Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
Xavier came to awareness suddenly. He drew a sharp breath, then coughed as he discovered sand caked on his lips. It wasn’t a pleasant sensation, and neither was the dull throbbing in his head.
A distant shout reached his ears, and he realized that was what had woken him. He shifted his head, pleased that the ache didn’t get any worse, and felt a miniature jab of pain in his stomach. A wisp of wood smoke reached his nose, faint but nearby.
His mind finally caught up, all the details of the night before sharpening. He sat up quickly, realizing as he did so that his head had still been cushioned on Alina’s lap.
“Alina!”
He blinked at her, taking in her pale skin and heavy eyelids.
His vision was much clearer than the night before, all his other symptoms greatly improved as well.
Alina hadn’t responded to him, her focus on something in the distance.
She seemed barely conscious, and alarm—with a large dash of guilt—lanced through Xavier.
He struggled onto his knees on the sand, leaning over her sagging form.
Gently, he put his hands on either side of her face, tilting it until she met his eyes.
“Alina, are you all right?”
“Xavier.” She spoke vaguely. “You’re awake. How do you feel?”
The shouting was louder now, but Xavier kept his eyes on her.
“You did exactly what I told you not to,” he said, anxiety making his voice terse. “You sat up all night maintaining a shield. You look like you’re about to drop!”
“I just need some sleep,” she assured him. “Then I’ll be fine.” Her eyes flitted back toward the direction of the shouting. “Is that your guards, do you think? Or someone unfriendly? I’m trying to figure out if I can drop the shield.”
She sounded so exhausted, Xavier had an impulse to pull her into his arms and tell her to sleep there, as she’d done for him. Instead, he released her and turned, squinting toward the figures now running toward them.
“Yes, it’s my guards,” he said. “Rest, Alina.”
She let out a soft sigh, slumping slightly, then drawing a long, unsteady breath.
“You swore you were in no danger,” Xavier said bitterly. “Why didn’t you listen to me?”
“I wasn’t in danger,” she said, her eyes closed and her voice soft. “The shield protected us both.”
Xavier wasn’t satisfied. He silently cursed his own uselessness in succumbing to a stupid basilisk like the sheltered city dweller he was. But there was no time to chastise himself. The guards were almost on them, and he could see a very irate Captain Mitchell at their head.
Xavier tried to stand, but he wasn’t as recovered as he thought. He wobbled and went down, back to his knees. The movement drew the loudest shout yet, and the next moment, guards had converged on him.
“The prince is hurt!” someone shouted, as hands helped him to his feet.
“Your arm, Your Highness!” They’d found the injury from the alicanto’s beak.
Xavier waved off their concern, wishing they’d have some pity on his aching head and speak more quietly. But the next words sliced through the remaining fog in his mind.
“Seize her!”
Xavier turned abruptly, outraged to see Alina being roughly hauled up from the sand. She didn’t resist at all. Judging by the unsteady way she stumbled into the guard holding her, she didn’t have the energy to resist.
“Let go of her!” Xavier growled, fury clearing his thoughts.
“Your Highness, our orders are to bind her as soon as we apprehend her.”
“Whose orders?” Xavier moved to Alina’s side, his movements getting stronger by the second. None too gently, he seized the guard’s arm and yanked his hand off Alina.
“Mine, Your Highness.” Captain Mitchell appeared, his face drawn. “The report I heard was that she lured you into the desert and separated you from your guards. We’ve been searching for you all night, and we only found you now—sick and injured—because your anzu led us to you.”
Zuzu came in to land by Xavier’s feet on the words, preening herself proudly as if aware that she’d been credited with their rescue.
“None of that was Alina’s fault,” Xavier said impatiently. He saw that guards were still flanking Alina in a restrictive position, and his voice turned icy. “Step away from her immediately if you value your jobs.”
They hastened to obey, although they looked uncertainly toward the captain as they did it. Xavier stepped in to take their place, sliding one of Alina’s arms over his shoulder.
“You can lean on me,” he told her quietly. “We’ll get you to somewhere you can sleep soon.”
“I’m all right,” she mumbled.
He ignored this obvious lie, turning to Captain Mitchell.
“I don’t know what the guards imagine they saw, but Alina and I fell victim to alicanto magic.
It drew us out into the desert and separated us from the guards.
