27. Chapter 27
Chapter 27
“ Y ou’re alright now,” Orpheus tells me as he helps me sit up in my bed, “they only need to get the last of the poison out.”
The very sight of the sickly green web spreading across my shin makes me nauseous. I shake my head. “I don’t think the plan was to kill me,” I say weakly.
He nods, concern in his eyes. “I know, I’m working on finding who it was that sent them, but the intention was obviously to kidnap you.”
“May I, Your Grace?” this man who looks like a doctor appears to his left.
Both Orpheus and I nod and the man gets to work. He sits next to me on the bed, places his hands over the wound and starts moving them around. I watch the green liquid move around along with them, such unbearable pain searing through me that I fail to stop myself from screaming, my entire body tensing up and my fists bunching the sheets.
One long moment of this goes by before Orpheus springs to his feet, making the man stop mid movement and crane his neck to look at him with obvious panic on his face.
“You’re not doing it right,” Orpheus grits out. “You’re dismissed.”
“But Your Grace—”
“ I said leave. ”
The man scurries away, leaving the two of us alone in my room. “Now, Anyi,” he says as he comes to sit next to me, “this should only hurt until I get a grip on it.”
I clench my teeth, wincing when he starts working. Then, almost instantly, all the pain stops and I turn to look at what he’s doing, my eyebrows raised. It’s with such precision that he’s drawing the poison out, it’s not even touching the wound.
I breathe a sigh of relief, my body starting to relax. Soon I’m carefree enough to shift all my attention onto Orpheus, my head tilting. Gods, what is it about the look of focus on this man’s face?
I only snap out of it when his hands stop hovering above the wound and start touching, massaging my shin with gentle yet firm strokes that make a flutter appear in my stomach, despite the painful tenderness of the flesh.
Sensing I’m frowning at him, he looks up. “I need to get the circulation going,” he protests.
“I have two perfectly healthy hands,” I insist as I lift them up as proof, “and look, I’m in full control of both of them.”
He grumbles, but he lets go of my leg and doesn’t protest any further.
I give him a warm smile. “Thank you. Why don’t you go rest?”
And he does get up, but I have this sneaking suspicion it’s not to go lie down. He walks through the door and then turns around to throw a lingering glance at me.
His look is like a caress that makes me squirm softly. He leaves the door open and disappears out of my line of sight, making me debate calling him back inside.
I don’t.
And I’m so tired that I immediately start drifting off, not moving a muscle even when Nymeria takes me completely by surprise by entering my room and hopping onto the bed with me.
Sleep takes over, but it’s a restless one. I keep waking up, hearing the faint sounds of Orpheus talking to multiple people in a hushed, serious, angry voice.
At one point, I wake up, see it’s almost dawn and realize I can still hear him in there.
Worry gnaws at me. “Orpheus,” I call out, my voice low and rough. I open my mouth to call out again because he can’t have heard that.
The next thing I know, he’s leaning over me with a fist pressing into the mattress and a palm on my forehead, frowning. “What is it, Anyi?”
I tip my chin at the kitchen. “What are you doing over there?” I ask.
He pulls his hand away and shakes his head, giving me a slight, warm smile that lights up his eyes. “That’s nothing for you to worry about. You sound much better.”
I squint at him, the realization hitting me. He’s looking for the people who attacked me.
This brings another thought to the surface of my mind. “The flesh market,” I say weakly.
He raises his eyebrows. “That’s a direction you’d like to pursue?”
I nod.
“The next one is in two weeks,” he says softly, “on Saint Mistila’s Day. We can start planning as soon as tomorrow. But right now, you need to get more sleep.”