Chapter Seven
Serin
All there was from the moment my eyes opened was pain. It wove into every hair strand, embedded in every pore, twisted in my muscles and sinew, filled my organs, and coursed through my blood.
It burned, stabbed, crushed.
And I couldn’t even scream, could only cry for a moment before what seemed like the last drop of moisture left my body.
I was a dried-out husk. But I didn’t even have the strength to get up and get water.
Thankfully, Jet and Vishen were the types of men to jump into action, to want to fix a problem.
I mean, the water only helped momentarily. As soon as I stopped drinking, the pain started again.
Jet held me through it, though, and there was some comfort in being held, in hearing him swear he was going to figure the situation out.
Even if I was losing faith in that by the moment.
I tried several times to speak before Vishen returned with two large buckets of water, but nothing came out. Not even a squeak.
“Could the Bellhush be making her this thirsty?” Jet asked his guard.
“I mean, maybe? Everyone reacts differently to it. Maybe she’s got some underlying condition that makes her react this way.”
“She’s still not speaking.”
“Noticed that. Slow metabolism?” he suggested. “It will wear off. Shit doesn’t last forever. I’m gonna go take Knight out, get him fed, grab you some breakfast, and have a guard go haul more water. We’re gonna drain the local river at this rate.”
With that, he called Knight and left the room.
As I sat and sipped and did nothing.
I knew I could duck into the water closet, fish out my flask, and take a drink. It would all go away. Temporarily.
The problem was, if the night before was anything to go by, I was going to need every last drop to help me escape.
I couldn’t risk it.
“Feeling better?” Jet asked.
I felt awful. But compared to how I felt when I woke up, I guess the answer was yes. So I gave him a nod.
“Still no speaking?” I opened my mouth but no sound came out. I exhaled hard.
“Yeah, that sucks. How about writing?” he asked, miming waving his hand around on his hand.
Writing.
I understood the concept. I’d seen people doing it. Or reading the written word. Carving their initials in one of the trees around my lake. But I had next to no interactions with other fae. I certainly had no need to learn to write letters. Nor did I have anyone to teach me.
I shook my head.
“No? You… you don’t know how to write?”
I shook my head.
“Where the fuck are you from?” he asked, speaking mostly to himself with his brows furrowed. “Well, it shouldn’t matter for much longer.”
I hoped so.
I had so much to say.
About Grimwood.
About what happened to me.
About why I was so unwell.
I knew he had a lot to say too, but it was pointless when I couldn’t give him the answers he was looking for.
“After breakfast, do you want to bathe? I’m going to need to endure a meeting with my father. Maybe a bath will help with… whatever is going on with you. Then after that, I’m hoping we can talk.”
I gave him a nod, wondering if maybe bathing in the local water would revive me more than simply drinking it. It wouldn’t be the same as with my lake, of course. But it would be worth a try.
Vishen made his way back into the room with Knight in tow and carrying a large tray loaded with fresh fruits.
I picked at the food as Jet and Vishen had a rapid-fire discussion that I was only half able to follow. There were so many names and titles involved that it all just blurred together in my mind.
“Can you have the servants bring up some hot water?” Jet asked.
Not sure what else to do, I slapped my hand on his leg three times, drawing not only his but Vishen’s attention to me. Once I had it, I shook my head.
“No bath? Changed your mind?” I exhaled hard.
“Don’t think that’s it,” Vishen murmured.
“Do you want a bath?” Jet asked. I nodded. “I’m lost,” he said to Vishen.
“Alright. She wants a bath. Do you not want the servants to bring it?” I waved a hand at that, then crossed my arms and fanned myself.
“No… hot?” Vishen guessed.
“You don’t want hot water?” Jet clarified. “You want a cold bath?” I nodded, feeling the knots in my shoulders loosen.
I couldn’t have anticipated how frustrating it would be not to be able to communicate. I suddenly had a lot of empathy for people who spoke different languages or even babies, who simply hadn’t learned any language yet.
I would never take my voice for granted again. If I were looking for a silver lining in this whole awful situation, I guess it was that Grimwood made me appreciate something I once never even thought about.
“Alright. I’ll get the servants to bring up cold water for the bath. Then I’ll lead you down to see your father. And you,” he said, looking at me, “will have Knight with you. But make sure to lock the door while we’re gone.”
With that, everyone’s plans were set in motion. While I sat and ate and drank and hoped to hell the bath would ease the ache in my arms, legs, and shoulders that was getting stronger by the moment.
“She’s going to need something other than your clothes to wear around the castle,” Vishen said as I moved into the water closet to dip my fingers into the water as an assembly line of servants brought in buckets of crisp, fresh water.
“I suppose there is some royal dressmaker who handles that sort of thing.”
“I’ll look into it while you try not to argue with your father.”
“Appreciate it,” Jet said as I moved back into the bedroom.
“Any progress?” Jet asked, pointing to his throat.
I opened my mouth and a little squeak escaped me.
His brows rose.
“How about a name?” Vishen asked.
