruises and wounds on her face became more prominent after cleaning her. The cuts weren't deep, but they were angry and fresh. Her movements were slow and careful.
Soon she was done. She placed her hand gently over the girl's chest, whispered the incantation under her breath. A soft glow bloomed in her palm a warm golden light.
But the moment it touched the girl's skin, it flickered... and vanished like it was sucked or couldn't penetrate to her core.
Sena's eyes dimmed. Her breath caught.
She tried again, slower this time, focusing, pushing her energy towards the girl's body. Nothing. It was like pressing against a wall that wouldn't yield.
Sena jerked her hand back, visibly shaken.
"She's repulsive and resistant to my power."
Ryan frowned, stepping forward. "What do you mean?"
"It's like..." Sena hesitated, struggling to find the right words. "Like there is something in her channel not allowing my magic to pass through."
"That happens?" Ryan asked.
"I have never heard of a case like this before." She explained.
"What will you do then?" As Ryan asked, Joy and Axel got inside the room.
Joy passed the herbs to Sena, "The old ways would have to do the trick." She grabbed the herbs and started mashing the herbs into a soft paste.
She dabbed the paste onto the wounds on the girl.
"What happened to her?" Joy asked her eyes locking onto the girl on the bed.
Ryan and Noah exchanged glances, this was a secret not to be known by many people. They were about to ask her to leave...
"Oh poor thing, she just regained her conscious and now she's unresponsive again?" she sighed sadly.
"You know her?" Ryan gave her a sideways glance his eyebrows raised.
"Yes, Lyra, She's one of the maids who arrived at the packhouse for the decree." she continued, "She was sick when she arrived and passed out for four days, then woke up yesterday." She sighed, "Poor girl!"
"Now we know where to start." Noah left the room.
Sena asked for a white cloth. She used the cloth tying it around the paste she placed on the neck. It helped to stop the bleeding.
Ryan asked quietly, "When will she wake up?"
Sena stood up, gathering her herbs into her pouch. "It's up to her," she wiped her hands. "She lost a lot of blood. If she survives the night... or even the week, then she'll be fine. But don't put your hopes too high."
"By that, you mean she might die?"
Sena didn't answer right away. She just nodded.
The two healers turned to leave, the weight of her words hanging in silence.
As they reached the doorway, Sena glanced back at Lyra one last time. Then, in a whisper only Ryan could hear, she said...
"She's not the Alpha's mate, is she?"