29. Raven #2
A knock at the front of the apartment caused me to wince and sent Neive into a flurry of movements, rushing to answer the door.
Lucas leaned against my ear and whispered, “Wink once if you want me to smuggle you out of the castle.”
I laughed weakly, my eyes closing tighter in the action.
“Is that a yes? Are we fleeing?”
“No.” I cringed against the sound of my own voice bouncing around the inside of my skull. “I know it looks bad, but I’m going to be fine, and everything will be better soon. You’ll see.”
Another collection of booms thundered through my head, and another shudder consumed my body.
He brushed my hair with his palm. “I might know of a tonic that could help with that pain of yours.”
“No.” Neive’s voice came from the other room. “I don’t think—”
“I am under orders to give the message only to her,” said a gruff voice.
A message for me. Could enough time have passed with regard to Earl?
I pushed to a sit, my arm muscles like rubber. Lucas assisted and fluffed my pillows. I mumbled a “thank you” and leaned against the headboard.
“It’s all right, Neive. Let him in,” I called to the next room, my voice weak.
Weak or not, the sound reverberated internally. I pressed the heel of my palm to my temple, attempting to still the throbbing.
A man stepped to the foot of the bed, appearing every bit official from his palace uniform to his stiff demeanor.
“You have a message for me?” I swayed slightly.
Lucas braced my shoulder, holding me steady. The messenger tossed a questioning glance at Lucas. A silent statement not lost on me.
“Lucas is staying, so message away, palace boy.” I didn’t care about decorum.
If I offended, then he needn’t deal with me again…hopefully. I was too tired and too sore to care about much of anything.
“The royal healer told me to inform you that the project was a success.”
Anything, accept that. I cared about that. I had healed Earl, and that I cared about a great deal.
“Really?” I sat straighter despite my aches and pains. “What happens next?”
The man looked taken aback, as if he hadn’t expected any questions. I supposed he hadn’t. Deliver the message—that was his duty. Not serve as an information center.
“I gather he will be sent home. The royal healer made no indication of anything different.”
“Can you deliver a message to Valen for me?” I asked, and the man agreed. “Tell him I want to be involved. I want to be there when he returns home. Not see him off but go with him.”
When the man departed with my message for the royal healer, and I was once more alone with Lucas and Neive, they closed the bedchamber door and attacked with the questions.
I relented and told them what I’d done, what it meant, and what I wanted to do next.
“That is Ah. Maz. Ing!” Lucas brushed my shoulder. “But, sweetness, you’re in no condition to leave this bed anytime soon.”
Neive wholeheartedly agreed.
“For Earl’s return home, I’ll be ready,” I said, ignoring their concern.
Two hours later, I was up, dressed, and leaning against Lucas for support.
“I still don’t think this is a good idea,” he mumbled. “Your goddess mojo is seriously depleted. Like, into the deeply dangerous zone.”
I patted his chest. “But you’ll be there to help me. Catch me if I fall and all that good stuff.”
He tipped his nose up. “Yes, well. Apparently, I’m only good as a crutch after you’ve made the bad decision. I can’t stop you from actually doing the bad deed.”
“What about the crown prince?” Neive cut in. “In your physical state, his magic might come in handy…” She speared Lucas with a pointed glare. “Since he apparently now has full access to the power.”
“What? Don’t look at me,” he retorted. “I am but a mere servant, and Winter… Well, you know how he is.”
“How am I exactly?”
Neive gasped, and Lucas spun so fast, he sent me stumbling sideways.
“Whoa.” Winter lurched forward and grabbed my arm, steadying me. “You all right? You don’t look so good.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling her,” Lucas said with a whine. “She should be in bed. Not trotting out across the citadel.”
“What is this about, Raven? You look too weak to be doing much of anything.” He turned his sky-blue eyes on me, and my knees wobbled.
But only because I was tired. Not because…damn…he was sexy.
“I don’t believe you’ve properly recovered from the incident.”
“Oh, she was on her way to recovery from that General Beckett incident…” Lucas raised his hands with flamboyant flair.
“But then, today, they dragged her off and did gods-know-what with her. Returned her in a hot, messy puddle of exhaustion. Neive and I tried to stop them, but we can only do so much. Which begs the question: where were you, Winter?”
