Page 43 of By Mistake

Oresti hadn't been truly scared to death in a long time. Not since a case had led him to an old, abandoned house in search of an escaped killer and the bastard had locked them both inside and played the world's worst game of hide and seek.

He reached up to touch the necklace again, hand still trembling. If Shimari hadn't been so damned insistent he wear it…

"You're not allowed to ever take it off, that's for certain," Shimari said. "You're all right, darling. I'd never let you be anything else."

Oresti managed a smile, reaching out to cup the back of Shimari's head again, drawing him into a brief kiss before they resumed their journey down the hallway. Andrus had already beaten them there, and looked faintly amused as he watched them.

Shimari kissed him in turn, and Andrus held his hand as they were let through the wide double doors that led to the healer's hall.

He could hear Latasha sobbing. Which wasn't something she ever did. He took off running, ignoring people shouting at him, and burst into the room the crying was coming from. To find his father, siblings, and various in-laws all packed into the room already. "Alina? Is she—"

"She's alive," Oranti said. "For now. Barely. The blood loss was…severe does not even begin to cover it. If not for your friend, she would definitely be dead. I don't know what he did, but it stabilized her long enough to get her here. Markus went back with her."

Latasha wiped her eyes, sitting up from where her wife was holding her, then standing and going to Oresti. "Her leg, Oresti. Her left leg is just gone . There's nearly nothing left of it. So much blood." She started crying again, pressing into his shoulder.

He held her tightly, until her wife took her back, then hugged the rest of his siblings in turn. The only one missing was their sister Karina, who was abroad. Gods, what a letter she would be receiving soon.

"She'll be all right," he said. "Alina is the toughest of us. She'll be fed up with healing inside of a week and trying to go back to work by the start of next week."

"I wish you were wrong," Telish said with a sigh, dropping back down next to his betrothed, a handsome man from neighboring Perrishta who'd initially come to Esaria in the course of his research on a royal relic. He'd met Telish and never left. "Damn her."

Oresti sat down next to his father, Andrus on his other side, warm and reassuring. Shimari remained close to the door they'd come through. Directly opposite him was another door that would lead to where the healers were actually attending Alina.

"If that bastard wasn't already dead, I'd go kill him myself right now," Oresti said.

"Dead?" Latasha said. "So you did get Farthing?"

"Yes, though the matter is…complicated, to say the least."

Oranti sighed. "You may as well tell them everything. But nothing that's said here leaves this circle, am I understood?"

After a chorus of "Yes, Your Majesty," Oresti laid out the whole tale, supplemented by Andrus, of all that had happened since they'd met, the murder investigation he was put on, all the way through the parts of the ballroom fight none of them had witnessed.

A ringing silence fell as he finally ran out of words.

It was Telish who finally spoke. "So you're saying now there's three zero-class demons in the palace? Where is Kressen of the Blood right now?"

"Either with Greivs and Coret, or with Renik, or both."

"I don't know what to say," Latasha said. "If Karina was here, she'd be birthing dragons. Who is going to tell her? Not me."

"I'll handle it," Oranti said in amusement. "She's due to come home soon for the wedding, anyway. I'll speak with her then. Just know she'll hunt you down to ask a million questions."

"I know how to avoid being found," Oresti muttered, closing his eyes as he slumped back against the sofa. Next to him, Andrus had passed out. Not surprising, given the night, all that Shimari had drained from him after expending unfathomable amounts of energy in the fight.

He wanted badly to have Shimari take him up to the room, so he could sleep comfortably, but if he did that, Andrus would kill him. Even though there was nothing to do here but wait.

Just as he was starting to doze off himself, the terror and strain of the evening finally dropping into exhaustion, despite his anxiety over his sister, the door opened and the royal master healer, Vahn, stepped into the room.

He smiled faintly and gave a bare nod, then went to Oranti as they all stood up.

"Her Highness is recovering. She lost most of her left leg, up to mid-thigh. The blood loss was frankly the bigger issue, but recovery tonics and rest will fix that. Whoever managed to get the bleeding under control long enough to get her to us saved her life."

"A friend of mine," Shimari said. "He's…an old hand at dealing with blood and wounds. I'll be sure to convey your words to him."

