Chapter 109 Bahira
Chapter One Hundred and Nine: Bahira
“You’re going to have to repeat yourself,” Nox says slowly, his words almost slurred. “Because I think you’ve just said I’ve got something living in my fucking back.”
“I did,” I respond, temporarily abandoning my concern for the injury in favor of what looks like a tattoo spiderwebbing its way across his upper back.
But it’s what those dark lines do that makes my mouth dry and my pulse race.
They writhe, moving slowly between layers of skin like ink come to life.
“When was the last time you saw your back?”
“It’s not something I’m looking at frequently, Bahira.” But his eyebrows furrow as he shakes his head. “I’ve been in pain since the moment I woke up from the Middle.”
I trace the black lines with my eyes, their jagged shape reminding me of lightning arcing across the sky. As I study them, I notice that the closer they get to his left shoulder, the thicker they are. But as they move away, stretching towards his right side, they grow thinner.
The commotion of voices reminds me we aren’t alone, so I tug Nox’s tunic back down and force his arm across my shoulder before directing Dilan to his other side.
Arin fights against the guards’ hold on him, gnashing his teeth like a rabid dog, while Haylee stands with a hand covering her mouth, the traitor having the audacity to look mortified.
I give them both one last glare, one that I hope denotes the promise of vengeance.
Turning back around, I lead us off the training grounds. “Let’s get you to Galen.”
Despite how much pain he must be in, Nox’s steps are steady. Though when we finally reach the healers’ wing in the palace and I order Dilan to fetch Galen, he all but collapses on the edge of the bed.
“Take your tunic off,” I command, ignoring his mumble of protest as I move around the room, searching for some fresh gauze and antiseptic soap to begin cleaning out the wound while we wait for the healer.
Setting the gathered supplies down, Nox leans his elbows on his knees, his head hanging between his shoulders as I get to work cleaning him up.
“You’d think they’d rush a little more considering His Majesty is the fucking patient.
” Nox’s back tenses as he hisses a breath out through clenched teeth.
“Sorry,” I mumble, gently wiping away the soap from the edges of his cut. “The bleeding is already slowing down.”
“That’s good.”
I lay fresh gauze over the deepest parts of the cut, pressing down on them firmly as my eyes travel back up Nox’s back and to the webbing of black lines there. “You truly haven’t seen your back?”
“No. Why, what’s there?”
“It’s hard to describe.” With one hand, I trace one of the lines from the middle of back to his left shoulder, my brow furrowing as the line reacts to my touch. Nox’s grip on the edge of the bed tightens, his knuckles growing white. “Does this hurt?”
“Extremely. But every part of me does now.”
My heart drops at the agony in his voice, but I force my emotions back down and try my best to describe to him what I see.
“It looks like someone has filled your veins with black ink, just below the surface of your skin. It starts here,” I pause to press the tip of my finger to the back of his right shoulder.
“This line starts here and stretches all the way across your back to the other side.” My finger drags to the other side, stopping where the line is thickest. Then I start over with a new line that zigzags its way from his lower back up to that same point, again growing thicker as it nears his shoulder.
“It seems to be originating here.” I press down at the center spot, the skin more pallid than the rest of him now that I’m looking more closely, and instead of feeling the push back of muscle and tissue, the tip of my finger presses against something hard.
“Fuck!” Nox yells, jerking away from me. Sweat beads at his temples, his chest rising and falling quickly as we look at each other. “Gods above, that fucking burns.”
The door to the room opens, and Galen finally walks in, his steps shuffling as he enters. “I’m so sorry about the delay!” he says, shutting the door and rounding the bed to the side I’m on. “What has happened here?”
“What is this?” I ask him.
“I’d say it looks like a pretty decent cut from a very sharp blade.”
“I mean this,” I point out, my tone exasperated because obviously I mean the very out of place black markings on his skin.
“Oh, those are just a side effect from the tinctures,” he says, his gaze down as he moves towards a cabinet along the wall. “In fact, it has been a few days since you’ve had a dose, hasn’t it, Your Majesty?”
“It has. They seem to be losing their potency. Not lasting for as long.”
“To be expected. Sometimes finding the right dose takes time.” But Galen has been treating Nox for months, and he hasn’t yet improved.
