Page 43 of Quest for her Knights (The Lost Souls of Dyconia #5)

Chapter thirty

Elora

“ W ow. Whose home did you say this is?” I ask as I stand in the foyer of the castle and spin in a circle.

“It belonged to Freya’s family. The Freya that was born here, that is. But her family was all killed,” Arrow tells me as he surveys the space.

“By the other Elora, right, I remember that part. She was a pretty bad egg, huh?”

“A bad egg?” he asks in amusement.

“Is that not an expression here? It means she stunk.”

He laughs and wraps his arm around my shoulder. “No, I’ve never heard that, but I love hearing all the things that come out of your mouth.”

“That’s only cause you haven’t heard me sing,” I tell him with a smile .

“That bad?”

“Worse.” He chuckles as the others join us from where they were surveying the rest of the castle.

“Everything looks safe,” Ranger says, glancing at me for only a second before he looks at the others. It’s been two days since we left Shadowcross and he still hasn’t spoken to me.

“There are still a few staff members here to help us. They have a cook, a cleaner, a gardener and the house manager.”

“Who pays them?” I ask, curious.

Ranger finally looks at me when he responds. “Nobody, but they have rooms in the staff quarters, so they can stay here for free. They just upkeep the place.”

“Do you know where we can sleep?” Arrow asks as he leads us toward the large, curved staircase.

“Yes, the former king and queen’s suite is ready for you to use.”

My stomach clenches at the use of the word “you,” as if he’s putting distance between us. I try to take a deep breath, but my chest starts to ache. I place a hand over the pain, but it only grows worse.

Am I having a heart attack? No, that’s when your arm goes numb. Or is that a stroke? I have no idea, but as we start to walk up the stairs, the pain intensifies.

“Arrow?” I lift my eyes to his. “I don’t feel well. ”

His relaxed smile shifts to concern as he takes in my expression. He stops mid-step and scoops me into his arms, marching quickly up the stairs.

“Arrow?” Blaze asks from behind us. “What’s going on?”

“Something’s wrong with Elora.”

I hear several sets of footsteps rush up the stairs behind us as Arrow asks, “Where’s the suite?”

“To the right, at the end,” Ranger says, passing us and glancing down at me with concern as he moves to open the door.

Arrow carries me straight into the bedroom and lays me down at the edge of the bed. He presses the back of his hand to my forehead and frowns. “You don’t seem hot. I don’t think it’s a fever.”

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Blaze asks, quickly moving to Arrow’s side as they both look down at me.

“I don’t know. She said she didn’t feel well, and she looks pale.”

“Elora, darling? What hurts?” Blaze drops to his knees and grips my hand, just as Draven climbs onto the bed beside me, gently stroking my head, frowning down at me.

“It hurts to breathe… in here,” I tell them, placing my free hand over my chest.

“When did it start hurting?” he asks, holding my hand between both of his, against his chest.

My eyes instinctively dart to where Ranger is standing at the end of the bed, watching us intently.

It started the moment he made it clear he wasn’t staying in here with us, but that has to be a coincidence.

If I were going to suffer a broken heart, it would’ve happened a few days ago when he said I was only a job to him, that he didn’t care about what I wanted.

“As we were walking up the stairs, I think.”

“Maybe you just need a nap,” he suggests, and I nod. I do feel tired all of a sudden.

“Will one of you stay with me?” I ask, not wanting to be alone in this unfamiliar place.

“You don’t even have to ask,” Draven says, removing his chain mail as he settles in beside me.

Blaze takes off my shoes, and I snuggle into Draven as he wraps his arms around me.

“Just relax and go to sleep. We’ll be here when you wake up.”

I don’t remember what time of day it was when we arrived, but when I wake up, the room is covered in darkness. I wonder what woke me for all of two seconds before my stomach rolls.

Shit, I’m gonna be sick!

I quickly pull myself from all the arms surrounding me and crawl to the end of the bed. When I get to my feet, I have to hold on to the bed as the room starts spinning.

That’s not good .

I glance around, praying there is a bathroom close by but the only door in here is back out to the main suite, I quickly push the door open and look around for another door. My stomach rolls as I see doors leading to a balcony.

That will have to do.

I move as quickly as I can, one hand on my stomach, as I rush to the door and try to get it open.

“Elora?” I hear Ranger somewhere in the room but I’m afraid that if I speak, I’ll puke all over him.

I whimper as I shake the door handle, unable to figure out how to unlock it.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asks as he moves to my side and grips my forearms, turning me to face him.

I can’t hold it in anymore. I bend over and try my hardest not to vomit all over his feet.

I miss… mostly.

