Chapter 41
As soon as they both see me, they stand to their feet, smiles dropping. I wave at them to sit back down. “Continue eating.”
“How is he?” Taren asks first.
“No different than earlier. Thanks for letting me sleep.” I wish I had better news, but I don’t.
I’m going to check with Hector to see if he needs help.
I make my way into the cooking area where Hector’s standing at the stove.
I smile, despite myself. This right here is how I will always think of Hector.
Even though he’s a warrior and deadly with a bow and arrow, I will always think of him like this. “What can I help with?”
“That goes out to the table.”
I pick up the platter of meat and carry it out to the table. Jorren sees me coming and stands and intercepts me, taking the platter from me. “Hey, everybody,” Farrah says brightly as she walks into the room with Rysden. “Hope you’re all hungry. Hector knows how to cook.”
“We are, My Lady. Thank you.”
Farrah blinks and then laughs. “Just Farrah is fine.” She glances up at Rysden, and he just smirks down at her, causing her to shake her head. Her face brightens when she sees me. “Kinsley. How do you feel after getting some sleep?”
She gives me a quick hug. “Pretty good, surprisingly.”
Her face softens with concern. “How is he?”
“The same. Hector came in and worked on his wounds again.” I face Jorren and Taren when I say the next part. “They’re trying to get the poison out.” Both of their faces are set now.
Jorren sits back in his chair. “Is there any kind of timetable we’re working with?” He directs the question to Rysden. Rysden pulls out a chair for Farrah and stands behind her for a moment.
“Hector will have to answer that question.” He leans down and says something to Farrah, too soft for any of us to hear. Then he disappears.
Lox leans back in his seat and puts his arm on the back of the chair next to him. “So, Kinsley, how do you like the Jaguar Kingdom? Not nearly as cool as the Wolf Kingdom, right?”
“Actually, it’s pretty amazing.” I turn to Farrah. “The houses are built out over the water.”
“What?” Farrah asks, leaning forward in interest.
“Yeah. Some of the houses are built on wood over the water. There’s a wooden walkway connecting all the houses.
And then the other houses are in the trees.
They're literally built in and around trees. The Grove, which is this awesome place where you can get food, literally has a huge tree right in the middle of the building and rises up and out of the ceiling. It’s so cool. ”
Farrah grins at me. “Sounds as if you really like it there.”
Her words surprise me because I hadn’t really thought I’d been there enough to, but she’s right. I really do like it there. In fact, I miss it even now. “Yeah,” I finally say. “I guess I do.”
“We need to get Kaldar healed up, so we can all get back there,” Taren says quietly.
Rysden comes back into the room with Hector right behind him.
Hector stops at the table. “There’s no time table on your king’s healing.
” I watch Jorren and Taren, but they don’t really seem surprised.
“Before he can even heal, we have to get all the poison out of his body. It’s a slow process.
” Jorren and Taren exchange a glance, and then both of them look over at me.
I’m not exactly sure what it is I’m missing.
There’s a sudden pounding on the front door that startles me. “You expecting someone?” Jorren asks gruffly.
“No, but it’s not exactly uncommon,” Rysden says as he turns and strides towards the door. I notice that he puts his hand on his sword. Jorren and Taren both push their chairs back and pull their weapons. Taren walks over and plants himself in front of me.
I’m stiff, wondering what’s about to heppen. And then I hear a voice that brings a grin to my face. “Seriously, you all got together and didn’t invite me?”
I push around Taren and head towards the entrance at the same time Farrah calls out, “Harper!”
“Don’t Harper me. You didn’t invite me.”
I step into the foyer and stop in my tracks, taking in the two jaguars standing next to Harper. “Veyra!” Jespar lifts his head and then moves to the stairs. He’s so stealthy. If I hadn’t been watching, I would have missed it. He disappears up the stairs.
She lifts her head and assesses me, and I can’t help but feel her displeasure. You left.
I switch to our bond to talk. I’m sorry. In my defense, I didn’t know we would be coming here. I just thought Rysden wanted to talk at the border.
Your mate is here.
I try to keep up with her. He is. He was carried off by a guivre and dropped not far from here. Some of Rysden’s soldiers found him and brought him. How did you get here?
“Hey. Hellooooo.” I blink at the sight of Harper right in front of me. “It’s so nice to see you, Harper. Thanks so much for bringing the jags,” she says in a voice that sounds...
“Is that supposed to sound like me?” I can’t help but ask.
“You’re welcome, Kinsley,” Harper continues on as if I hadn’t stopped her.
I can’t help my smile, even though I try to hide it. “Thank you, Harper. Thank you for bringing Jespar and Veyra. Seriously.” The smile fades. “How did you know to come here? And how did you even get here?”
“Those two were pawing at my door at the crack of dawn this morning,” she starts.
“You close your door?” I can’t help but ask. Nobody does in the Jaguar Kingdom.
