Page 22 of Manor of Wind and Nightmares (Fae of Brytwilde #3)

Then

S hivers overtook my body in the night, making me toss and turn beneath the bedcovers.

My limbs were heavy, like my entire body was sinking into the mattress or I was drowning in icy waters.

I choked, sitting up in bed as the sound of crashing thunder filled my ears.

Darkness surrounded me, and sweat beaded my forehead.

I could not tell what was my own panic and weakness and what was the sound of an actual storm outside.

“I’m here,” a deep voice murmured as strong arms wrapped around my waist.

I nearly wept with relief from the warmth and comfort enveloping me.

“You’re not alone,” Junseo went on. “You’re going to be all right.”

My stomach churned as I turned to face him, my eyes narrowing in the darkness when I tried to make out his features.

I mumbled something unintelligible even to my own ears, and I reached out a hand, fumbling past the blankets to grasp the front of his shirt and dig my fingers into the fabric. “What’s happening?” I rasped.

His words were gentle, like a hot cup of tea soothing away bone-numbing cold. “It’s possible the poison hasn’t fully left your body. Nighttime is the worst, for it’s when the wraiths are most active.”

I frowned, my foggy mind trying to grasp his words. “I don’t understand.”

“Their poison is connected to their magic. In the day, their victims will experience a reprieve, because the water wraiths rest. But at night, they are active and able to extend the full force of their powers on anyone they’ve poisoned.

” He brushed a gentle hand across my brow and tucked a wayward strand of hair behind my ear.

“I had hoped your fight was over. Most fae, if they survive the first night, recover rather quickly. But you are unaccustomed to cold, so perhaps you are also more susceptible to the wraith’s magic. ”

Or perhaps it’s because I’m human, and I’ll never be able to fight it off. Perhaps this will kill me. I shuddered, tears blurring my vision.

“I asked Lavender to fetch you a healer, but in the meantime, I asked her to bring more blankets and some hot tea. Are you strong enough to sit up?”

Nodding dazedly, I let Junseo grasp my arm and assist me in leaning back against the pillows. A soft knock on the door signaled Lavender’s arrival. She entered with a bundle of folded blankets tucked under one arm and a tray with a steaming teapot and mug balanced in her hands.

Lavender hastened to prepare me a mug while Junseo took the blankets and began laying them over me, tucking them carefully in at the edges.

When Lavender brought me the tea, he approached the hearth, where extra logs rested, and began to build up the fire.

Golden and orange light danced across his face and gleamed in his eyes.

“Drink,” Lavender urged, her brown eyes full of worry. “Better to burn your tongue and heat your body than to let this chill continue to ravage through you.”

I sipped the tea, relishing in the heat that flooded my mouth and then seemed to spread from the inside out, staving off the chill that had been sinking deep into my bones.

The comforting flavors of lavender and chamomile danced along my tongue.

I drew a deep breath as I cradled the mug and sipped some more, not minding the way my tongue burned when the tea was helping revive me.

“Lavender,” Junseo said, voice gentle but firm. “Bring a healer.”

“Are you su—”

“Hurry.”

At the note of command in Junseo’s tone, Lavender didn’t hesitate another moment to hurry out the door.

The captain sat on the edge of the bed, studying me. “Any warmer?”

I nodded, still shivering enough that I didn’t trust my voice.

He frowned, gaze distant. “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you. I’d thought this was over. The healer should be able to help you resist the magic.”

My heart thudded dully in my ears as a thought occurred to me: Would a fae gifted in healing magic be able to sense I was human? What if when he or she worked to heal my body, the healer would be able to tell I was a mortal?

A wave of dizziness assaulted me, and I lifted a hand to touch my temple, my other nearly spilling my tea. Junseo reached out to catch the mug, his calloused hand clasping mine where I clutched the handle. For a breathless moment, we both stared at our hands.

Junseo cleared his throat, gently taking the mug. “Forgive me.”

Too weak to even feel shy, I leaned back against the pillows and closed my eyes.

A moment later, the door opened again and Lavender and a fae man entered.

Quietly, Junseo dismissed his guard while the healer approached, his bright eyes swiftly scanning me, as if he could see the poison visibly overtaking my body.