“Shit!”

“I’m sorry,” I whimper, gripping his arms to stop myself from falling over.

“No, baby, don’t apologize. That was my fault. Can I lift you up?” I nod my head, feeling like I might fall over if he doesn’t help me.

He steps around the pile of puke and carefully lifts me up, bringing me over to the couch.

“Did I wake you?” I ask, trying to figure out if he was sleeping out here on his own .

“No, I was on watch. Can you sit here for a minute? I want to go grab a couple things for you.” I nod, and that motion makes my head spin so I grab it and moan.

“Shit, I’ll be right back, don’t move.”

When I was falling asleep, I thought my chest pains might have been anxiety or some weird form of panic attack, but waking from a dead sleep and puking… no, that’s not anxiety. That sounds like the flu or food poisoning.

“Ranger?”

“I’m right here.” He comes back and kneels at my side, using a wet cloth to wipe my face. Then he holds up a cup of water to my lips. “Take a couple of small sips for me. There’s a good girl.” He places the cup on the table and wipes my mouth again.

“I’m going to braid your hair back out of your face. Can you stay sitting for just a couple more minutes?”

“Okay.”

He sits beside me and gently helps turn my back to him. He makes quick work of braiding my hair, and I admit it feels better off my face.

“There we go. Now, why don’t you lie down here? I’ll get you a bowl, just in case.” I give him a small nod, and he places a bowl on the floor beside the couch as he moves to stand.

“No!” I grab his arm, looking at him in concern. “Don’t leave.”

“I wasn’t going to leave. I was just moving so you could lie down on the couch. ”

I lick my lips and glance down at the couch. It looks comfy enough, but that’s not what I want right now.

“Can you sit with me?”

“Of course.”

When he doesn’t move, I motion to where he was sitting. “Can you sit there so I can put my head in your lap?” I groan and cover my face with my hands, realizing how needy that sounds. “I’m sorry, I know I’m like the most annoying job—”

“Elora, no. Please don’t say that. I didn’t mean any of it.”

I look up at him in surprise. “You didn’t?”

“Of course not. I was planning an elaborate way to apologize and show you I care, and I’m still going to do that, but I can’t have you thinking I actually meant any of what I said the other day. You aren’t a job to me, not at all. And I very much care about your happiness.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? That’s all you have to say? No yelling? No questions?”

“Can we save that for another day? My head hurts, my chest hurts, and my stomach hurts. I just want to lie down.”

“Of course. Here.” He quickly moves back to sit beside me and helps guide my head to his lap as I lie across the couch.

His fingers stroke down the side of my head, relaxing me despite the pain. Maybe when I wake up, I’ll be feeling better.

Whispered voices have me stirring from my sleep.

“Shh, you’re waking her up,” Ranger says.

“How did she end up out here?” Arrow asks.

“She was looking for the bathroom. She threw up by the back door. Sorry, I haven’t had a chance to clean it up.”

“I’ve got it,” Blaze says as I open my eyes.

Draven is kneeling right beside me, staring at me in concern. “How are you feeling?” He places the back of his hand on my forehead and shakes his head, “She’s not hot.”

“I don’t think it’s the flu,” I tell him, realizing I haven’t had the hot and cold sweats, either.

“The flu? What’s that?” Ranger asks.

“It’s a common illness in my world. You vomit, feel sick, get hot and cold flashes, and normally congestion and a cough, too. It can last a few days.”

“But you don’t think this is it?” he asks.

“No, I feel sick, but I don’t have any of the other symptoms. It could be food poisoning, except none of you are sick. Do you have any common illnesses here that it could be?”

“No, people don’t just catch random sicknesses,” Draven says with a frown.

Suddenly Arrow gasps. “Oh my god! I know what it is!” He looks at me and smiles. “You’re pregnant! ”

I look at Draven in confusion and he gives me the same look back.

“Uh, Arrow, it doesn’t happen that quickly, plus I’m taking a contraceptive.”

“Yeah, but those don’t always work.”

“It was two days ago, I couldn’t be having morning sickness this soon.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

He frowns back at me and Blaze joins us. “Feeling any better than the last time you woke up?”

I take stock of my body. My headache isn’t as bad, but my chest hurts more. “No, not really.”

They all exchange worried glances, but it probably is some sort of bug. “I just need a few days to sleep and recover. Where’s Netflix when you need it,” I grumble as I try to sit up.

“Netflix?” Ranger questions as he helps lift me from his lap.

“Never mind, a thing from my world—Oh. Sitting up was a bad idea.”

“Why?” Arrow asks as I quickly grab the bowl from the ground and hurl into it.