28. Kiera
TWENTY-EIGHT
KIERA
“ Y ou’re looking so much better,” Zaria’s voice broke the monotony of these four walls and my watchdog hovering. She stood in the doorway with Nyx crowding in behind her. His face betrayed his state of high alert. I would be prepared to bet that since I was poisoned right here in the city, he hadn’t let Zaria out of his sight. She was probably as tired of it as I was.
I’d been fully awake now for days, and this was the first I’d seen of anyone except those caring for me. I suspected Jaxus was keeping everyone at bay.
“It’s good to see you,” I said, trying to straighten up while Jaxus took the playing cards and set our game aside.
“How are you feeling?” Zaria asked, leaning over and giving me a hug. Nyx planted a brief kiss on my forehead, and I could have sworn I heard Jaxus growl.
Nyx’s smirk as he sat beside the bed suggested he had, too .
“I’m feeling better,” I told them, ignoring the growling males. The Goddess only knew what that was about. Nyx wasn’t going to hurt me by giving me a chaste kiss.
“I’m so glad to see you awake. Last time I came, you were still sleeping, and someone has been keeping you all to himself since then.” He tipped his head in Jaxus’ direction.
I shot a look at Jaxus and he shrugged, not even looking sorry.
“He won’t leave.” I rolled my eyes. “Surely there’s some important kingdom business you need him doing?” I pleaded to Nyx with my eyes, and he chuckled.
“He’s where he needs to be right now,” Nyx replied diplomatically.
I groaned.
Jaxus smirked, then stood. “Actually, since you’re here, there is something I need to take care of. Will you stay until I get back? I won’t be long,” he asked Nyx as if I wasn’t even here.
“Of course,” Nyx readily agreed. The ease with which they handled this little handover of supervision had me thinking they’d arranged it in advance.
Zaria and I watched them and then exchanged a look that said: they are up to something, aren’t they?
I shrugged it off. Jaxus was leaving and I had fresh company for the first time in days. I wasn’t going to complain. As soon as he slipped out, I turned to Nyx.
“You have to make him stop. I’m begging you.”
Nyx smiled and shrugged. “He’s doing what a bonded dragon does when his ryder is vulnerable. Dragon’s hoard by nature. We don’t neglect what is ours to guard, especially when the treasure is threatened.”
“I am not a thing to be hoarded or guarded,” I spat, indignant.
“Not a thing, no, but a treasure? Yes. To him, you are the treasure he most needs to protect. ”
“Well, he’s driving me crazy. He won’t even allow me my workbooks. I need to do something productive with my time, even if I can’t leave this bed.”
“Sorry to tell you, nothing I say will change his mind.”
“Can you at least bring me my books? I’m falling so far behind,” I begged.
“Oh no, I’m not inserting myself into this. It’s between you and your dragon. But for what it’s worth, I think he’s right. You need to heal and you work too hard as it is. You could stand to take a bit of time off.”
I fixed him with my most disappointed look. “You are supposed to be my friend!”
“I am being your friend by saying no! Besides, I’ve been at odds with Jaxus too much recently. I owe him this.”
He looked down, seeming to study his hands for a moment, then looked up. “I have apologized to him, but I owe you an apology, too. I was out of line at the festival, and I kept Jaxus occupied with my problems when he could have been with you. If I had just let it go for a day, you wouldn’t need to be in this bed now.”
“It’s not your fault. I would have handled it regardless of who was beside me.”
“Perhaps, but I think more likely, one of us would have scented it and stopped you from getting so close.”
“The real question,” Zaria interjected, “is why was it there in the first place, and how did you not recognize it before you picked it up?”
“That’s the thing, from what I remember, it was a bundle of what looked like marjoram. I wouldn’t mistake it. Even though stupidly it wouldn’t have occurred to me to be cautious of Dragon's Bane, now that I’m a ryder since I never had to be before. I would have raised the alert to protect you and the dragons among us. But it wouldn’t have occurred to me to protect myself. So it must have been disguised. That’s all I can think. Dragon's Bane bundled with other herbs around it to conceal it. But to what end?”
“Exactly,” Zaria agreed. “Were they trying to harm festival goers? Or were they supplying it so someone else could use it for Goddess knows what?”
I shook my head. “I know, it’s worrying, I agree.”
“It’s not something you have to worry about. You just need to get better. We are looking into all of that, and we won’t rest until we track the traders down and find answers,” Nyx assured.
“And how did such a small amount make you so ill when I was among tons of it burning and survived?” Zaria wondered aloud.
“I’m thinking because you were exposed every day for most of your life after your bond had been awakened. So, while it kept you sick constantly and certainly poisoned you that day you were brought here after the fires, you have built up quite a tolerance to it. I doubt if you’d have been in my shoes, you’d have had this reaction. You might have had a breathing attack and needed some rest, but not this.” I gestured at myself, weakened and bedridden.
“My bond is brand new and I was vulnerable. If I had to guess, I’d say I inhaled some seed or dust that got straight into my respiratory system and hit me hard.” I rolled my eyes. “But since I have not been allowed to read my chart, I don’t know. I’m just supposed to be a good little patient and rest in ignorance.”
Zaria bit her lip to stop her amusement from showing. “Think of it as a well-deserved break from work?”
I sighed. “If I was going to actually take one of those, I’d at least do something nice, like take a trip back home or something. Not sit here all day being coddled and bossed around.”
“Goddess, healers really do make the worst patients, don’t they?” Nyx laughed.
“Jaxus said the same. I think you are all conspiring against me. ”
Just then one of our newer healers, Vanya, came in to do her checks and looked nervously at Nyx in his chair. I nodded encouragingly and she proceeded silently with her work. I watched her. Proud that she was making such great progress since she’d come to the city.
“How do I look?” I asked.
“You’re doing so well,” she said sweetly.
“Good, hopefully my father will say I can get out of this bed soon so I can get back to what I should be doing.”
“We are managing,” she assured me. “You need to heal.”
“I am healing. I’m just itching to get back to work. What’s been happening out there? What am I missing?”
I felt a little bad taking advantage of her sweet nature, but if I didn’t get just a snippet of life beyond that door soon, I was going to start plotting some painful ends.
“Well—” She leaned in before side-eying Nyx and Zaria and seeing that they were whispering to one another. “We have one patient with a persistent?—”
“This sounds suspiciously like work to me,” Jaxus barked from the door.
Vanya jumped and looked terrified before bowing her head and scurrying out past a surly-looking Jaxus.
He strode in, looking like we could expect fire breathing at any moment.
“I leave you alone for all of fifteen minutes and you think you can treat patients from your sickbed?”
He rounded on Nyx and Zaria. “And you! You had one job, and you let it happen right under your nose.”
“I think we will leave you to it,” Zaria said to me around Jaxus’ hulking form, having trouble not laughing as she rose and dragged Nyx out of the room. “We’ll come back and see you tomorrow, Kiera. Good luck!”
I could hear Zaria’s amusement echoing in the hall outside my room, and it made me want to scream!