Winter’s eyes flashed a colder blue. “Who did this? General Beckett?”
“No.” I dragged my hand down his arm in an attempt to soothe. “Valen. But it was worth it. I healed Earl, and now I get to take him home.”
Winter startled and clutched my face in his hands. “Are you serious? Earl is no longer afflicted?”
A plethora of emotions sang in his open expression—joy, excitement, surprise, wonder. I nodded, a grin stretching my face, even as tears threatened to run down my cheeks.
“Aoes will drop to his knees and kiss your feet in thanks.” He grinned, a smile beaming with a thousand suns.
Lucas mumbled, “Oh, that Earl,” and then Winter kissed me.
My eyes blew wide. I hadn’t expected that.
And although I didn’t have the strength to fully give myself to the kiss or the emotion rolling off Winter in rivulets, I welcomed his emotional warmth, closed my eyes, and finding comfort in his closeness, I kissed him back.
I held him as tight as my weak arms would allow, which was rather loose… an embarrassing lack of strength.
I fluttered my eyes open briefly, and I noted Lucas’s discomfort, as well as Neive’s complexion blooming rose red.
Lucas coughed into his folded hand. And when Winter didn’t pull away from me, Lucas coughed a second time.
I tapped soft fingers to Winter’s chest, a signal he appeared to understand, because a breath of a moment later, he stepped back. Although he didn’t release me. Not yet. He gazed at me as if he were a treasure hunter who’d discovered the largest diamond in all of creation.
He smoothed his thumb over the top of my hand. “You are a sumptuous puzzle that never ceases to amaze and delight.”
“Um. Thank you?” I didn’t know how to take being called a puzzle. That was a first for me.
“I’m still blistering mad about them taking you today.
I left explicit orders that you were to be left alone.
Although…I cannot argue with the results.
” He sighed, his expression solemn for a blink, then his lips kicked up, and his eyes brightened.
“Might I have the honor of escorting both you and Earl to the Bridge Crossings? I am eager to witness Aoes’s reaction. ”
And, no doubt, keep an eye on me. Words he left unspoken.
“Oh, that would be most splendid.” Neive spoke before I fully recovered from the shock created by the unexpected kiss.
I turned my head, seeking Lucas. “Oh, well, Lucas—”
“No. No,” Lucas retorted. “I don’t need to go. Would rather not, actually. I think Winter escorting you is a fine idea. The best one, if I’m being honest.” He narrowed his focus on the prince and lowered his voice. “Because you’re going to behave, right?”
And with that, my escort was decided. Everyone but me had a say in what was best for the trip into the citadel, and once again, I was too exhausted to argue.
An hour later, I was heavily dosed on Lucas’s tonic, Winter had collected Earl, and we rambled through the citadel streets in a plush carriage. Earl was more hushed than he had been when afflicted, but his complexion was beautifully flushed and his eyes clear as crystals.
Eyes that hadn’t stopped staring at me since we had climbed into the carriage.
“You’re quiet,” Winter prompted as we neared the palace’s outermost wall and gate.
“Sorry.” Earl wiggled his upper body as if testing how things moved. “It’s just, after all this time, it feels mighty strange.”
“I can only imagine,” Winter sympathized.
Earl’s gaze swept away from the prince, back to me. “I still can’t believe you…”
“Don’t even give it a second thought.” I smiled weakly and found myself leaning into Winter’s shoulder, my bones and muscles weary. “Thank me by living a good life from this day forward.”
Earl’s hazel eyes twinkled, then burned with sorrow as his gaze upon me intensified. “I can do that.”
Bells chimed, and the carriage rolled to a stop, waited for the final gate to open. Fish, freshly baked bread, things I preferred not to put a name to—the various scents of nearby vendors—filled my nostrils and lungs as I pushed myself straight in my seat once more.
The carriage lurched forward, and the clamor of citizens going about their average day, punctuated with the barks of dogs, and the squeals of children, created the music to which the three of us traveled. My heart raced and my palms slicked with sweat over the excitement of the coming moment.
Earl slammed his hands to the cushioned seat, his face bright with life. “I’m me again! Bloody me! And I’m going home!”