Chapter Nine Jalisa
Chapter Nine
Jalisa
Ipassed a pitcher of mead to another customer, barely acknowledging their presence and almost forgetting to take their payment.
I was not focused today or, to be honest, lately.
It’d been almost two weeks since my wedding and Ivan’s injury and two days since he almost got hit by a car.
At this point, it would be silly to believe that my family or the dissenters weren’t behind this.
As much as I disliked Ivan’s family, I doubted they’d rather him be dead than be with me.
At least, I hoped not. How had I managed to make things worse for myself?
If only I never joined that faction of dissenters.
I had to let my anger control my decisions, and now I was paying for it. No, Ivan was paying for it. Even worse.
Pilar paused in front of me, eyes wide with concern. “Everything okay?”
I harrumphed. “No, everything is not okay. My husband has had someone try to kill him twice, and I don’t know what to do. This is all my fault.”
She dropped her shoulders and walked over to me. “For what it’s worth, Ivan seems to really care about you. Maybe you should tell him the truth. He needs to know about the full risk. It’s his life at stake.”
I tossed my head back, blowing out a breath. “I really don’t want to tell Ivan the truth.”
“You can’t fix everything on your own.”
“It’s not that. Well, mostly not that.” I didn’t want to admit this part out loud.
It made me cringe, but it was a truth, and she was my closest friend here.
Still, admitting it meant I cared more than I wanted to.
“I don’t want him disappointed in me. After what some of those dissenters did to the arranged couples, including Aaron and his wife, I’m ashamed to be even remotely a part of that.
I’m afraid that maybe he’ll hate me. That he’ll not only end the marriage but never want to speak to me again.
” I chuckled to myself. “It was only a few weeks ago and I wouldn’t have cared what he thought of me, but things are different now.
I was so wrong about him, Pi. Seems I’m wrong a lot. ”
Pilar leaned against the bar, sympathy filling her eyes.
“No, you aren’t. You’re headstrong. That’s good.
There are many out there who want to control omegas.
They look at you like you’re weak-minded, helpless beings whose only purpose is to mate with an alpha.
I know there’s more to you. And if I were in your shoes, I’d be independent and stubborn too.
You were doing what you thought you had to.
Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn’t.
And when it doesn’t, you just have to be willing enough to put your trust in the help of others. ”
“What if he doesn’t want to help me after he learns the truth?”
“I highly doubt it, but that’s the chance you’ll have to take.”
I rolled my eyes. “Your pep talks are severely lacking.”
She shrugged with a wide grin. “Which is why I’m a bartender.
Anyway, you never know what can happen if you tell him.
It might help. Now, changing topics, are you going to the royal ball?
It’s not every day those of us not in high society get invited.
But, no, I forgot, you are a noble and one now married to a lieutenant. I’m kind of jealous.”
I moved to take a rag near the sink. Wetting it and then pouring cleaning solution on the rag, I began to wipe the counter. “Feel free to take my place. Those things aren’t for me.”
“Yes, but you’ve fallen under the attention of the court.”
She was right. We’d received a personal invitation from a court employee.
Directly to our door. I knew that meant that the king and queen expected us to be there.
It was less an invitation and more an order.
I’d be a fool to ignore it. If we wanted to make this marriage believable, we needed to stay out of the attention of the court.
However, the last thing I wanted to do was be at an affair with those judging us deciding that they knew who we were based on our omega and alpha status.
I glanced over to Pilar who was eyeing me with interest. She always seemed so wise for her years.
I’d known she’d been through a lot in her life.
An orphan from an attack by Nodoorians when she was a child.
She treated me with icy contempt when we first met, but after I told her my story, she began to soften, and we grew close with our trauma.
Eventually, we began to find shared interest and grew our friendship beyond pain and harm.
And now, I looked to her as an older sister who gave me advice when I was in need. It was just up to me to listen to it.
I tossed the rag in a laundry basket underneath the sink. “I’m going. Perhaps I can get you an invitation, if you’re truly interested.”