It took more effort than I thought possible, but I managed to wheeze out, “Serin.”
“Serin,” Jet repeated, and something about the way his voice caressed the curves of my name had my belly feeling liquid.
“Well, things are looking up,” Vishen said.
Several of the servants squeezed around me on their way to ease the burden of their buckets into the tub.
I felt a sharp pinch on my hip, like maybe a splinter from the bucket poked at me, but thought nothing of it.
“What about what kind of fae you are?” Jet asked.
I opened my mouth, ready to rasp out the truth.
But no sound came.
My eyes went round as I stared at Jet.
The two men shared a look.
“Well, it’s a good sign that you even got that out,” Vishen said. “Just give it some time. Take your bath. By the time we get back, you should be able to start talking.”
I hoped that was true, but my mouth and throat felt even more numb than they had right after Grimwood had drugged me.
The men made their way out with some words I didn’t understand to the dog, who almost appeared to nod at them like he understood.
“Lock this,” Jet demanded before closing the door.
I didn’t waste a second doing that.
Then I grabbed a fresh tunic from Jet’s wardrobe before making my way into the water closet to strip and dip my toe into the water.
It wasn’t my water. I didn’t feel that instant vitality I did with my lake. But the cool familiarity was refreshing as I slipped down into the water.
It was a slow sort of revival, easing the ache in my bones, lessening the headache pounding in my temples. But it was the best I’d felt since I was dragged out of my lake.
But the water wasn’t fresh, wasn’t being nurtured by the trees, plants, and creatures, which gave it the life force that revitalized me fully.
So it wasn’t long before the aches eased back.
Not as bad as before, but enough that I decided to finish washing my hair and body before climbing out to comb out my hair and brush my teeth.
I was absolutely drained afterward.
I walked on heavy legs back to the bed, climbing on and slipping under the covers to rest my eyes for just a few more minutes.
“Serin!”
The force of the voice shocked me awake, making me shoot up in the bed.
“Just me,” Jet said, sitting on the side of the bed. “I called you a few times. I was worried.”
I settled against the headboard, glancing around the room, my eyes pinching at the dying light.
At my pinched brows, Jet nodded.
“It’s just after eight.”
Eight?
I’d slept all day?
Even as I thought it, though, my brain and body caught up with each other, and the pain intensified.
“Water?” Jet asked, already getting up to fetch the glass and a pitcher.
I gulped down several glasses before I could even think past the aches.
“You’re looking very pale,” he told me, brows pinched.
I could do nothing but shrug.
“You’re still not speaking?”
I tried and tried, but I couldn’t manage even a squeak.
I felt my face crumble even as Jet sighed and got up from the bed. He crossed the room, opened the door, and called out to Vishen.
“What’s going on?”
“She’s still not speaking.”
Vishen frowned. “Not even a sound?”
I shook my head.
“That’s not normal, right?”
“Not without another dose, no. There’s almost no way it is still in her system. Unless…”
“Unless someone dosed her?” Jet asked. “Could someone have put it in the water?”
“Bellhush has a very distinct floral taste. I think she would have noticed. Did you?”
I shook my head.
“Not even in the food?” Jet pressed. Another head shake. “Then how?” he asked Vishen.
“We didn’t drug prisoners with their food or drink,” Vishen said. “A needle prick is just as effective without someone being able to spit it out.”
A needle prick.
I shot off the bed, drawing the men’s attention.
“What? What is it?” Jet asked.
I pointed at my thigh. Because I’d felt a prick when the servants had brought the buckets of water up. I thought it was sharp wood. But what if it wasn’t the bucket at all, but a needle?
I yanked up the side of the tunic and stabbed a finger at the spot.
Jet lowered down, turning me toward the small bit of light still coming through the window.
“Looks like a possible needle prick to me.” He looked over at Vishen. “One of the servants.”
“Yeah,” Vishen said, eyes darkening. “I’ll get on that. Until then, I think it would be wise for one of us to be glued to her day and night. Or have her locked away somewhere so no one can get to her.”
“You’re still working on getting her a guard, right?”
“Right. I’m leaning toward someone fresh out of the academy. A woman, maybe. In my experience, they’re more observant. And harder to corrupt.”
“Sounds good to me. And she could go places a male guard might not be able to. As soon as you can with that.”
“Will do. Okay. Serin. These drugs will wear off by tomorrow afternoon, so long as you stay clear of anyone who isn’t us.”
I nodded.
“Then we can figure out what is going on with her,” Jet said. “Look how pale she is.”
“Yeah. And the sleeping on top of the body aches. Everything seems to be getting worse.”
“How about something to eat?” Jet asked. “Then maybe try to rest again. Seems like you might need it.”
I’d barely been awake ten minutes, but my eyes already felt heavy again. But if it was possible to sleep through the pain, dehydration, and discomfort until I could wake up and speak to them, that was what I wanted.
So that was what I did.
With a fire raging and Jet pulling me tight when the shivers racked my system and silent cries moved through me as the pain intensified.
And then, thankfully, oblivion.