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The Songbird
Larsson and Tait led him into the bedchamber while Bloodsinger flung curses and promises they’d all lose all manner of limbs and parts. Tait was not the king, but he was of the royal line, and with Erik wounded, he fell into his role with ease.
He kept his voice steady, offering direction and commands until Erik was positioned on the bed in a way the blade wouldn’t dig deeper.
Celine kept close to the garden door, an occasional twitch to her cheek. I stood a pace away and scrubbed my palms free of soil and blood in a basin near the window.
“What did Tait do to me?” I asked, voice low.
Celine shifted on her feet and kept her eyes forward. “Heartwalker. He read the desires of your heart.” She clasped her hands behind her back. “It is the only reason he trusts you enough to be here. Your truest desire must’ve been to help the king.”
I scrubbed my fingernails with more fervor. Tait could actually read the desire of my heart? My desirewasBloodsinger. All of him, every scar, every glimpse of his beautiful black heart, I wanted for myself.
I cast his cousin a narrowed look. Tait held my stare for a few breaths, as if trying to break through any lies, any tricks I might’ve played on his ability.
I didn’t look away as I sat on the bed and took Erik’s hand possessively. A challenge. A promise. After succumbing to the pull toward the king, I would like to see Tait Heartwalker tear me from him in this moment.
The king was pale, but his face was as stone—hard and unmoved. No doubt he hid a great deal of pain but would refuse to reveal it with such an audience. The sight of him tightened my chest, heat fluttering through my insides.
Once three wide baskets filled with vials, pouches, and dried roots were brought to the king’s room by three guards, Tait barked, “Everyone out.”
The guards abandoned the chamber at once. Larsson opened the door to the garden. “We’ll keep watch on those bastards.”
Celine followed outside as if she couldn’t escape fast enough.
“You realize if your blood can take on his ability, you might end up killing him?” Tait glared at me.
I let out a long breath. Was it worth the risk? Erik was fading. His blood seemed to flow endlessly. My hand touched his clammy skin. He curled his fingers weakly around mine, and the warm hum of power coated my skin. A connection I had with him alone.
“I need to try.” I kneeled over the bed, and rested a palm on Erik’s cheek until he blinked his glassy eyes open. “Erik, I think I need your voice. Will you try?”
He didn’t speak but dipped his chin in a nod.
I didn’t waste another moment and used one of Tait’s knives to slice my palm. One hand on Erik’s shoulder, I waited for the same connection that came when we worked together to heal the darkening took hold.
Then, slowly, I placed my bloodied palm against the wound on his side.
A few breaths and his body shuddered. “Gods.”
His face contorted in pain.
“Erik.” I grappled for him. “Sing. I need your voice. Sing,please.”
Tears fell from my cheeks onto his as a gentle, distant hum came from his throat. Soft, dark, beautifully haunting, Erik’s voice was a force I absorbed to the very marrow of my bones.
“Blood is slowing,” Tait said, a new enthusiasm in his voice. “Erik, keep awake. Keep going.”
The wound slowed the weeping of blood, but Erik let out a rough gasp and his head fell back. His breath was shallow.
“Dammit.” Tait reached for the baskets. “That’s all the help we’ll have. You say your earth magic can help, then do it.”
My hands trembled as I dug through the baskets of healing herbs. Every few breaths, I’d look at Erik. He wasn’t moving. He looked half in the Otherworld. A sigh of relief burned my throat when I found a small, leather-bound book with drawings and dosages based on height, male or female, grown or a child.
Seemed boneweavers did like to leave traces of common healing practices despite the ability to heal being embedded in their magic.
The trouble was, I did not understand the dosages. It was written in symbols and languages foreign to me.
“Tait.” I held out the book. “I can’t read this. See if you understand anything.”