"Do that," the healer replied. "If he's ever seeking work, he's welcome here. Now then, she's not up to many guests right now. I'm surprised she hasn't gone back to sleep, honestly. She wanted to speak with 'Oresti and his two' first, and then the rest of you can see her."

Oresti stepped forward, Shimari and Andrus right behind him.

The empty space where her leg should be was jarring, to say the least. Alina was pale, far, far too pale, devoid of the vibrancy that was so much a part of her.

Oresti immediately went to her right side, Markus on the left, and took her hand.

"I'm so sorry, Alina. We should have stopped him sooner. "

She smiled tiredly, eyes barely open, red from crying. "Don't apologize. I'm the one who needs to do that. You warned me, Master Shimari, more than once, and I refused to listen. Did anyone else die?"

Oresti shook his head. "No, thanks largely to Kressen, but also to Greivs and Coret. I'll explain everything when you're better. Just focus on resting for now. Don't try to do any work."

"I'm trying," Markus said dryly. "I expect only drugging her will get her to rest properly."

"You shush," Alina retorted, but then yawned. "Perhaps a bit of sleep. Tell the others they're welcome to come in, I'm sure they'd like to see me, even if I'm fast asleep. I'm sorry again. This is entirely my fault. A good queen listens, and I did not do that."

"You're not queen yet," Markus said gruffly. "Plenty of time to improve. Now rest, twit."

"Jerk…" Alina said, barely finishing the word before she was fast asleep.

Markus gave a shaky sob-laugh. "She barely made it.

If not for Kressen…I found it so hard to believe, everything she told me about you…

" he looked at Shimari, then the other two, then dropped his gaze to Alina again.

"I've never seen anything like it. He just…

commanded the blood to stop pouring out of her.

" He picked up her hand and kissed the palm, tears falling down his cheeks.

"I nearly lost her. It was so very close. "

"Alina is nothing if not stubborn enough to defy death itself," Oresti said dryly. "I should know, because she did in fact defy death several times over this fiasco."

Markus glared at him.

Oresti lifted his hands. "You're right, too soon.

I'm having a hard time with everything myself.

" He scrubbed at his face. "We'll go tell the others they can come in.

Get some rest yourself. She'll need you more than ever, especially once she thinks she's well enough to start replacing that leg. Good luck."

"Thanks," Markus said with a sigh. He stood to hug Oresti tightly, then resumed his seat and took her hand once more, looking lonely and lost as he stood vigil at his wife's bed.

Back out in the waiting room, Oresti spoke with the others, who all but ran to see her. "All right, much as I want to crawl into bed, let's go see our newest demon. I'm sure Kressen and the others are down there waiting to hear from us."

Shimari took their arms and whisked them away, down into the bowels of the palace, where sure enough, the others waited for them.

Coret sat against the wall, looking more asleep than awake, his clothes torn and mussed, hair a tangled mess.

His hands were scratched and bloody, and there was a scratch and crusted blood on one cheek.

Greivs was in even worse shape, his jacket long gone, shirt torn nearly to shreds and covered in blood and grime, his face even filthier.

Kressen, of course, seemed entirely unaffected by everything, as neat and pretty as he'd begun the night, except perhaps that his hair was slightly disarrayed. His eyes, though, burned bright blood red as he stared at the figure in the middle of the protective spell circle.

Farthing…except not anymore. Farthing was dead.

"What does this mean?" Andrus asked into the silence. "Is he…will he take over Farthing's life?"

"No," Shimari said, stepping past the circle as though it wasn't even there and sitting down, dragging Renik's head into his lap, stroking his forehead like a mother would her sick child.

"Once the process is complete, he'll be able to make himself look however he pleases.

" His mouth quirked, amusement briefly filling his eyes as he looked up and added, "I can't promise he won't go around looking like Farthing for his own amusement at times, but like any of us, Renik has a preferred appearance. "

Oresti said, "You always prefer innocent, bookish waif who would cry over hurting a spider? Why am I asking, of course you do."

Shimari grinned.

Kressen rolled his eyes. "Death is never what anyone expects, even those who know very well the method by which they will die."

"So what's your excuse?" Coret asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Kressen narrowed his eyes.

Coret smiled teasingly. "Cold, imperious, mysterious lord of a forgotten castle in the woods? Is that not what you're trying to achieve?"

"Impertinent brat."

"Yes," Shimari said. "That is precisely his favored look. Lord of the Red, the original sullen vampire."