23. Jaxus
TWENTY-THREE
JAXUS
S everal paces behind Kiera as she browsed the market traders’ offerings, I was back in a debate with Nyx, though we were both being more cognizant of our volume and demeanor. For everyone else’s sake, I wanted to try and have a more peaceful day. But after I’d dealt with my flyers in the tent and then had that spectacular kiss in the shadows of the temple that ended far too soon, I was on edge and feeling irritated as Nyx’s attitude was bothering me still. He just wouldn’t see sense.
“The King’s direct orders are to hold the armies until we figure out what we’re dealing with.” I couldn’t believe that he was still trying to convince me that his secret scouting plan was a good idea or that Nyx, of all people, wasn’t listening to the king’s orders.
“I’m not holding when they could be encroaching on the First Kingdom.” Nyx didn’t seem fazed by my assertion .
“Nyx, you cannot take a flight out. This, this is like treason.” Someone had to say it to him and I knew no one else would.
“I’m the general. Who are you going to follow?”
“Against the direct orders of the King?” I asked.
“It’s not against him if I’m just taking a small party to scout out the situation. He trusts me.” Nyx didn’t sound like himself.
“What has gotten into you?” And why had no one else noticed? “This is not rational. You know we can’t afford to lose more flyers.”
“I know my own flyers. They can handle it. I’ll only take the best.” Nyx lifted his jaw, reminiscent of some of the elders in Kerani. “It doesn’t matter if they can handle it. We’re dealing with a force we’ve never seen before.” It felt futile to argue, but I couldn’t let it go.
“Yes, and we’ll be careful. We’re going to go in silently. Scouting parties are the only way to be sure what we are dealing with. We can’t just sit here waiting for an attack. I know what I’m doing. I’m the King’s general, after all.”
“Again, I don’t disagree with you.” But I knew he was doing it for all the wrong reasons. He can’t keep going on like this unchecked as everyone in the kingdom would pay. I didn’t have anyone other than Kiera to bring this up to either, so how could I stop him?
Who else would even trust me? And over Nyx? Not a chance. They’d known him his whole life. I was just some male he brought in and then put in command of all of them. Could one fae stand against the tide?
“I can’t let you so blatantly disobey the King,” I told him, raising my chin to level with him. It might be the only thing he understands.
“So you’ll disobey me?” he challenged.
“Nyx, this kingdom needs you. If you don’t stop this personal crusade, you might find yourself no longer in command. I can’t let you commit treason, for all our sakes. ”
“And I can’t rest—” he was cut off by a cry of distress, followed by several more.
“Somebody find a healer!” One called out.
We both whirled around and looked to where a small crowd was gathered around a stall, the one where Kiera had been looking.
I scanned the faces and didn’t see her, so I reached out through our bond as we made our way over. There was nothing.
“Excuse me,” Nyx commanded in his general’s voice, clearing a path to the center of whatever had everyone’s attention, and as the crowd parted, I gasped.
Kiera lay unmoving on the ground.
“Kiera!” I ran the rest of the way, shoving fae out of my way and dropping down beside her.
She was pale, a light sweat shimmered on her brow. Her breathing was rapid and shallow while her heart beat quickly. I took in a breath, and that’s when it hit me. The smell of Dragon’s Bane was unmistakable.
“Get back,” I yelled over my shoulder at Nyx. “Dragon's Bane!” Without warning anyone around me, I shifted. I couldn’t risk the exposure in fae form. In dragon form, it would take more than a little dose to really affect me, and I had to help Kiera. Fae ran away as I became my vast dragon, pushing over stalls and not caring that I couldn’t find a clear space to do this.
Kiera’s life depended on quick action.
I picked her up in my talons and was airborne before Nyx had fully shifted to join me. I flew the short way to the palace and landed on the healer’s wing, laying Kiera down as Nyx landed with Zaria and Luka on his back.
Nyx went right to the bell on the landing wall and knocked it with his head, staying in dragon form and not allowing Zaria and Luka to dismount. Kiera had been exposed and we couldn’t know if it would affect us all. Well, not Luka, but us dragons and, subsequently, our ryders .
Healers, including Kiera’s father, came out to the landing, and I thanked the Goddess he was here to help her.
“Dragon's Bane,” Zaria called to them from Nyx’s back.
It was all the information they needed as they gathered her up and carried her inside. I shifted, dashing to get some pants and follow them. But a healer stopped me at the door.
“Let us get her out of her contaminated clothes and started on treatment before you go in.”
“I’m not waiting out here,” I said commandingly.
