83 - Practicing on The Victim

Kieran bursted through the door. "What happened?" His gaze landed on the bed. Annie was on top of Aster. He frowned at the sight. "Should I come back later?"

Crack.

"N-no! Kieran, help me!" Aster cried out. She was moving onto his ring finger now.

"Your hands need to be broken. That way, you won't harm innocent girls!" Crack. Another finger broke under her grip. He screamed again at the pain.

"Mercy! Mercy!" Aster cried to her. Kieran sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"What did you do this time, Aster?"

"He used these dirty hands to try and kiss me!" she accused. "What else were you planning?"

Crack. Aster cried out again, still trying to pull her away. Kieran sighed again and pulled Annie away. "I think four fingers should be punishment enough."

"Hey! What do you think you are doing?!" She tried to pull her wrist away from his grip. "Let go!"

He released her when she pulled. She stumbled towards a wall. "For a person who was in bed for three days, you sure are lively."

She gritted her teeth. Annie was stronger than Aster but compared to Kieran, he was stronger than all of them. If he wasn't a merchant or noble, was he a mercenary? Kieran swept a hand through his dark locks. A blue glass bead glinted at her before being covered under his hair.

Now that it was brighter, she could see his features well. The mask and hooded cape were removed. His skin was still pale and dark circles covered his blue eyes. Was it from lack of sleep? His body was thin, seemingly frail. She pondered how he can exert strength when he had no muscles.

Kieran had moved to look at Aster's hand. "It looks like she broke them cleanly," he admired. "It'll only take a few moments to heal."

Annie's eyes lit up. "I want to heal them. Since I was responsible, let me heal them." She moved between them and took Aster's hand. Aster whimpered and tried to move back unsuccessfully.

"Do you know how to heal?" Kieran asked, skeptically.

Annie focused on Aster's hand and tried to push her magic. The redness of the hand slowly lessened. Before she smiled in triumphant, a hand enveloped hers. Looking up, she saw it was Kieran. He had moved close to her, his face inches from hers. Annie felt her face get hot.

"What... What are you doing?"

Kieran's eyes were only on Aster's hands. "Unless you were serious for him not to use his hand anymore, this healing will not work. You need to coax his joints to align to its original position. Just how you pulled them out, you need to push it in and bind it with your magic."

His hands curled her fingers over Aster's forefinger. She pushed the finger back in and mentally thought of wrapping it. Annie's eyes widened in surprise. She saw small gold orbs of light appear and sink in her hand. Are these...?!

"Now, move to the next finger..." Kieran instructed and moved his hand away. Annie shifted and realigned Aster's middle finger. More orbs floated out and sunk in her hand. She smiled happily.