She gives me a look like I’m crazy. “Yes. I do. Anyway, they were going to destroy my door. So, I let them in, or I tried. They wouldn’t leave me alone until I followed them.
I stopped at your house and didn’t find you.
I figured something was amiss. I followed the jags, and they led me to a horse.
Then they took off. I followed them to the border, joined up with the mean shaved head girl and came here. ”
I blink at her. “Reika came with you?”
“Yeah. She wouldn’t let me come by myself. I told her I’d been living here for a time, but she still didn’t listen.”
“Where is she now?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I guess outside.”
“You left her outside? Harper!”
I move towards the door, but Rysden beats me to it. He opens the door, and there she is. She’s leaning against the doorway cleaning her nails with her knife. “Reika!” I move towards her and then stop when I’m just a foot from her.
She gives me a look. “Were you going to hug me?” There is such derision in her voice that I don’t tell her the truth.
“No, of course not.”
I’m pretty sure she knows I’m lying, but she doesn’t call me on it. “Thank you for bringing Harper and Veyra and Jespar.”
“Pretty sure they were going to come whether I came or not.”
“Either way, thank you.” I hope she hears the earnestness in my voice. “Come in.” I step back and close the door behind her. When I turn around and see Rysden and Farrah, I give them a sheepish look.” Sorry. I should have asked first.”
Farrah waves away my concern. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll, uh, find another room,” she says, glancing at Rysden. I know for a fact they’re running out of rooms.
“So, he’s here?” Reika asks, still palming her weapon.
I turn back to her. “How’d you figure it out?”
“Jespar. We couldn't keep up with him when we got close.”She looks to Jorren and Taren and scowls. “Thanks for the updates.”
Rysden takes Farrah’s hand in his. “We’ll give you some privacy.” The two of them leave, and then it’s just the four of us standing in the entryway.
“I’m sorry we didn’t come back right away, but things were not what we thought they would be here.” Jorren’s voice is hard.
“Why is he here?” Reika asks.
When the guys don’t say anything, I fill her in.
“Rysden’s soldiers found him. We think the guivre dropped him there.
He’s,” I pause. “Not in a good way. He’s got wounds all over his chest and shoulders.
They’ve been keeping his wounds open, so they can get all the poison out. He hasn’t woken up yet.”
“Well, Jespar is here now, so he can do his thing. Then Kal will be back on his feet.” She glances at the three of us. “Right?”
“I don’t know.” My voice isn’t quite as strong as I want it to be. “He's in a bad way.”
“Let Jespar work his magic,” Taren says in a quiet voice.
I glance over at him. He’s been pretty quiet yesterday and today.
I know he’s struggling with guilt at what happened to Kaldar.
At some point, we’re going to need to address it; but there just hasn’t been time.
Everything's been happening so fast. I feel like my mind is being pulled in all directions. “Okay. I need to get upstairs. I’m going to make sure Jespar got into Kaldar’s room okay, and then we can go from there. ”
I start up the steps. “You can’t stay here,” Reika says from behind me. “You need to get back. We need a figurehead. Things are crazy after yesterday. By now, everybody has already either seen or heard about the man that turned into a guivre. You can’t hide here; you have a kingdom to run.”
“Reika,” Jorren growls.
“She needs to deal,” Reika says in response. “It’s her job now.”
I turn back to face the three of them but don’t step down. “Do you think I don’t know that?”
Reika crosses her arms over her chest and gives me a cool look. “Well, seeing as you’re here and not back in our kingdom, where you belong, it looks like you don’t.”
“Reika, stop,” Jorren starts again, but I cut him off.
“I know exactly where I’m supposed to be.
My mate is lying upstairs in a room fighting for his life.
I’m not leaving his side until I know he’s going to be okay.
If you have a problem, find yourself a different queen because I am not your woman.
” Without another word, I walk up the steps.
It takes me until I get to Kaldar’s room to calm down.
Something brushes against my leg, and I look down and see Veyra.
She doesn’t say anything, but just her being beside me is support enough.
I open the door to Kaldar’s room and take in the jaguar on floor beside Kaldar. Was Jespar able to help Kaldar?
Of course. The poison is out of his body now. Now, the wounds can start healing. And with Jespar’s secretions, they will heal much faster. So, now we wait.
It takes me a little bit before I push off the door and walk over to him.
I'm careful not to step on Jespar, who lies so still on the floor. My eyes trace the wounds on Kaldar’s body.
They don’t look any different, but I guess it’s going to take some time.
Veyra walks over to Jespar and joins him on the floor.
I watch the two of them and feel a kind of yearning.
I wish Kaldar was awake right now; I wish I could talk to him.
I take his hand and stare down at him a few minutes.
Reika’s words run through my mind. You can’t hide here; you have a kingdom to run.
I sigh because she’s right. As much as I don’t want to leave him, I gave him my word that I would do what he needed me to do.
Right now, that’s run his kingdom, until he can do it himself.