My stomach squirmed with unease. I wasn’t sure how healers’ magic worked, other than that they had a talent for discerning the wounds that afflicted others and knitting a body back to its natural state.

What if in the process of healing me, he undid my illusion entirely?

I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn’t know if I should request that one of my maids be sent for, or if that could even help me now. King Wystan’s spies would as soon as kill me as help me if they thought they couldn’t prevent my disguise from being discovered.

Junseo hovered near, clasping one of my hands in his as the healer paused at my bedside and lifted his hands over me. My breath caught in my throat, torn between shock that the captain had so casually taken my hand when earlier he’d apologized for brushing it and my fear of the healer.

Then pain ravaged my body, hot and intense, like an inferno searing through my veins and burning away the ice.

I bit my lip to keep from crying out even as I writhed on the bed, squeezing Junseo’s fingers.

Vaguely, in some corner of my mind still capable of conscious thought, I realized why Junseo had taken my hand. Tears streamed down my cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” the healer breathed. “I didn’t want to waste any time when I heard of your state, and I find it better to let the pain take my patient by surprise so it’s over before he or she has time to dread it.”

As swiftly as the pain had begun, it vanished, leaving me even more exhausted and weary than before.

“It will take time for your body to fully fight off the magical effect of the wraith’s poison, but I have expedited the process.

” The healer’s brow crinkled with concern.

“Still, you must keep warm. And rest, of course.”

My eyelids fluttered. The cold that had flooded my body earlier was still there, but the healer’s work had dulled the sharp edge of pain and tempered the chill in my blood. I no longer shivered.

Fighting sleep, I listened to the dull murmur of Junseo’s and the healer’s voices as they exchanged quiet words.

I couldn’t make out what they said. Slipping in and out of consciousness, I couldn’t recall quite when the healer left or when Junseo slipped into bed beside me, his arms wrapping around me.

I sank into his chest, unabashedly relishing the sensation of safety and comfort.

I sank into a brief sleep, waking minutes or hours later to the sound of rain still lashing against the window and the aching absence of Junseo’s arms. When I tried and failed to sit up, searching the dancing light and shadows cast by the flickering flames in the hearth, I found Junseo at my bedside, as if he’d just stood to leave.

I reached out, my weak fingers grasping for his wrist. “Please don’t go,” I rasped. “Stay.”

Junseo’s throat worked as he swallowed. “Are you sure?”

“Stay with me,” I repeated.

He lay back down, tucking my head beneath his and tugging me tightly to him. Immediately I breathed a sigh of relief, letting the sound of his heartbeat and the feel of his fingers tracing a pattern on my arm lull me back into sleep.

I woke entangled with Junseo, the rise and fall of his chest with each breath a soothing rhythm, his heartbeat a reassuring sound.

My stomach clenched with a strange mixture of guilt, sadness, and longing.

My mind buzzed with confusion. How could someone be this drawn to a man they’d just met? It was illogical.

Frustrated, I sat up quickly, relieved to find my body was stronger and the chill was gone. But would it return again in the night?

“Briar.” Junseo’s voice was husky from sleep, sending shivers down my spine as he reached for me. Even though he wasn’t using my name, he was using the princess’s first name, and its intimacy still affected me. “Are you all right?”

I didn’t want to meet his eyes, but that would have been rude after all he’d done for me.

Besides, I’d been the one to ask him to stay last night.

What had I been thinking? Turning, I studied his face, the way the firelight glistened in his dark eyes like golden stars in deep pools of perfect black.

His hair was endearingly unkempt, one lock hanging over his eye.

“Yes, thank you,” I murmured. “I feel much better.”

I stood from the bed and trod barefoot toward one of my trunks, gathering clothes to get dressed for the day and slipping into the adjoining washroom.

As I reentered the bedroom, dressed in the simplest dress I could find within Briar’s wardrobe—a blue-grey one with intricate floral embroidery along the bodice—I registered the rolling thunder and pattering rain against the window.

Last night, in my fight against the wraith’s magic, the sounds hadn’t fully registered in my mind, and when I’d first awoke this morning, I’d been too embarrassed to pay the storm any heed.

I frowned at the window and then at Junseo, who was gathering up his abandoned blankets by the hearth to drape over the nearby armchair. “Yes,” he said, noting my expression. “We’ll be delayed again. The roads will be far too muddy for our carriages.”