If anything, he’s getting worse. “Here you are, Your Majesty. This will ease your pain, and then I can begin healing your laceration.” He gives the vial of pink liquid to Nox.
I wrap my hand around Nox’s arm and gently squeeze before he brings the vial to his mouth. “Those are from the medicines?” I ask, drawing Galen’s eyes towards me.
He takes his time answering as he rounds the table to Nox’s back. “It is. Sometimes the ingredients can have unintended reactions.”
A line forms between my brows as I give Nox another squeeze of his arm before letting go. “But there is something inside of him, and this spot—” I go to touch where the lines seem to originate from when Galen snaps his hand out.
“Don’t touch it!” he barks, startling both Nox and I as I jerk my wrist out of his grasp.
My eyes lock on the side of the healer’s face, a muscle throbbing to the quick beat of his heart. “Galen? What’s wrong.”
“Nothing. It’s nothing.” He waves me off, beginning to heal the cut on Nox’s back. But his reaction gives me pause, and as I look back at those disturbing lines, unease simmering in my gut.
“How long have those been there?”.
“A few weeks.”
“Why haven’t you said anything? To Nox? To our parents?”
“What is there to tell when it is merely a side effect?” he answers, sweat beading at his brow.
“Is that really all it is?” I ask as Nox sighs in relief.
But he has been so secretive, hiding so much of his pain—of himself—from his family prior to Stephan’s death.
There have only been two versions of him I’ve seen in the weeks since Rhea was taken: angry and exhausted.
And as time has passed, the former has given way slightly to the latter.
“What is this tincture made from?”
“Oh, a collection of plants. Lavendaris. Gelsemium.”
Wait… “Isn’t gelsemium known for its paralytic qualities?
” It has been a while since I’ve studied plant properties, but gelsemium is one I’ve always remembered because of how utterly terrifying it sounds.
Ingest just a little of the crushed petals, and you’ll be left completely aware of your surroundings but unable to move.
“It is, but there is not enough in the medicine to cause paralysis. Just enough to numb His Majesty to the pain he’s been feeling.
” But it isn’t just numbing his pain; it’s numbing him.
Thinking back over my time being home, Nox’s steadfast assuredness that he was going to get Rhea was ever present at the beginning.
But when he was dragged back to the Mage Kingdom by Stephan, paralyzed in a way that sounded a lot like a side effect of gelsemium, that ever-present determination began to weaken.
I had seen glimpses of it, particularly when something angered him enough to protect Rhea’s honor or name, but even those had been fewer and farther between.
“Galen, how often does Nox get this tincture?”
“Every few days.” It’s Nox who answers, his head turning to look at me, eyes narrowed.
“If it has been a few days since he had his last dose, shouldn’t these lines be more faded? Not as stark?” I shake my head, something not quite adding up. “If they were truly related to the medicine—”
“Enough, Princess Bahira.” Galen lifts his hands away from Nox and turns to face me, gaze boring into mine. “I know healing best. You focus on what you know best and leave the care of your brother to me.”
He brushes past me, leaving me in a stupor as he says something to draw Nox’s attention to him.
I return to staring at the horrific map of secrets covering my brother’s back.
What Galen suggested they are could be true, yet why wouldn’t he have brought it up to Nox?
On the off chance that my brother—or someone else—might have seen them?
Like when Nox removed his shirt to spar or— But I just sparred with him, and he didn’t remove his shirt.
With how he is feeling, it isn’t like he’s sparring regularly.
And he’s certainly not inviting anyone to his bed, but could Galen have banked on those facts?
I pinch my lips together, making a gut decision as I reach for the blade I keep tucked in my boot.
I’ll apologize to Nox for not giving him a heads up after I prove my theory right.
Or wrong. Clicking the blade out of its hilt, I take a step towards Nox and place my hand on his back where the dark lines gather, pressing against that hard clump beneath his skin.
But before I can make contact with the blade, green ropes wrap around my wrists, my hands firmly tugged away from Nox and suspended in the air with Galen’s magic.
“Galen, release me!” I snap, in partial awe that he dared to use his magic against me.
Nox shifts on the bed to look at me, his eyes flaring wide. “Do as she says, Galen.”
“This is for your own good, Your Majesty.”
“Release Bahira. Now.”
He shakes his head, hands shaking where he holds them out in front of him. “This is the only way. He said so. You’re still too dangerous.”