Nine
Calypso
I woke hearing voices, without a recollection of when I had fallen asleep. My head ached and the woozy sensation of the world moving without me made my stomach rebel. Keeping my eyes closed, I concentrated on the surrounding conversations instead.
“I really must protest, sire,” the man who had greeted us upon our arrival said.
“Did you ever stop?” Ghost growled.
“What is it this time, Soren?” Azulin sounded tired.
“She’s lying in your bed.” The horror in Soren’s voice sounded a tad overdone.
That explained the softness of the surface beneath me. Surely the most powerful fae in the realm would also have the most comfortable bed in the realm. It was probably also the reason the bed smelled of clean linens, fresh air, and Azulin.
A moment of silence drew out before Azulin asked, “And?”
“It is untoward!” Soren’s intense tone made me cringe.
“I am not in the bed with her,” Azulin muttered.
“When did you grow to be so tiresome?” Ghost asked Soren.
“I am not,” Soren protested with great offense. “I am, however, apparently the only voice of reason in the company of uncouth barbarians.”
Ghost snorted and a smoky essence teased my nose. Azulin sighed heavily.
“Ghost, have I made untoward advances toward Lady Anon?”
“You are showing admirable restraint.”
Azulin asked, “If I should be overtaken by the desire to assault the lady, do you promise to protect her reputation?”
“I so swear.” Ghost’s deadpan voice betrayed nothing.
“Are you satisfied, Soren?”
“Marginally, sire.”
“Then seek out the missing healer as quickly as possible.” The pained tone in Azulin’s voice brought my eyes open.
“Yes, sire.” Footfalls hastily retreated as I blinked up at the arches gracefully spanning the ceiling above my head.
Sitting up slowly, I scanned the room. Windows looked out in the four cardinal directions, revealing glimpses of the lightening horizon in the east. In the west, the inky black of the night still reigned. Based on the ribbed ceiling and the views out the windows, I guessed we sat at the top of the castle. I could see sky in all directions.
Only Azulin and Ghost remained in the room.
“May I speak?” I asked.
“For the moment.” Azulin leaned elegantly against one of the massive pillars holding up the roof. Despite his appearance of casual grace, pain etched the corners of his eyes with lines. “As soon as anyone enters, you must remain silent.”
“What about with the healer?” Ghost asked. “He will want to question her.”
Azulin shook his head before Ghost had even finished speaking. “Not even with him. I don’t trust a healer who doesn’t come running when his master calls. Where has he been all this time?”
Ghost nodded in apparent understanding.
“I will order him to stick to binary questions that can be answered without words.” Azulin’s assessing gaze lingered on me. “Besides, I suspect we already know the cause of her collapse.”
I opened my mouth to demand an explanation.
“My apologies, sire.” A young male elf stumbled into the room out of breath and flushed. “My master could not climb the stairs, so he sent me.” He paused to pant. “How might I serve you?” He scanned the room, taking in the king sagging against the wall, Ghost blocking a window with his massive bulk, and me sitting in the center of Azulin’s bed.
The elf’s crystalline blue-silver eyes widened, and his eyebrows disappeared under the fringe of golden hair falling over his forehead.
“There is a girl,” he sputtered.
Ghost growled. “Every time.”
Azulin sighed impatiently. “Lady Anon is a woman, not a girl, Matius. Now can we get on with healing?” He coughed roughly. The sound made me flinch in sympathy. Each coughing fit sounded worse. “We were both exposed to dragon fire and Lady Anon was bit by a nathair. I drew out the poison, but I couldn’t heal the bite.”
Matius froze, wild-eyed as though uncertain who to tend first.
“See to the king first, squirt,” Ghost ordered. “Then the lady.” Catching my questioning gaze, he grimaced. “Dragon fire festers in the lungs and can cause significant damage if not quenched adequately.”
“I barely caught a breath,” Azulin protested. However, he didn’t make a fuss when the young healer approached him, offering him a potion from a storage spell similar to the one Azulin had been fumbling with since I met him. The elf extracted the vial of potion promptly, clearly far more at ease with the spell than Azulin.
Then Matius turned to me and blushed. “How might I assist you, my lady? Aside from attending to your foot, that is.”
