Page 31

31

An Agonizing Finality

I hover as Master Healer Tyr examines Daenn.

Sigrid returned with him in record time. Eskil and two other warriors came too. They moved Daenn to the bed, and Master Healer Tyr took his vitals, careful to not touch any exposed skin.

Master Healer Tyr is a little more grey at the temples than I remember from before I moved to the lowlands, but he otherwise looks much like he did when I was a child running freely through his caverns while he and my mother worked together.

The other warriors have left, but Eskil stands beside me, arms crossed and watching the healer work with the same intense anxiety that I feel. I’m sure everyone will worry when they hear what’s happening to their king, but Eskil is the only other one who I know feels the same bone-deep fear about it that I do.

Sigrid comes to stand by me and presses one wrinkled hand to my forearm. “Emana, dearest. You need to eat.”

“No,” I snap, my voice tight. The thought of trying to stomach anything while this worry for Daenn churns in me is nauseating. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her lips press together in a thin line, but she doesn’t push the issue .

Master Healer Tyr straightens, and I take a step forward instinctively. “Well?”

He doesn’t look at me but rather taps a finger on the bracer as he ponders it. “You say these are draining his magic?”

“Yes.”

“And he only put on the second bracer today? He wasn’t wearing it at the feast yesterday when you arrived?”

I shake my head. “He put it on last night. I didn’t want him to, but...”

“The king will do what he wants,” Master Healer Tyr finishes when my voice trails off.

I nod. He may have been saying it simply because Daenn is a king, and kings always get their way, but Daenn is also an incredibly stubborn man, king or no.

Behind me, Eskil shifts and scoffs. He knows how Daenn is. He understands.

“Well…” Master Healer Tyr steps back and finally turns to me. “My own magic is specific to the body, so I can’t see what the bracers are doing to his magic.” He frowns as he speaks, his brow drawing together. “But I can tell you the bracers are draining his life.”

I grit my teeth to keep from shouting, even as my stomach drops at the confirmation. I knew that already. I don’t want him to confirm it. I want him to fix it. Why is the man wasting time instead of doing something about it?

He continues, oblivious to my impatience. “Since he put them on separately, they’re out of sync with each other. But the longer he wears them, the more they will attune, and the faster they will drain him.”

Getting my next words out is like speaking with a mouthful of glass shards. I hate that they even exist, but I need to know the answer. “How long until they kill him? ”

Master Healer Tyr tilts his head as he considers it. “I can’t say. It’s impossible to predict how long it will take them to attune to each other. Our best course of action is to remove them immediately.”

A part of me wants to leap forward at the words to rip them off Daenn right now. A smaller part holds me back.

Daenn wanted this. Daenn put them on. He wanted nothing more than to be rid of his magic, but… they’re killing him.

“Do it,” I say. I will take Daenn’s wrath if he’s alive enough to bestow it. And when he’s done raging, I’ll tell him of my idea.

Master Healer Tyr wastes no time, and I move to Daenn’s other side and begin unlacing the other bracer. I glance at Daenn, and the sight makes my fingers shake. He’s so still, almost like he’s already dead. I flex my fingers and focus on my task. I refuse to entertain that idea.

Master Healer Tyr finishes first, and he begins to pull the bracer off Daenn’s wrist.

Daenn arches his back and screams.

That scream holds a world of pain. Inside me, the bond jerks taut, like a bowstring ready to snap.

“Stop!” I cry, jerking my hands away from the bracer.

Master Healer Tyr shoves Daenn’s bracer back into place. Eskil is by my side, I realize. He moved in an instant at Daenn’s reaction.

My whole body shakes, and I drop to the bed by Daenn’s knee. “We almost killed him. We can’t remove them.”

My words hang in the air with an agonizing finality. I stare at Daenn. He’s still again, the only sign of life the movement of his chest as he takes in shallow breaths. Sweat dots his unnaturally pale skin .

After a long moment, Master Healer Tyr re-laces the bracer back to a snug fit. I don’t bother with mine. I hadn’t gotten that far.

“Why isn’t it killing me, too?” I ask, my voice breaking. “Why are they only affecting him even though we’re bonded?”

Master Healer Tyr blinks, bemused. “Are you?” He glances at Daenn and then Eskil.

A tired, slightly hysterical laugh bursts from me. “Daenn dragged me here and married me. Eskil and Sigrid were there as witnesses. It took me a while to notice it, but I can feel him all the time.”

The confusion on Master Healer Tyr’s face lifts, and he looks almost apologetic. “Yes, well, I heard about the marriage, of course, and that would have begun the bond, but there’s no way the king would have completed it.”

A hot flush starts climbing my neck. How could Master Healer Tyr know we didn’t—and then to bring it up in front of Eskil and Sigrid…

Am I the only one delusional enough to think that Daenn might be capable of caring for me enough to have a true marriage?

Master Healer Tyr catches the look on my face, and his eyes widen. He shakes his head rapidly. “Oh, no—no, Your Majesty. Not that. That helps reinforce the bond, of course, and is integral to the marriage being valid, but what I was referring to is a part of the wedding ceremony. Given His Majesty’s aversion to touch, I assumed he skipped over it during the ceremony.”

My memory slaps me in the face. During the wedding, Daenn didn’t removed his gloves. He didn’t even let me put the wedding band in place fully so I wouldn’t graze his skin. I noticed, but I didn’t realize it was that significant .

Master Healer Tyr continues, his voice slowing as he chooses his words. “Has the king ever touched you? Directly, skin to skin, I mean.”

I know that answer immediately. No. Daenn was always very careful to avoid that. I shake my head, unwilling to risk any hurt leaking into my voice if I dare speak.

Master Healer Tyr nods, as if that explains it. He glances back at Daenn. “On the one hand, if he had, if the bond was complete, it might have been enough to stop the bracers from killing him. But they are an unknown. We can’t say for sure if that’s the case. He might have been saved by it, or perhaps you both would have died. It’s a relief from that angle, really. At least we’ll have you, should the worst come to pass.”

I feel dizzy as his words wash over me.

“There’s nothing you can do, then?” Eskil asks, speaking for the first time since entering the room.

Master Healer Tyr sighs. “I can induce a healing sleep with one of my lowland enchanted talismans. I’ve done it before on patients. It’s much like the sleep Her Majesty’s magic put you into, except mine encourages regeneration and he won’t worsen from lack of food or water. We tried administering that over the comatose patients, but it wore off quickly, like the body couldn’t hold both enchantments simultaneously. That shouldn’t happen here, however, and we can hope it will slow down the bracers.”

“Do it, then.”

He wastes no time in pulling out a small stone from his supplies. It reminds me of the ones the monks gave me to ward the camp while Daenn and I traveled through the jungle.

Master Healer Tyr hovers his hands over Daenn’s head, then his heart. Daenn’s breathing evens out and deepens slightly, but he’s still pale. Master Healer Tyr straightens once he finishes. “There. I’ve done what I can.” He shakes his head and starts to move toward the door. “I’m afraid it is only a faint hope. Call me if anything else changes, Eman—forgive me, dear girl. Your Majesty.” He chuckles, the sound too light for the heavy worry trying to drown me. “That title will take getting used to.”

The door thuds. Sigrid and Eskil speak in low voices behind me, but I don’t care enough to decipher what they’re saying.

I stare at Daenn. My chest is no more than a gaping, hollow gash where my heart used to be.