Her eyes widened. “Do you think you could? I might like that. Maybe meet a noble and get swept away from all of this.”
“I would love that for you.”
She balled her hands into fists and put them under her chin, face gleeful. “Maybe I can serve as your bodyguard. Keep an eye out for anyone who looks at Ivan wrong and take care of them.”
I tapped my chin. “You know, I don’t hate that idea. Except for the fact that you can’t fight.”
She dropped her hands. “True. But I can yell for help really loudly.”
“I’m comforted by that thought.”
Pilar made a retort, but I missed it as a wave of nausea swept over me.
I covered my mouth and stilled, praying the feeling would pass over me.
But it didn’t. Instead, my stomach twisted in excruciating cramps, and I doubled over from the pain.
My vision blurred, and I clutched the counter for support.
“Hey, are you alright?” Pilar asked, although I could barely make out her features now.
A customer called for our attention, and Pilar raised an index finger for them to wait as she approached me. “Let’s get you to the backroom so you can lay down.”
I nodded my head, but that was a mistake and the bile that I had been holding back spewed forth onto the tiled floor.
I was only thankful no customers saw as we were behind the bar.
Of course, that was only a mild thought.
Most immediately, I felt like my insides were turning to slush and rebelling against being inside my body.
What little strength I had left my legs and I dropped to the ground.
My stomach contracted again for another round of vomiting, this time into a waste basket that Pilar had quickly gathered. “Gods, there’s blood in this mess,” Pilar cried. “We’ve got to take you to the infirmary, now.”
I wanted to argue, I hated going to the doctors, but dizziness took hold. I felt as if my mind was dissipating. Floating farther and farther away from reality, from consciousness. Until I could see nothing but blurred colors and shapes and then darkness.
***
Ivan
I looked at Jalisa, unconscious on the infirmary bed, willing her to wake up.
Her usually glowing brown skin had taken on an ashen tone that concerned me.
Sweat beaded at her hairline and I grabbed a damp cloth from the side table and dipped it in the bowl of water sitting beside it.
Wringing it out, I pressed at her forehead with the cloth.
She’d been out for two hours now, and the longer it took for her to wake up, the more concerned I was getting.
Her friend Pilar entered the room and sat down on the other side of the bed. “She’ll wake up soon. The doctors got to her in time. Seems you guys like passing out. Admit it, this is some weird bonding time for you both.”
I scrunched my face, frustrated. “We really aren’t that crazy. I don’t understand how this happened. What did she eat?”
Pilar shrugged, staring down at her friend. “She ate the same thing I had. It wasn’t the food.”
“No, it wasn’t,” came a voice from the doorway.
The same doctor who treated me at my wedding appeared. I now knew his name was Oliver and he was a friend of Pilar and Jalisa who regularly dined at the pub. But I was less concerned about how he knew my wife and more interested in what happened to her. “Then what was it?”
He scratched his cheeks as he looked down at a miniature holographic screen floating above a circular magic powered device in his left hand.
“We tested her blood and found it had been tainted by poisonous magic. Most of it was flushed with our potions so she’ll be fine when she wakes up.
It was most likely in something in her surroundings that she inhaled. ”
Pilar shook her head. “But I was near her and nothing happened to me.”
“Then perhaps something she absorbed.”
I looked to Pilar. She had to recall something. She squinted her eyes in thought. If she couldn’t remember, I would leave right now and tear that pub down to the ground to find the poisonous object.
“She cleaned the bar counter with a rag and used some cleaning solution. It’s the only thing I didn’t touch.
She used the last of it, so I don’t think any’s left.
Someone else probably refilled the container by now.
But the rag is in the laundry and I’m sure that could be tested.
” She reached in the pocket of her brown leather pants, standing up.
“I’ll call the pub and tell them not to touch the laundry and avoid the container she used if they haven’t touched it already. ” She then headed out of the room.
I looked to Oliver, who was eyeing me with a thoughtful look. “I think we might want to consider that the both of you are targets now. You should tell the authorities about this.”