Mindful of Azulin’s instructions about not speaking, I extended my bandaged and swollen foot from beneath my ragged skirt. Hard to believe that it had been clean and fresh only days before.
“This first, then.” The healer approached the edge of the bed, and Azulin wilted demeanor transformed as straightened to his full height. His shoulders squared and his intense gaze homed in on the healer.
“I applied a spelled bandage to the wound. Do you wish for me to remove it first?”
“No need.” Matius leaned over my bare foot. “It appears simple enough.” A gentle tug on the bandage and it fell away from my foot. He drew in a sharp breath through his teeth. “That looks painful.” He glanced up at me, assessing my features. “When did you say this happened?”
“I didn’t,” Azulin responded.
Matius nodded as he turned his attention back to my foot.
Azulin moved to stand next to the head of the bed. “The bite happened over a day ago. I drew out the poison immediately. I am confident I extracted all the poison, but…”
Matius nodded. “I will check for you, but by the looks of it, she is poison free. If any had remained, there would be signs.” Lifting my leg by the calf, he examined my foot. “Pain?”
I nodded, but he hadn’t glanced up.
“She says yes,” Azulin informed the healer.
Matius lifted his head at that. “Can she not speak?”
“I advised her not to for the time being. At least until I can place a protection spell on her. Stick to yes or no questions.”
“Ah, that makes sense.” Matius turned his attention back to his task. “The damage is minimal. Some lacerations and bruising in addition to the puncture marks. I suspect she will be well on her way to healing within a week, but I doubt you wish her to wait that long.”
Azulin agreed.
“In that case, I will see what I can do. I will check her lungs as well.” The elf straightened and closed his eyes. The air thickened with magic. Then the sensation in the air shifted, concentrating on my foot, wrapping it in an invisible cocoon that prickled and tickled.
I involuntarily twitched.
Azulin settled a hand on my shoulder. “Be still.”
I nodded and willed my foot to not move. Elven magic was a powerful unknown, and I didn’t want to risk messing up the healer’s spell.
“Only a moment more,” Matius informed me.
The vine wrapping my arm loved that Azulin was touching me. It rippled and tightened, but not uncomfortably so. I glanced up at Azulin, but he was watching the elf’s work. Did Azulin’s vine respond the same way mine did? I would have to ask him later.
“All finished,” Matius announced. The magic in the room cut off abruptly. “It appears you escaped dragon fire exposure. Would you like to test your ankle out, my lady?” He extended a hand to me, but Azulin moved faster. He slid an arm around my back and lifted me in one smooth motion, easing me onto my feet.
I stood for a moment staring down at my normally colored feet. I could spot no signs of a cut or puncture beneath the grime. And they were blissfully pain free. Instinctively, I opened my mouth to express my appreciation, but Azulin’s sharp tug on my hair reminded me of his instructions.
Instead, I snapped my mouth shut and met the healer’s concerned gaze with a bright smile.
“No pain?”
I shook my head.
“Any other concerns?”
Before I could shake my head again, Azulin intervened.
“None, thank you. Please notify your master I wish to meet with him tomorrow morn. A personal appearance on his part will be required this time.” The king narrowed his gaze at the elf. “Am I understood?”
“Perfectly, sire.” Matius lowered his head in a sign of respect and backed out of the room.
However, neither Azulin nor Ghost relaxed after the door closed. We all strained our ears to listen to the retreating elf’s faint footfalls. The pair of males listened far longer than I. Their hearing clearly excelled my capabilities.
“Perimeter?” Azulin asked in a hushed tone.
“Secured.” Ghost stalked to the door and cracked it open. “Spells are in place, and the brothers are stationed on the balconies.”
Azulin nodded grimly. “Now logistics. How far do we have before she faints?”
“What?” I asked.
“About a dozen feet.”
Azulin motioned for me to show him my hidden hand. “That isn’t far. A guest room is out of the question, then.”
I raised my left arm, and the ripped fabric of my ruined sleeve fell away to reveal the golden tattoo. The surface of the leaves shone in the light and the vine rippled and warmed as though delighted to be exposed to the air.
Ghost muttered an oath. “A fae mate binding? With whom?”
