24. The Cure
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THE CURE
When awareness returned, it was sudden and brutal.
My eyes snapped open to see Riel panting above me, eyes wild, hands still poised on my chest to deliver another shock of lightning magic. He did a double take upon realizing that my eyes were open. Slowly, wearily, he lost all strength, collapsing by my side and lowering his head to the cot. The linen muffled his whispered prayer of thanks.
I lay there and took stock of my feelings. Seersthri still held my hand, her mending magic easing the worst of my aches and pains. My lungs expanded and contracted somewhat reluctantly, but my toes and fingers wiggled without much prompting. Thoughts were slow to come, but the memories of moments ago were still there. Minor aches and heavy fatigue were all that lingered from my brush with death.
Oh, and my nipples tingled.
The mender drew away. Riel lifted his head then, his eyes scanning my face as though to reassure himself that I was alive and alert. I lifted a hand idly, wanting to show him I was okay but unable to do much else while I worked up the strength to speak .
“Jesus,” I wheezed once I caught my breath. “Feels like an avida kicked me in the chest.”
“We are never doing that again,” Riel said with finality.
I raised my head to look for Seersthri, seeking confirmation that the manaviri worked. She advanced toward us with a glass of water in her hand. Riel helped me sit up. As I went from horizontal to vertical, I could have sworn I felt something slide down my boob and catch on the underwire of my bra, but I didn’t have time to ponder that.
“Thank you.” I gratefully accepted the glass Seersthri handed to me.
“Slow,” she warned as I drank. When I was done, she took the glass back.
“Did it work?” I asked, looking up at her hopefully.
“All is well,” Seersthri told me, patting my knee. “We will see soon. Now…” She retracted her hand and got to her feet. “Your body and spirit need rest. Stay, or go. I have work.”
With that, she crossed the room, gathered some items into a tote bag, and swept out of the room. I rubbed absently at my chest, where I still felt raw.
“Does it hurt?” Riel murmured from beside me. His hand made slow, comforting circles between my shoulder blades, and I closed my eyes to savor the feeling.
“Not really. Just a little sore.”
“I’m sorry. I… tried to be gentle.”
“Don’t be sorry. Whatever you did, it worked.” I offered him a smile.
Remembering the odd sensation I’d felt when I sat up, I tugged my top open and peered down. When nothing obvious jumped out at me, I hunched over and pushed at the bottom of my bra to get a look inside. “Oh, my God. I think… I think my piercings closed.”
Angling my body away from Riel and attempting to be discreet about it, I went digging. When I pulled my hand out to reveal the two silver hoops that should have been attached to my nipples, we both stared at them in disbelief.
Then Riel threw back his head and laughed.
“Ahh… I suppose we’ll just have to do them again, eseri .” He punctuated his words with a saucy wink that had my nether regions perking up and my cheeks warming.
“So, what now?” I hurried to change the subject. “Are we going back, or…?”
“That’s up to you. Would you prefer to rest here or return to the boarding house? Seersthri would not mind either way, I’m sure.”
After thinking it over, I admitted, “I think I’d be more comfortable there.”
“Then let’s return.”
Riel got to his feet and offered me a hand. I swung my legs over the side of the cot without issue, but when I stood up, I was hit by a rush of dizziness. Noticing the way I staggered, Riel seized my arm and wrapped his other hand around my waist to support me, clutching me to him as though I were something impossibly precious. I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around him in return and savor the contact, but as it was, I barely knew up from down.
“Ooh, hang on.” I put a hand to my head and leaned into him while I waited for the room to stop spinning. It took several seconds. “On second thought, maybe I’d better stay here.”
“Oyanni should still be outside,” Riel leapt to offer a solution. “If you’re able to hold on for a few minutes of riding, I can get you the rest of the way.”
My thoughts strayed to the luxurious bed in our hotel room. Fluffy pillows, a weighted duvet, enough room to spread out… the cot didn’t compare. And I wasn’t sure I could relax in this space; there was no privacy. What if Seersthri needed it for another patient?
“Okay,” I agreed .
Needing no further prompting, Riel scooped me into his arms, one arm around my back and the other under my knees. Delighted, I wrapped my arms around his neck and let my head fall against his chest. He showed no signs of struggling with my weight as he carried me through the house. When we emerged from the building, Oyanni trotted up to us immediately. She gave me an inquisitive bump with her nose before presenting her back.
Riel helped me up like usual, and as though she could tell that something was up, Oyanni held extra still. Riel slung an arm around me for added support and we were off.
By the time we made it back to the boarding house where we were staying, the fatigue had settled like a heavy cloak, as bad or even worse than it had been before I crossed The Rift. My eyelids drooped and my muscles protested every movement. Riel lifted me down as carefully as he could, but I wasn’t able to stifle a discontented groan.
“Sorry.” Riel’s expression was contrite. “Just a little farther.”
“You’re fine,” I assured him, relaxing into his hold. “It’s every girl’s dream to be princess-carried by a hottie. I’m not doing too bad right now, all things considered.”
Riel’s lips quirked upward in a smile as he made his way up the steps. “Is that so? Our people tend to be generous when it comes to physical touch and affection, but I was under the impression that it isn’t the same case for humans.”
“Well, in formal settings, maybe. It’s different when it’s somebody you’re dating.” My words faded off into a mumble that may or may not have been coherent. I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, I was being deposited with great care onto the bed.
“Just a moment. I’m going to leave Oyanni to graze,” a voice murmured above me. I gave a half-hearted nod and snuggled into the bedding. A second later, it registered that I hadn’t heard retreating footsteps. I opened my eyes to find that Riel still stood there, watching my chest rise and fall with a strangely haunted look on his face .
“I’m not going to spontaneously combust, you know,” I remarked, closing my eyes again. He made a doubtful sound in his throat, but my statement worked to break the spell. I felt him fiddling with the ties of my sandals. Snippets of awareness came to me through a haze of exhaustion, with no concept of whether it had been hours or minutes between each one.
Riel returning to the room and dropping something by the door.
The sound of running water.
Hushed voices and the quiet clinking of ceramic dishware.
At some point, someone fed me a few bites of something savory until I turned away. I dreamed that I steered a wobbly canoe down a fast-moving river of curry, dodging giant chunks of meat and vegetables with nothing but a flimsy oar. Eventually, I made it to the shore, where I joined a herd of avida that had become unicorns made of ice cream and sundae toppings.
Sometime during one of my more lucid moments, I remember thinking that I’d like to see a dream interpreter try to make sense of that. But then I felt a comforting weight settle at my back, and I drifted off into a deeper sleep surrounded by warmth and the somehow familiar scent of sunshine and spring meadows.