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I didn’t look up from the book, recognizing Aodin’s voice the moment he opened the door. All I could think was he better not start with his shenanigans. I was not in the mood to be charmed, flirted with, or anything along those lines.
“I’m busy,” I said simply, turning another page, still desperately searching.
“Trying to find a way to curse someone?” he said, picking his way around the stacks of rejected books starting to pile up in my vicinity. “Hopefully not me.”
It would be if he kept distracting me.
“It’s for one of our men. He’s fallen ill with some plague resistant to both treatment and magic. I’m find something to save his life, andyou’renot helping.” I put plenty of bite into my voice, hoping he’d get the point.
“One of your man has taken ill? I thought I’d have heard something about this. It’s rare for something so dangerous to escape palace gossip.”
“I guess there are some things the precious nobles don’t want to talk about besides the war.”
“I see. You’re here because you’re hoping you’ll find something for him?”
“Basically. Any records of curses that mimic plagues and resist healing, or have heavy vine, spike, or web imagery.”
“That seems like a tall order.”
“It is.”
He didn’t say anything after, and I kept waiting for him to continue, my eyes never leaving my book. But after several beats of wondering if he was just staring at me, I finally lifted my eyes and saw he wasn’t there anymore.
It looked like he’d left.
For some reason, I’d thought that’d have taken a lot more effort.
Pleased that his distracting presence was gone, I dove back into my book, anxiously flipping through.
But peace only lasted perhaps an hour before the door opened again and this time nearly a dozen sets of footsteps entered. I looked up to see Aodin entering with a whole entourage of other fae.
“All right, I want you to spread out. We’re looking for curses with medical influence, curses with magic resistance, and specific imagery involving vines, to name a few. If you think you’ve found something, you mark where it is using thebookmarks I gave out, and you set it in front of Healer Everton, understood?”
I watched, my jaw hanging, as the eleven or so fae did exactly what the diplomat said.
“What’s all this?” Darla asked, approaching me with her arms full of even more books.
“Well,” Aodin said, his expression completely serious for once. “It seemed time was of vital importance, so I figured I’d help.”
I couldn’t believe it. That was about the last thing I’d ever expected, and yet I was incredibly grateful.
“Thank you, Aodin. This means a lot.”
He bent in a bow, making a grand gesture with his arm. “I live to serve.”
Nodding, because I didn’t really know what else to say, I returned to my book. My concentration wavered for several minutes, distracted by Aodin’s employees moving around the place, but eventually they faded from my mind, except when they approached me to set a book with a bookmark, or sometimes multiples, down.
The only distraction was Darla holding a straw toward my lips so I could hastily drink down whatever she’d brought me, or methodically chewing as she forked food into my mouth. Perhaps I should have been embarrassed she was essentially handfeeding me like a child, but I was only grateful for the extra time it bought me.
Even though we were going well into the night, our search was largely fruitless. It was hard not to let my panic overtake me as every passing second seemed like a guillotine blade was dropping ever closer to my neck, and to Mad Dog’s.
I slept fitfully that night, and I didn’t think I would have at all if Kai and Darla hadn’t insisted I at least try and rest to bring mymagical levels back up while they sandwiched me between them in Kai’s spacious bed.
For the first time in my life, I could have both emotional and physical support without worrying about hurting either of them.
Too bad the same couldn’t be said of Mad Dog.
That was why I couldn’t rest. As soon as my eyes cracked open the next morning, I was hobbling to the library, not even bothering to get new clothes. Darla was pretty furious when she found me, and channeled her anger into forking eggs into my mouth while I read and took notes.