By the time we realized what had happened, we were lost, with no idea which direction we’d gone.
The creatures attacked me in hopes of eating my bracer, then when trying to light a fire, I was fool enough to get struck by the gaze of a basilisk which had been hiding in the wood.
I’ve been ill all night, and Alina has sat awake that entire time, using her skill with magic craft to shield us both from unfriendly visitors.
She’s had all the opportunity in the world to do me mischief, and instead she’s brought herself to the brink of collapse to protect me.
So I don’t want to hear another word of accusation toward her.
Instead make yourselves useful in getting her to somewhere safe and comfortable as soon as possible. ”
“My apologies, Your Highness.”
Captain Mitchell bent in a bow, but to Xavier’s irritation, he didn’t look penitent. And he didn’t apologize to Alina. He did, however, give quick instructions to his men, one of whom jogged away, following a rope laid in the sand.
“He’ll fetch horses for you both,” the captain informed Xavier.
“I can walk,” Alina said, her voice faint.
“Don’t be absurd,” Xavier told her shortly.
There wasn’t a hint of his famed charm in his voice, yet Alina’s lips curved slightly in the smile he most enjoyed. He turned away from the sight, not trusting his heart to be sensible while he was still so weak.
They waited in silence for several minutes before one of the guards spoke. “Forgive me, miss.” His eyes were on Alina. “But did you really hold a shield all night?”
She nodded.
“Using what movement?”
“The anzu,” she said softly. “Zuzu helped me out whenever I needed new movement.”
“It’s remarkable,” the guard said, awed. “I’ve studied the craft a little myself. Even with Dust from a magical creature, the energy required to maintain any enchantment all alone through the whole night should have drained you completely. I would have expected it to kill you.”
Anxiety flared in Xavier at these words, not allayed at all by Alina’s cheerful reaction.
“Well, it hasn’t.” She smiled at the guard. “Although I am very tired.”
“If you can put one foot in front of the other, it will be nothing short of miraculous,” the man said.
“You shouldn’t have done it,” Xavier murmured, his throat tight.
“I had to, Xavier,” she told him. “The alicanto came back, and some wild dogs were drawn to the fire. We would have been in trouble without the shield.”
Xavier didn’t respond, this account of the dangers she’d faced while he slept making him feel worse.
Shame crawled over him at how helpless he’d been, how dismally he’d failed to be her protector when they were vulnerable.
He saw that Captain Mitchell was watching Alina very closely, his expression still cool, and annoyance flared in Xavier all over again.
Fortunately they didn’t have to wait long before more guards appeared, this time with horses. Alina looked dubiously up at the offered mount, her expression suggesting she’d been asked to scale a mountain.
“Ride with me,” Xavier said curtly.
“But, Your Highness—”
“She’ll ride with me,” he cut off the protesting guard. “Help her to mount in front of me.”
The guards did as told, and soon Xavier was in the saddle, Alina perched in front of him.
His arms were around her as he held the reins, and her back was pressed into his chest. The fact that she didn’t fight the arrangement, even going so far as to lean back against him and let him bear her weight, told him everything he needed to know about her level of exhaustion.
He felt a stab of alarm. What if she’d pushed herself too far to fully recover from? He tightened his arms around her.
The ride back to the refinement site was disproportionately long compared with his memory of how far they’d walked, but still shorter than he’d feared, given the involvement of alicanto magic.
With Alina in the anzu’s usual place, Zuzu perched on the horse’s rump, behind Xavier.
The bird looked tired, too, and Xavier wondered just how much movement the anzu had been required to do in order to provide fuel for Alina’s enchantment.
In spite of his disapproval, a small smile rose to Xavier’s lips at the thought of his two girls working together to protect him while he slept off the effects of his tangle with the basilisk.
No. Alina wasn’t his girl. Hadn’t been for many years. He couldn’t afford to think of her that way.
The group had found them just after dawn, but the sun was fully risen by the time they reached the refinement site.
Charles was ready to receive them, his face pale with relief when Xavier slipped down from the horse with steady movements.
Blair was also there, full of apologies for failing to adequately prepare them for the risks of alicanto and basilisks.
“Please, Blair,” Xavier eventually cut him off good-naturedly. “Stop drawing attention to my ineptitude. I’d rather the whole kingdom didn’t know that I got tricked by an alicanto and then blundered into a basilisk in the same day.”