Azulin wordlessly unbound the end of his right sleeve and rolled the cloth up, revealing a lean muscular arm. His vine had gained one or two more tendrils since last I had seen it. However, I didn’t notice any growth when I checked mine.
“Why is only yours growing?” I asked.
“Yours is expanding too.” Azulin caught my arm and turned it so the back of my arm and the tattoo across it caught the light. I couldn’t see the vine, but Ghost’s eyes widened.
“You have three new leaves here.” Azulin’s thumb caressed the back of my arm. A warm flutter of something magical brushed my spine, making me shiver.
“So, the bonding isn’t complete,” Ghost observed. “There’s time to break it.”
The vine on my arm tightened, heating and constricting, but not painfully. Considering Azulin’s sharp glance at his own tattoo, his had done the same. The air filled with a tingle of power, and the contact point where the king held my elbow warmed.
“The pooka indicated otherwise,” Azulin muttered as he continued to eye his vine. It appeared to breathe, and then before our eyes, another leaf unfolded farther up his arm. “He said our magic is entwined to the point it is probably inseparable.”
Just then my stomach let out a monstrous growl.
Azulin met my gaze. Amusement softened his expression, but I still couldn’t make out the color of his eyes despite the superior lighting. “I don’t know about you, but I am famished and exhausted. Ghost—”
“Meals were ordered the moment you set foot on the castle grounds.”
“Good.” Azulin turned cool and assessing. “Then we have a little time to figure out the logistics of where you will sleep tonight.”
“I can take her downstairs.”
“No, you stay here and catch her if she faints.” Azulin released my arm.
“Faint?” I asked his retreating back as he strode to the door.
“How do you think you got up here?” Ghost growled. “I carried you.”
My stomach sank. “You mean I’m going to faint if I move too far from Az—the king?”
“Any sensations of weakness?” Ghost peered at me.
“None.” I glared at him. “What happened in the courtyard?”
Ghost shrugged one of his massive shoulders. “You were just standing there. Then suddenly you paled and collapsed.”
Abruptly, a wave of nausea hit, and my vision dimmed.
“Too far!” Ghost bellowed. He grabbed me around my shoulders and snapped his fingers right in front of my face. “Hey!”
∞∞∞
Azulin
I rested my forehead against the cool stone of the outer wall of my tower. My heart pounded in my chest as I tried to suppress the urge to run back up the half-flight I had just descended. Calypso wasn’t alone in suffering the effects of a partially-formed bond. I had the irrational desire to touch her and be near her. Plus, my growing vine burned.
Above me I could hear Ghost trying to persuade Calypso to move back to the bed. By the sound of it, she was being stubborn. I tried to take that as a good sign, but I couldn’t get around the fact that she had almost lost consciousness again. Considering Ghost’s intensity, it had been a near miss.
We had a dozen feet or less.
My stomach clenched. My chamber alone was at least twice that in width, much less anywhere else I might be called within the palace. And even now, Ghost sounded alarmed again.
I groaned. My hopes of keeping my distance, both emotionally and physically, were being dashed to pieces. My marking flared painfully.
“Lady Anon, you really must stay on this side of the room.” Ghost’s voice boomed despite the closed door above me.
“Then where is he standing?” she demanded as her footfalls moved across the room above me.
“In the stairwell,” I answered.
She opened the door and stood in the opening regarding me solemnly. “Then it’s worse than we thought.”
I nodded gravely. “A dozen feet, perhaps less.”
She studied my features with pale intensity. Soot streaked her face, making her appear far younger than I suspected she was. The wild mane of tangled hair rioting about her head didn’t help the impression.
“What do you suggest we do about it?”
“Make do until I can speak to my healer tomorrow.”
She pressed her lips into a firm line and nodded grimly. “I will sleep on your floor tonight.”
Shaking my head even before she finished her sentence, I replied, “I will have someone fetch a mattress.” There was no way anyone was sleeping on my chamber floor. We both were exhausted. We needed rest, especially if this was only the first of many complications to come. “We both need sleep.”
The door at the bottom of the stairwell opened, and the smell of food wafted up to greet me.
“And food,” I added.
Then pushing off from the wall, I forced myself to climb the remaining steps back to my bedchamber. The whole mess would be more manageable in the morning, or at least that was what I tried to tell myself.