Page 45 of Quest for her Knights (The Lost Souls of Dyconia #5)

Chapter thirty-one

Arrow

I walk Omar to the door but my mind is reeling. She can’t be dying. I refuse to believe it. But what could it be? He joked about a curse, but the idea takes root in my mind. We know she didn’t injure herself or ingest any poison, but a curse… she could have a curse on her and we wouldn’t even know.

Who could have cursed her, though? I think back to when it started. It was pretty much the moment we arrived here at Highcrest castle.

I stand in the foyer and look around as I let my mind wander. There are only a few other people working here, maybe one of them knows something.

In the kitchen I find the cook, Rusty and the house manager, Gerald. “I’m glad you’re both here, the Princess is very sick, and it started as soon as she got here, do you have any idea what it could be?”

They both glance at each other then shake their heads, moving back to their tasks.

That wasn’t suspicious at all.

“We think it might be a curse,” I say, wanting to gauge their reactions. I see Gerald’s hand tighten on the spoon he’s holding.

“Magic isn’t allowed here,” he says formally, without looking at me.

“And yet, it’s the only thing that can explain her illness.”

“She probably ate something bad before you arrived,” Rusty adds, his back still to me.

I know they’re hiding something, but I don’t think I can push them for answers. But their reaction solidifies the idea in my mind. I just need to find what’s cursed.

I run back up the room and find Elora vomiting into a bowl with Draven supporting her.

“Shit,” I grumble.

“Yeah, she’s getting worse, she’s vomiting up blood,” Blaze says looking broken.

“We need to get her out of here,” I tell them. “I think it’s a curse.”

“We tried to move her, that’s what caused the vomiting. The second she sits up now she can’t stop vomiting,” Ranger says in frustration.

“Well we’ll carry her then. ”

He shakes his head, “I tried that. Whatever this is, it won’t let us move her. She’ll choke on her own vomit before we make it outside.”

“We have to find what’s causing this.”

“It could be anything,” Blaze says as he gazes around the room.

“Blaze you know the most about curses, let’s think this through. It’s something that started affecting her as soon as she got inside and it’s only affecting her specifically. We know it’s nothing on her because we’ve cleaned her from head to toe.”

“So it must be something in the castle,” Ranger adds.

Blaze’s eyes go wide. “I remember something, the gloomstone. It’s a cursed object that when combined with some specific herbs and attached to the entrance of a home, will harm any woman who enters.”

“She came through the front door!” I say in hope as I spin on my heel and sprint towards the entrance. Blaze and Ranger follow me and we stop short right inside the doors, gazing around, but there isn’t much here.

I step forward and yank them open, stepping outside and turning to see what’s on the outside.

“I don’t see anything,” Blaze says, his chin lifted as he gazes above the doors.

There are several plants on either side of the door and I bend over to push them aside. That’s when I see it. A small stone and bundle of herbs that’s been wrapped with twine .

“I found it!” I exclaim as I bend down and pick it up. “What do we do with it?”

“Give it to me,” Ranger says, and I place it in his hand. He takes it and runs out into the middle of the courtyard, where he pulls out a dagger and cuts the twine, letting the herbs drop to the ground.

“Blaze, burn those. I’ll get rid of the stone.”

I jog after him, through the front gate and into the forest. I don’t question where he’s going. After fifteen minutes, he finally stops, dropping to his knees and sinking his hand into the dirt.

Realizing he’s making a hole, I drop down beside him to help. When it’s a couple of feet deep, he pulls the cursed stone from his pocket and drops it inside. We push the dirt back over it and smooth out the surface.

I grab some fallen leaves and twigs to scatter over the area so it blends in with the surrounding ground in hope that nobody will ever find it.

When we finish, we stand and stare down at where we buried it, breathing heavily.

“Do you think that will stop the curse?” I ask.

“I hope so. If it needs to be tied to the entrance of a home, it shouldn’t be able to harm anyone out here.”

“Let’s go back and check on Elora,” I say as we turn and jog back to the castle .

When we arrive, there’s no sign of Blaze, but a small black mark in the middle of the courtyard tells me he was able to burn the herbs.

Back in the room, we find her lying with her head in Draven’s lap, Blaze kneeling in front of her.

“How is she?” I ask, quickly moving closer.

“She’s asleep,” Blaze whispers. “I’m not sure if it worked yet.”

