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A tap turned on next, and a minute later, Tarian returned, a fresh jug of water in his hands.
“Here,” He held it out to me, but the weakness in my arms was too much for me to hold the jug by myself. Tarian sat himself on the edge of the bed, holding the bottom of the jug with one hand and the back of my neck with the other as he tipped it up, letting me drink thefresh, normal tasting water.
I groaned around the lip of the jug, knowing it was spilling all over me and the bedding as I gulped it down greedily. Despite how much I had drank over the last days, I was parched, and the cool, fresh water was an oasis in a dry desert.
Tarian finally pulled the jug away, letting me catch my breath.
“Thanks,” I gasped, the pain settling into my stomach almost debilitating, “I knew something wasn’t right.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Tarian sighed, pushing my hair off my face as I sat back, concern on his features.
“I tried. I asked Cyrus if he had noticed anything funny about the water, and then I told Gracie about it tasting off, but neither of them knew what I was talking about.” I closed my eyes, letting the comfort of having Tarian near by ease my anxiety slightly, “Someone has been serving me the drinks, but I don’t know who it is. They’ve been disappearing as soon as I turn to look at them.”
Tarian frowned, nodding his head, and standing from the bed. I whined at the lack of contact, and he laughed lightly, disappearing into the main living area and reappearing seconds later with one of the large, velvet armchairs.
“I’ll stay right here, try and get some more sleep.” Tarian smiled, setting the armchair down near the window,facing the bed. I watched him as he settled himself into it, his arms crossed over his chest and his legs stretched out in front of him.
I worried briefly that he would be bored, watching me sleep, but as he raised his eyebrows at me and waved his hand at the bed, I let myself slip back under the heavy duvet properly.
~~~
“What are you doing in here?”
Cyrus’s voice sounded far away, and I jolted slightly in bed. I was neither awake nor asleep, but I could not open my eyes to see him.
“She asked me to stay.” Tarian replied, and I could hear the slight tinge of anger in his voice. If I did not know him well, I would not have noticed it. I heard Cyrus moving closer to the bed, a cold hand meeting my sweltering forehead, and I fought to stay lying still.
“Is she alright?” Cyrus asked, his tone soft, and I felt the bed dip slightly as he sat down next to me.
“She is having fever dreams, I think. She keeps muttering in her sleep.” Tarian sighed, and I felt a rush of embarrassment run through me. I had been having strange dreams, but I did not realise I had been vocalising them.
“You can go now, Tarian. I will stay with her.”
“No offence, Your Majesty, but she asked me to stay. I’m staying.”
I felt Cyrus stand from the bed, and risked prying one eye open to see what was going on. He was standing in front of where Tarian sat in his chair, his hands balled into fists as Tarian looked up at him with a look of complete disinterest in his face.
“I am your King, and I am telling you to leave.” Cyrus hissed through his teeth, and Tarian smirked slightly, his eyes flitting to me and catching me watching them.
“She is my Queen, and she asked me to stay.” He shot back, looking back up at Cyrus and clasping his hands together over his stomach, kicking back even farther in the chair as though to hammer in his point. He was not moving. He was not leaving me alone with Cyrus.
Cyrus grunted, spinning on the spot and storming from the bedroom, the main door to the suite slamming closed seconds later. Tarian rolled his eyes, a light laugh coming from him as he pushed out of the chair and came towards the bed, kneeling down next to me and meeting my eyes. He winked, reaching up to tuck the duvet back in around me.
“Go back to sleep, Kira. I’ve got you.”
42
Kira
I slept for forty-eight hours.
Tarian and Maeteo had taken turns sitting in the chair across from me, refusing to leave even when Cyrus threatened them. Maeteo had quipped that he had already spent time in the dungeons here once and would not mind doing so again if it meant sticking to his word.
Cyrus had been furious, stationing two guards outside of the royal suite doors to alert him if I woke up. Tarian had taken care of them quickly enough, giving them glasses of water that had been sent up to the room and, in turn, making them sick enough to need to go to the hospital wing.
They had questioned Cyrus about who was preparing the water. He had feigned innocence, saying he was looking into it straight away, but Tarian had not believed him inthe slightest, and had followed him down to the kitchens, where he had met with his aunt Saffron and disappeared out the back door.
I pushed myself up in bed, the weakness of my muscles still causing me pain, and looked around the room I was in properly for the first time. The decor was old and outdated, but seemed perfectly fitting for Cyrus’s father, from what I had heard. A vanity that I had not noticed originally was beside the chest of drawers, and it was littered with old perfume bottles, and golden jewellery that had faded over the years. I swung my legs out of the bed, Maeteo snoring softly in the chair next to me, and stood.
