Page 8 of The Lost Art of Revealing Hidden Truths (The Lost Arts #3)

“Pleasant company can certainly make any convalescence feel more pleasant. Now, tell me truthfully, Princess. Any more dizziness?”

Renny shook her head.

The doctor squinted at her.

“None at all, I promise!” Renny’s eyes were wide and guileless.

“I wouldn’t make this up, even if I do want to get out of bed.

I know I can get hurt if I fall.” Her face squinched up.

“You don’t know what it’s like, not knowing if your body is suddenly going to fail you and you’re going to wake up hurt when you don’t even remember how it happened. ”

Perian reached out for her hand. She squeezed it tightly, her fingers clasping with more strength than they’d possessed the day before.

The doctor came over and laid the back of her hand against Renny’s forehead.

“It’s not an easy situation for anyone to be in, Princess, that’s true. But the situation will not be improved with any prevarication.”

Renny shook her head stubbornly. “I’m not lying.

I promise. Of course I want to get out of here, but I know that it doesn’t really make it better to pretend to be better.

After the dizzy spell, I got bundled into bed, and I’ve been here since.

I’ve not tried to get up, and someone picked me up to put me on top of the covers.

I’m feeling ever so much better—truly, I am.

But I’m trying to take it easy to make sure that nothing worse happens. I mean it.”

The doctor smiled slightly at all that earnestness.

“You certainly do look improved compared to when I saw you yesterday morning. It’s quite… astonishing.”

The doctor had hesitated for a moment, and Perian wondered what else she’d been contemplating saying.

Renny looked very hopeful, her big gray eyes huge.

“Perian came back, and he told me all about his weekend. He made me feel better, and he promised he would come and try to have a picnic with me. He even talked to my mother to convince her to let me do it, and he said that he’d keep having picnics with me, even if they need to be inside until I’m well enough for us to go outside again. ”

“I see,” the doctor said, sounding slightly amused.

“He’s my very best friend,” Renny told the doctor seriously.

Perian was absolutely not going to cry. He was not going to cry. He squeezed Renny’s hand.

“You’re my best friend, too, Renny.”

She eyeballed him. “What about Brannal?”

“Not competing for the spot of best friend. I keep him occupied in other ways.”

She made a grossed-out expression.

The doctor chuckled. “Yes, you do seem to be much improved. But we don’t want to risk a relapse if it can be avoided.”

Renny nodded seriously.

The doctor considered her for another moment, and then said, “I believe we can dispense with the tonic for tonight. The company seems to be having a more beneficial effect.”

Renny beamed at Perian, and he smiled back, delighted to get confirmation that he was helping Renny. It was certainly what he was trying to do, and hearing it from the doctor herself made Perian even more certain that he was doing the right thing.

Smiling, the doctor said, “I think if you continue to show this improvement, you can move to the sitting room the day after tomorrow. I’d like one more day of rest to ensure that you’re recovering as much strength as possible before you begin to expend it again.

I’ll still come by daily, and we will assess on a day-to- day basis. ”

Renny nodded, and then she yawned. “Thank you, Doctor.”

Lips tipping up, the doctor said, “You still need your rest. It always takes energy for our bodies to mend themselves when they’re ill.”

Renny’s expression drooped a little. “I’m not sure there’s enough rest or energy to mend my illness.”

The doctor patted Renny’s free hand. “Perhaps not. But then, we never know what the future will bring, do we? I wouldn’t have predicted that you would be so well this spring and summer, and yet, look at how you’ve flourished.”

Renny smiled, some of the despair falling away from her. “That’s true. This has been a wonderful few months!”

“And so we’ll work hard to regain it—and sometimes that means resting.”

Renny nodded. “Yes, all right.”

She yawned again.

Perian gave her hand a final squeeze and released it as he said, “I think you really do need to rest.”

She gave her best wide-eyed pout. “Don’t go, not yet.”

“Let me at least pack up the picnic,” Perian suggested. “And I think we should get you back under the covers.”

Renny huffed but allowed this transfer to take place.

“Will you read to me a little more?” she asked.

“You know what I’m going to read, don’t you?”

She made a face. “Not the Old Tongue book.”

“Yes, the water magic book in the Old Tongue. No funny voices in that book.”

“I’m not sure even funny voices would help,” she complained. “I don’t think I understood half of it, but I’m not sure that was a loss.”

Perian couldn’t really disagree. “But it’s guaranteed to put you to sleep, and you know you need rest.”

She made another dissatisfied sound but didn’t try to argue with him.

The doctor took her leave, and Perian retrieved the most boring book ever written about water magic. Within ten minutes, Renny was snoring slightly. Perian kept reading for a few more minutes, both for Kee and to make sure that Renny was properly asleep.

In the Old Tongue, he said, “I’m going to keep looking out for her. I promise. ”

He carefully climbed off the bed, returned the book to the shelf—he’d marked the page he was reading with the ribbon bookmark, though he scarcely knew why, as opening it to any page and starting to read would make as much sense as what he’d gone through so far—and then grabbed up the blankets and the picnic basket and slipped out of the room.