Page 67 of The Keeper of the Kingdoms

“Good, hopefully my father will say I can get out of this bed soon so I can get back to what I should be doing.”

“We are managing,” she assured me. “You need to heal.”

“I am healing. I’m just itching to get back to work. What’s been happening out there? What am I missing?”

I felt a little bad taking advantage of her sweet nature, but if I didn’t get just a snippet of life beyond that door soon, I was going to start plotting some painful ends.

“Well—” She leaned in before side-eying Nyx and Zaria and seeing that they were whispering to one another. “We have one patient with a persistent?—”

“This sounds suspiciously like work to me,” Jaxus barked from the door.

Vanya jumped and looked terrified before bowing her head and scurrying out past a surly-looking Jaxus.

He strode in, looking like we could expect fire breathing at any moment.

“I leave you alone for all of fifteen minutes and you think you can treat patients from your sickbed?”

He rounded on Nyx and Zaria. “And you! You had one job, and you let it happen right under your nose.”

“I think we will leave you to it,” Zaria said to me around Jaxus’ hulking form, having trouble not laughing as she rose and dragged Nyx out of the room. “We’ll come back and see you tomorrow, Kiera. Good luck!”

I could hear Zaria’s amusement echoing in the hall outside my room, and it made me want to scream!

TWENTY-NINE

KIERA

“You aren’t ready to get straight back into work,” Jaxus insisted, standing in the doorway like he’d block my exit.

I gathered my hair, pulling it into a tie. “I don’t have time to rest. The medicines won’t get made?—”

“It’s only been a few days.”

“Exactly. It’s been a few days. I don’t have the time to keep sitting around.” I stood in front of him, arms crossed over my chest, matching his body language.

I’d been released back to my quarters yesterday, given the all-clear, but advised to take it easy. But they also knew me and would not have released me if I wasn’t able to resume my work because obviously that was what I was going to do.

He stepped forward, coming into my space, sending a shiver down my spine. “What would you tell a patient?”

I would never admit he was right. “If I rest, it adds work to the other healers. None of whom have the time, either.”

“And if you make yourself worse?” he asked, concern dripping from him.

“Then I’ll work myself into a coma and you’ll get your way because I’ll be resting again.”

He gave me a flat look, but he didn’t block when I stepped around him. I felt his massive figure trailing in my wake, so clearly, I was not about to lose my dragon-shaped shadow any time soon. As long as he didn’t stop me, I could tolerate him.

I paused to put on my apron outside the apothecary. Jaxus stepped in behind me to tie it without saying a word of objection before slipping one over his own head. I tied his, as was the routine we’d developed, before touching my fingers to the handle of the door and whispering the spell to unlock it.

I slipped inside and to my shock, found the main room full of people—students?—they must be, but not healer trainees, surely? The expansive space had room enough for a class and for other healers to work on more dangerous compounds in smaller side rooms with controlled ingredients. But it had been decades since we were staffed enough to use the room to its full capacity.

“What the—?” I came to an abrupt halt, feeling Jaxus close in behind me.

“Hmm?” he queried, but I could hear the feigned innocence in his tone and turned on him. His face shone with smug satisfaction, and I knew this was his work.

“What did you do?”I asked mind to mind.

His big dumb face grinned.“Arranged help.”