Chapter Seven #2
It wasn’t Pearl. When he swung the door open, he found Palmer standing in the hallway.
His hair looked like he’d run his fingers through it most of the afternoon, and there was a worried expression on his face.
Rune barely had time to step aside when Palmer pushed past him, walking into the room only to start pacing as soon as he was inside.
This didn’t look good. “Palmer?” Rune asked, knowing he didn’t need to say the words for Palmer to know what he was asking.
Palmer ran his hand through his hair, making it stick up even more. “I was poisoning them,” he declared.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but you’re worrying me.”
“You should be worried. I was poisoning my patients. Granted, I didn’t know that I was, and I didn’t do it on purpose, and most of the blame isn’t on me but on the people who were actually poisoning them, but I made them worse.”
“I think you need to sit down and tell me what’s going on in more detail before I freak out.”
Palmer shook his head, and while Rune wasn’t sure what part of that sentence it was in response to, he found out soon enough.
“I can’t sit down. I have to go back to the infirmary, but I wanted to tell you what happened. Someone is poisoning your siblings. I was trying to help, obviously, but the treatment I gave them made them worse because it interacts with the poison they were given.”
That was a lot of information. Rune had suspected most of it, but he still needed to wrap his mind around it.
He wanted to sit on the couch. Someone was poisoning his siblings. Someone was hurting them on purpose. Who would hurt Twig? He was little more than a kid, and he’d never hurt anyone. Why would anyone try to kill him? “But you know now,” Rune said. “You can fix things.”
Palmer dropped onto the couch next to Rune and sighed. “I can, and I will. I’ve already started. I went straight to the infirmary when I left the meeting and gave Twig the new treatment. I also had someone contact Yorga and Ash so that they’ll come to the infirmary as soon as possible.”
“That’s good.”
“It is, but I hate what happened. I made them worse.”
“You couldn’t have known someone was poisoning them. Even if you had, it could have been anything. Are you sure what’s going on?”
“The healer I met with is pretty sure. She said it could be something else, but the new treatment will tell us that. Between the symptoms and the way Twig and Yorga reacted to my initial treatment, though, she’s pretty sure it’s wolfsbane.”
“Have you ever used wolfsbane?”
“Never. I’ve never even seen a case of poisoning by wolfsbane.”
“Then you really couldn’t have known, Palmer. You did everything right.”
But Palmer still didn’t look happy. “Making Twig and Yorga worse is making me look incompetent. Worse than that, it could’ve seriously hurt them.
I would never have forgiven myself if something had happened to them because of me.
And before you say it, yes, I know that this is all on the poisoner, whoever they are, but still.
It’s almost like they did this on purpose to make me look like I didn’t know what I was doing. ”
That made Rune angry. Palmer would never have hurt anyone on purpose, but more than that, he’d made it his mission to help people. Instead, he’d ended up hurting them, and even though it hadn’t been on purpose, he was going to blame himself. He already was.
“Maybe they did do it on purpose,” he offered.
Palmer frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Well, Pearl is unhappy with your presence here. Killian keeps insisting that you’re a good doctor and that having you here will benefit us, but if an outsider was looking at the situation, they’d think that you made things worse. Maybe that was what Pearl was aiming for.”
Palmer looked bewildered at that thought. “Would she really go this far to make me look bad?”
“I don’t think it’s about you as much as it’s about Killian.
He decided to have you here, working on dragons.
If something happened because of you, it would put him in a bad light, too.
” Rune hated that Pearl was doing this to Palmer.
He wasn’t sure how to fix it or even if there was anything he could do to fix it, but he could comfort Palmer.
He reached out and grabbed Palmer by the shoulder, pulling him into a hug.
Palmer made a small surprised sound, but he came easily, allowing Rune to wrap his arms around him.
He even hugged back, hooking an arm around Rune’s waist awkwardly.
It was only when Rune felt Palmer’s hand on his back that he realized how inappropriate this was.
He quickly let go, putting more space between them.
“I’m really sorry about that.”
Palmer watched him for a moment. Rune wanted to scream.
He hoped that Palmer wasn’t going to go straight to Killian to ask him to get Rune away from him or something.
