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That is, if we survived long enough.
Chapter 2
Kai
“Please take a deep breath for me, Your Highness. We’re going to debride your injury.”
“Understood.”
“The notes in your file say this was cleaned yesterday, so normally we wouldn’t need to do this again, but the nature of silver wounds often result in waves of decay or damaged cells that need to be manually healed.”
“Lucky me,” I remarked, completely unsurprised. It wasn’t the first silver wound I had, so I was familiar with the process. However, bullet wounds healed far faster, as all of them had nearly taken care of themselves after a full night’s sleep.
“Do you need something to bite on, Your Highness?”
“No, it’ll be fine.”
“Well, then.”
The healer went about undressing the wound, then, as she so benignly put it, began to “debride my injury”, except it felt more like a full-on torture session. Had I done something to upset her? Because it certainly felt like I had.
“This is healing well,” she said as she finished, with both of us pretending like a solid sheen of sweat hadn’t broken out on my forehead.
“It is?”
“Oh, yes, but I’m afraid it won’t be fully healed before the grand ball tomorrow. I’m afraid your intended won’t be able to rest her hand on your arm.”
“My intended?” I knew Ayla and I hadn’t exactly been subtle lately, but I didn’t think that word had gotten that far out. Besides, all the healers respected our privacy.
“Yes, Lady Felicity Rathson. I heard she’ll be gracing us with her presence.”
Gotta love the gossip mill, I thought to myself.
“Ah, yes, my uncle is quite eager to have her at court, but she’s not my intended.”
“Oh, I was mistaken, Your Highness. My apologies.”
She didn’t have to apologize, but I just didn’t have the energy to explain the whole situation to her. I was sure my uncle was using the social pressures to make me kowtow and propose to Felicity. It showed how little he knew me.
“May I speak freely, Your Highness?”
That wasn’t something I was asked too often. “Of course,” I said. “I always prefer it when people are honest.”
“As much as I’m both happy and honored to administer your care today, your healer is far more accomplished than I am. I’m sure she’d have been able to completely close it without so much as a scar left behind. I’m just puzzled why you’re here at our infirmary instead.”
Pride bubbled up in my chest. The healer was echoing exactly what I told Ayla, but I still liked hearing an accomplished medical worker compliment my mate. I just wanted everyone to see my beloved the way I did. She’d spent far too long in the shadows, so often blamed for the awful acts of someone else.
Not just anyone, but the Shrouded Shriek.
“She’s indisposed,” I said, trying to keep my face straight as my mind revisited that little factoid. Although we couldn’t be certain, the idea that that bastard of a sorcerer was the culprit for my mate’s curse still made my head spin. I’d had plenty of reason to hate him before—he was the reason so many of our forces died needlessly painful deaths—but now that rage had sharpened and narrowed.
“Indisposed? Is she all right?”
“She’s fine. Just recovering from how much magic she’s been expending lately.”
“Ah, I understand, Your Highness. Such things can be complicated for a healer.”
“Indeed they are.”