“You’d rather be further exposed and give us a second patient to take our attention away from your ryder, would you?” She left no room for argument and when I didn’t want to toss her out of my way and defy her orders, I’d try to remember to thank her for being good at her job.
“When can I see her?”
“Soon. We won’t keep you out, but we need to strip her and cleanse her to rid her of the contamination and while we are doing that, you need to bathe to make sure you’re not carrying any contaminants, either. Any more could kill her.” She looked over my shoulder to the others. “That goes for all of you. Don’t let me see you back until you’re scrubbed and changed.”
I ran, not thinking about anything other than getting back to Kiera as fast as possible. A sharp whistle stopped me. I look back to find the others following.
“You can’t go back to the barracks with even a hint of Dragon’s Bane on you,” Nyx said. “Come and bathe in our suite. It’s closer anyway.” I nodded and turned to follow them.
They let me bathe first, and whilst I was scrubbing, Luka knocked and held out a pile of fresh clothes through a crack in the door.
“Thank you,” I called as he closed the door again.
I emerged with dripping hair and damp clothing stuck to my skin, but I had no interest in wasting time drying off properly when Kiera’s life hung in the balance .
“Go, we will be right behind you,” Zaria said, ushering Nyx into the bathing chamber and following him in.
Luka was gone, so I headed straight back to the healer’s wing and found the room where they were treating Kiera. No one stopped me from entering. They were busy around her bed.
“How is she?” I demanded of anyone who would listen.
It was her father who looked up. He eyed me and I felt lacking. I hadn’t yet been formally introduced to him, though he was no doubt aware of me. This was not the introduction I would have hoped for. I was an unknown dragon who had failed to protect his daughter. He rounded the bed and came to me. I tensed, expecting a physical response. But he wasn’t a dragon. His people were far more passive. Nevertheless, he could cut me with his words.
“Thank you for acting so quickly,” he said in his soothing healer’s tone, shocking me.
“I’m sorry. I should have been with her. Will she be okay?”
“Her system is in shock. As a newly bonded ryder, she has never had this reaction before. Before you came, it would have had no effect on her,” he explained.
I swallowed. This was my fault. I made her weak to it.
“Now don’t go blaming yourself. She wasn’t to know, and neither were you.”
I did blame myself. And Nyx. If I hadn’t been talking him down from acting irrationally again, I would have been by her side. I could have smelled the Dragon’s Bane before she even got near it. But because of Nyx’s selfish quest for the Goddess only knew what, she could die. “Will she be okay?” I pleaded, just needing to hear that she would.
“I think she will. How long was the exposure before you got her here?”
“Minutes. Five at most.” I said with confidence, although they may have been the longest minutes I’d ever experienced .
He frowned. “She must be very susceptible if such a short exposure did this.”
“What does that mean? Will she be okay?”
Her father patted my arm. “I believe she will be fine given some time. Her recovery may be long as the reaction was extreme, but once we cleanse her blood and finish the course of antidote, she should recover fully. I have you to thank that it’s not a more serious outcome.”
I blinked, not understanding why he wasn’t furious with me. I was furious!
The healers began to clear, having finished all they needed to do for now. “You may sit with her if you wish.” Her father said, bringing a chair over to the bed.
I gestured for him to sit instead. “You should be with her—sir.” I was suddenly awkward. Having never been introduced, I had no clue what to call him. Healer on High? His name, which I didn’t know. I was stuck in the void, with nothing but sir. Perfect.
He smiled sympathetically and held out his hand to shake. “Call me, Ophir.”
I shook his hand. “Jaxus.”
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Jaxus. I suspect our girl has been keeping you away from the rest of her life, but don’t put up with it. She can be stubborn, so you must stand your ground.” Ophir didn’t look unkind but serious. Like most of the healers I’d met.
I choked out a laugh, emotion closing my throat. ‘Our girl,’ he’d said. My chest tightened at the words. She was mine. I’d just never expected it to be so easily accepted by her father when she had resisted so hard.
“Now sit,” he insisted.
“Don’t you want to watch over her?”
“I will be monitoring her, but you are her bonded dragon. She will heal best in contact with you so you can share magic. ”
I nodded, taking the seat he offered. I felt conscious as I took her hand. Would this be okay with her? Would she want me linking our fingers and holding her in front of her father without her consent? His hand patted my shoulder—in approval? Encouragement? I didn’t know, but it wasn’t a warning to stop, so I held her tight, watching her chest rise slowly and then fall in a much more regular pattern than how I’d found her.
Ophir checked on a few things, then withdrew, and without scanning the room, I knew we were alone.
“I’m so sorry,” I spoke into her mind, not knowing if she would hear or not. “Please don’t leave me.”
I couldn’t do any of this without her.