He needed to stick around to ensure his siblings would be okay, but he also didn’t want to have to give up his time with Palmer.
He enjoyed the work they were doing together, even though he really wasn’t doing much.
Palmer shook his head. “It’s fine. I actually think I needed that.”
Rune swallowed. “Really?”
Palmer got to his feet. “Really. But I need to go back to the infirmary. I want to make sure that Yorga and Ash got there all right and that they’ve started the treatment.” He hesitated. “But I’ll see you soon?”
That didn’t sound like he was going to ask Killian to keep Rune away from him. That was good. “Of course,” Rune promised with a smile. “I’ll come back tomorrow to check on Twig.”
“It’ll take a little while for the new meds to start working, but he should be fine.”
In the end, that was all that mattered. Even if Rune never got to work with Palmer again, as long as Twig was okay, he’d take it. He just needed Twig to be all right.
And Palmer would make sure that he was.
* * * *
BY THE TIME PALMER got to the infirmary, Yorga and Ash had both arrived.
He went to work immediately, ordering their treatment and making sure everything was as it should.
He and Kessa had talked about this at length, so he knew what to do and what to expect.
Unfortunately, he’d have to wait at least a full night to see the first improvements, which wouldn’t help his nervousness.
He didn’t go home. He wouldn’t have been able to sleep, anyway, so it wasn’t worth it. He spent the night in the infirmary, checking in on his patients and thinking about Rune.
What had happened in Rune’s room? Why had he hugged Palmer?
Palmer had enjoyed it, and he’d wanted more of it, but he’d needed to come back to work. Now that they knew what was going on and everyone would hopefully be okay, though, would something change between him and Rune? Had the hug only been comfort or a celebration, or was there more to it?
Palmer really couldn’t afford to enter a relationship with the king’s half-brother, but something told him that wouldn’t stop it from happening.
He and Rune worked well together, and Palmer couldn’t deny that he was interested in the dragon.
Rune was sweet and always tried to make himself helpful.
He’d been working with Palmer and keeping watch over him while Palmer was busy with his books.
He hadn’t been offended that Killian had chosen him of all people to play babysitter.
He’d done so eagerly, clearly wanting to help, and he had.
Palmer couldn’t tell whether or not he’d have thought about the poisoning if Rune hadn’t been working with him, but he was sure things would have been much worse for him.
Rune had supported him for the past few weeks, and Palmer was grateful for that.
Besides, it had only been a hug. It wasn’t like Rune had declared his undying love for Palmer or anything like that. Maybe he really had just been trying to comfort Palmer. Maybe Palmer was reading too much into it.
Maybe Palmer should go home and get some sleep.
Instead of doing that, he got up from the chair behind his desk and went to check in on his patients again.
They were all sleeping, and he didn’t want to bother them, so he didn’t do a full checkup.
He did enough to be sure that Twig’s fever had broken, though.
He still looked pale, but he was resting more peacefully, which hopefully meant the treatment was working.
Palmer would find out in the morning. He absolutely did not want to bother Twig now, and there was no reason for him to.
He went back to his office and leaned over his desk. He couldn’t go home, not without being sure that everyone would be okay, but he could take a nap on his desk. It wouldn’t be the first time, and he suspected it wouldn’t be the last, either.
*
SOMETHING STARTLED Palmer awake. He was out of his chair before he could think about it, already moving toward the door. “The patients?” he asked.
Rune stood at the entrance of Palmer’s office, holding something. “They’re fine,” he said. “Twig’s still asleep.”
“What about Yorga and Ash?”
“Ash still looked out of it when I walked past him, but Yorga is awake and eating something.”
Palmer blinked hard, trying to get the sleep out of his eyes. “She’s eating?”
“Without throwing up. I’d say they’re getting better.”
“I need to check on them.”
Rune raised a hand. “Or maybe you could check on them later, once you’ve had time to eat.”
“I need to make sure they’re okay.”
“Like I said, Yorga looks like she’s fine, and Ash and Twig are still sleeping. There’s no need to rush, and even if they wake up before you’re done eating, there are plenty of nurses out there. They’re not alone.”