We watch her in silence for a few minutes before Ranger quietly speaks. “Someone in this castle did that to her.”

“Gerald and Rusty definitely seemed suspicious to me,” I say, remembering how sketchy they were.

“I think it’s time to clear out the staff. They’ve overstayed their welcome.”

“You can’t kill them,” Blaze reminds him.

“I know. But I won’t have them anywhere near Elora. I’ll send for new help.”

I have no idea how he’s going to do that, but Ranger has his ways.

Right now, I’m determined not to leave her side until I can see she’s feeling better.

“You think it’s a good thing?” I ask Blaze as I stroke Elora’s hair where she lies in my lap .

“Her coloring looks better, she’s not as pale. So hopefully she’s not waking up because she’s healing.”

She’s been unconscious for almost twenty-four hours, and if it wasn’t for the fact that her cheeks had started to get some pink back to them, and when I lay my ear against her heart, it sounds stable and strong, I think we’d be freaking out a lot more.

“Come on, sweetheart. Time to wake up, now,” I whisper, stroking the back of my finger down her cheek.

The tiniest moan escapes her lips as she turns into my touch.

“Elora?” I ask, cupping her whole cheek as I lean over her.

“Mmm,” she moans again.

“Open those beautiful hazel eyes for me, sweetheart.” Her eyelids flicker. “I miss you,” I whisper as I try to patiently wait for her to wake up.

“Arrow?” she whispers, her voice hoarse and raspy.

“Yeah, sweetheart, I’m here. We’re all here.” At the sound of her voice, everyone moves closer from where they were sitting close by.

Finally, with what looks like great effort, her eyes open and she blinks a few times, staring up at me.

“Arrow,” she sighs, as if she’s relieved to see me.

“How do you feel?”

She frowns and looks away, as if she’s really considering my question.

“I’m tired and my head hurts.”

“What about your chest and your stomach?” Blaze asks .

“My chest… it doesn’t hurt,” she looks up at me in surprise.

“And your stomach?” I ask.

She moves her hand over it and frowns. “I think I’m just hungry.”

I smile as I tell her, “You want to try sitting up?”

She nods and Blaze and I slowly move her to a seated position beside me. I wrap my arm around her shoulders so she can lean against my side.

Ranger holds a cup of water to her lips and she takes a few sips.

“My head is a little fussy. What happened?”

“There was a curse on the home, affecting any women who enter,” Ranger tells her as he sits down on the table in front of us and Draven sits on her other side.

Her eyes grow wide with alarm. “Who would do that?”

I glance at Ranger and he presses his lips together as if he doesn’t want to tell her, but luckily he knows better than to keep things from her, especially when he’s still on rocky ground.

“The staff who were here, they worked for Freya’s family. They knew the other Elora killed them, and…”

“And they think I’m her, and we’re not supposed to tell anyone otherwise,” she finished for him. He nods and she sighs, resting her head on my shoulder.

We’re all silent for a minute, relieved that she seems to be doing better, but still feeling on edge from the whole situation .

“I’m so glad you’re starting to feel better,” I tell her, turning to kiss the top of her head.

“Me, too. I thought I was gonna die for a minute there.”

“Never,” Draven says, grabbing her hand and kissing her fingers.

“So… what do we do now?”

“I don’t know about the rest of you,” I say looking around at them, “But I’m ready to leave as soon as Elora’s feeling better. This hasn’t been the relaxed stay we were hoping for.”

“Yeah, I’d rather not stay in a place where people are trying to kill me.”

“They aren’t here anymore,” Ranger tells her. “But I agree. We should head back to Silverthorn. We’ll be safest there.”

“Then what?” Elora asks. I tilt my head and see she’s staring right at Ranger.

“Then we tell the kings and queen that you won’t be marrying any lords.”

She gives him a small smile, and that seems to be enough for her as she closes her eyes and relaxes back into me.

“Let’s get a little food in you before you fall asleep again,” Blaze says, standing and moving to grab some of the fresh fruit we have on hand.

We spend the next two days getting her to eat and helping her to recover.

One of things I love most about her, is her ability to stay positive, even when I know she isn’t feeling fully like herself.

She still cracks jokes and teases us, and the fact that we almost lost her scares the living shit out of me.

I’m going to make sure I do everything in my power to protect her from now on.