Eternal Rider - Larissa Ione [139]
Hades shook his head. “Cerberus’s bond doesn’t work that way. It’s against natural law to alter an entire species. You reap the benefits of taking from them, and they get you as a healer.”
Didn’t seem like a fair tradeoff to her, but she wasn’t going to complain. “Ares, are you okay? Your legs…”
“They’re fine. Eidolon gave me a quick zap when he first got here, and I’m regenerating to heal the rest. So I really don’t need any medical help.” The last bit was aimed at Luc, who gave Ares the finger.
Hiding a smile, Cara reached for Ares’s hand… and noticed that Battle wasn’t on his arm. Instant alarm lanced her. “The horses. How are the horses?”
“They could use your help,” Ares said softly.
“You should have told me!” She leaped to her feet, and she had to cover her mouth with her hand to contain her gasp of horror. Now she understood why Ares had held her the way he had, angled away from the animals.
The carnage was… unbelievable. Thanatos was kneeling next to Styx, who was a mass of bone erupting from muscle. His legs were twisted in awkward angles, and he had so many blades and arrows sticking out of him that he looked like a porcupine.
Battle and Bones bore similar injuries, and all of the horses were surrounded by people in scrubs, who were working frantically to save the stallions.
Cara scrambled over to Styx, who appeared to be in the worst shape—though the amount of play in that distinction could be measured in a thimble.
Styx’s eyes were closed, his nostrils flaring as he breathed. Blood bubbled up through the multiple wounds in his chest, and nothing the medical people were doing seemed to help.
“Oh, no,” she breathed, as she kneeled at the stallion’s head.
Thanatos’s hand captured her wrist. His yellow gaze was tortured, and fear had drawn deep lines in his handsome face. “Can you help him? Please? I know I’ve been harsh with you—”
“I understand.” He had the fate of the human world resting on his shoulders, and he’d been justifiably more concerned with that than her feelings.
Gently, she extracted herself from his grip to lay both her hands on Styx. Closing her eyes, she summoned her healing energy. A blast of power slammed into her, and her head snapped back so hard her hands came off the horse.
“What is it?” Ares gripped her shoulders from behind, bracing her as she blinked out of the stunned fog she was in. Thanatos was staring at her with concern, and Limos had twisted around from where she was caring for Bones to watch with just as much worry.
“I don’t know.” Cara shook her head, clearing it of the last of the fuzzy feeling. “Usually I feel a trickle of power, but this was like a river. Like a dam had burst. Let me try again.” Once more, she placed her hands on the stallion, but this time, she opened herself up more gradually.
Energy sang through her with a hundred times the strength she was used to, and that was on the lowest setting she could manage. Tentatively, she let it out through her hands, and all around her, people gasped.
Cara didn’t open her eyes. In her mind, she could see everything. There was no pain for her, but the horse’s wounds were closing, weapons were being pushed out of flesh, and bone was knitting together. A great surge of affection hit her as Styx’s health improved, and within minutes, he was communicating his gratitude to her in words and images and little nuzzles of his velvety nose against her thigh.
Gradually, there was nothing left to heal, and she pulled back her power and opened her eyes. The medical people were watching her in awe, and even Eidolon, who seemed to have a similar ability, was eyeing her with speculation.
“Can you do that with people?”
She shook her head. “Only animals.” Eidolon looked disappointed. Thanatos offered his hand to her, and though she didn’t need his help to stand, she took it, sensing that he needed to do this. Ares stepped back, apparently sensing the same thing. When she was standing before the giant warrior, he kneeled at her feet, head