I placed the cloth back on the bedside table. “Oh, they know.”
“There have been attacks on Nodoorians here. There are still some Prinathians who aren’t tolerant of the treaty. It’s unfortunate.”
I snorted. Unfortunate was an understatement.
I looked down at my wife. She looked so vulnerable now, a far cry from her usually strong demeanor.
It hurt to see her like this. No, it angered me.
Someone had hurt her, and I had no clue who it could be.
I’d wondered if her family was behind my attacks, but with her poisoning, I now knew better.
Then again, I didn’t want to imagine that my family could hurt her. Perhaps in retaliation for my attacks.
Oliver cleared his throat. “What I’d like to know is how she survived.
That poison spell was especially powerful and she’s an omega.
” He stole a quick look at her, eyes worried.
“I would never say this to her face, but we know that omegas are physically weaker. An alpha could survive it and maybe a beta but not an omega.”
I rolled my lips in, thinking of possibilities.
He was right. Jalisa was physically strong and held her own when she was in the military, but that was more technique than anything.
Not all omegas were physically small, but they were never the most powerful regardless of size.
“Perhaps it’s her nobility. Fae of that level tend to have more potency in magic? ”
Oliver nodded. “That is possible, I suppose, but less probable. I thought perhaps she was claimed?”
I shook my head. “Not yet.”
“Very odd.”
“I have a ward,” Jalisa croaked.
I looked down and found her smacking her lips, her eyes barely opened. A relieved sigh rushed out of me. “Do you need water?”
“Yes, please.”
I filled a glass of water from a pitcher on the side table. She sat up before I could help her and took the water.
“What do you mean you had a ward?” Oliver asked, leaning toward her in anticipation.
She nodded slowly, her eyes more open now, although she still looked incredibly tired. “Yeah, I have a body ward. Got one after Ivan was hurt from that ward. I know I’m an omega, and I need the extra protection.”
“I didn’t see a ward aura over you when I did your treatment.”
She squeezed the bridge of her nose, yawning. “Guess it was a one-time thing and fighting the poison was all it could do. It did its job I suppose. I did get it on sale after all.”
I rolled my eyes. “Love, I told you not to get a cheap ward, you have the money to get something good.”
She cut her eyes at me. “No, my family has the money to get something good. I’m just a working-class bartender with a savings I need to be careful about using up.”
I eyed the stubborn faerie, patiently. “Well, I would think getting a good ward would be worth the money. Not to mention I offered to buy it.”
She looked appalled, her upper lip curling in a silent snarl. “I don’t need to ask you for anything else.”
Oliver chuckled, a confused look his face. “Don’t be silly, you’re husband and wife, of course he should help you. In fact, you might want to consider getting claimed now for added protection. You both have targets on your backs and shouldn’t be taking chances.”
She grimaced, and I tried hard not to take offense to that. She looked quickly to Oliver, suddenly remembering that we were supposed to be happy newlyweds in love. She relaxed her face and reached for my hand, giving it a squeeze. “Sometimes I forget I’m not on my own anymore and we’re a team.”
Oliver gave an understanding smile. “Well, stay close to one another and do all you can to keep each other safe.” He pointed between us.
“I like seeing you two together. I really am happy for you, Jalisa. For you both. I’ll leave you two to talk.
You’re staying here overnight, and in the morning, you can go home. ”
We both nodded and watched as he left, Pilar returning as he exited. She touched her chest and let out a breath. “So glad you’re awake. I was very worried. We got the rag we think was poisoned. Someone’s going to drop it by here for testing. Maybe that might give us some answers.”
While I was thankful for the attempt, I knew better than to think it would lead to much.
Anyone with means could get a poison, even a magic based one.
We needed to confront our families and narrow down the list. At this point, I was certain it was someone who was against the treaty marriages or maybe an enemy I’d earned from an action I took during the war.
However, if we didn’t do something differently, we were eventually going to lose each other. Again.