Page 41 of Vicious Princess (The Trials of Death and Honor #1)
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
“ Y ou’ll kill each other if you keep going at it,” Roman says.
I sit in the middle of the bed in the mender’s office, with Roman in the chair next to me. The only thing offering us privacy is the white curtain drawn around us. I swing my legs, biting the inside of my cheek while I wait for the healer to come check on me.
“I would have stabbed her in the neck if Ezkai Daegel hadn’t stepped in when he did,” I say without looking at Roman. “Why do you even care?”
Both of his eyebrows rise, but he remains silent.
I sigh.
After a pause, I say, a little gentler, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be a bitch to you. You’ve been nothing but sweet and kind to me all this time, when others have not. I’m touched that you…care.”
Roman pats my thigh, the good one. “That’s much better, princess. Keep that attitude for Nightingale.”
I roll my eyes. “What is her fucking issue? I don’t get it. Did you know she tried to drown me in a fountain on one of my first nights here?”
Roman doesn’t look surprised. I would be lying if I said I’m not disappointed.
“You know all about it, huh? Did you know about it before she did it?”
Roman opens his mouth to speak, then closes it.
I wave my hand. “You know what, forget what I said earlier. Fuck you, too.”
The curtain opens, and an elderly fae with a long beard appears. He’s dressed in Ezkai leathers, and despite the lines of age that mark his face, he looks robust and healthy.
“Ah, a human,” he says, eyes wide as he appraises me. “I haven’t had my hands on a human in four decades! What a treat.”
I bristle. “I’m not a fucking treat.”
His gaze snaps to my face, and he smiles. “Don’t worry. Despite what some old fables may claim, fae don’t eat humans. Not since the Great Continent Separation, anyway.”
I can’t tell if he’s joking.
But Roman bursts into laughter. “The look on your face! Oh, if you could see yourself.”
I throw him a glare, but say nothing.
“I see a split lip,” the old fae says, closing the curtain behind his back. “Ah, you’re bleeding onto my white sheets.”
I look down at my lap where my injured arm rests, right next to a bleeding thigh. Slowly, I blink.
How did I manage to completely forget the slash across my forearm and the wound in my thigh that have been bleeding heavily all this time?
“Oh, right,” I murmur. Slowly, I start to shrug out of my leather jacket. Pausing, I glance at Roman. “You should go.”
He shakes his head. “Ezkai Daegel told me to keep an eye on you, and that’s what I intend on doing.”
I roll my eyes, bite my tongue, and slip out of the jacket and leather pants. Roman has seen me naked before, so he must have seen the scars. He doesn’t comment as I sit in my leather corset and underwear, arms and legs bared to everyone’s judgment.
Those scars are just as beautiful as the rest of you. Daegel’s words rise to the front of my mind, and the memory of his gaze on me in that moment is all I can think about.
I cling to the emotions I felt in that moment, pushing the discomfort and shame away.
The mender lifts my injured arm. Curiously, he glances between my face and the arm. “On a scale from one to ten, how bad does it hurt? Ten being horrible pain.”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I can barely feel it. Maybe, two. One and a half.”
The healer hums to himself. After a heartbeat, he says, “You’re in shock.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snap. “I feel fine.”
“You’re shaking, cadet,” the old fae says gently. “I need to administer a calming elixir before I can stitch you back up.”
Only when he points it out do the sensations in my body finally register in my brain. Every muscle in my body trembles, and even my teeth clatter.
“Oh, shit,” I manage.
“It’s normal,” he says calmly as he sets his briefcase on the bed next to me and opens it.
An array of tools is neatly organized on one side.
The opposite side has a number of different vials strapped in.
“I assume you’ve been under a lot of stress recently.
From all the recent bruises, I guess you’ve been training excessively and sleeping little.
This sort of pace takes a toll on a body. ”
I clench my jaw so tightly, it hurts. “I’m fine. All cadets are under a lot of pressure.”
“Not all are training as hard as you are,” Roman says. “You’ve been going above and beyond.”
“I told you?—”
“Yeah, yeah, you’ve got to work twice as hard to be just as good as the fae,” Roman interrupts. “Little good will it do to you if you’re dead from overexerting yourself.”
“I don’t remember asking for your opinion, Mom .”
Roman winks. “You’re welcome, anyway.”
The healer hands me a glass vial with clear liquid inside. “Drink that.” When I don’t do as he says, he adds, “It’ll help your body and mind relax. It’s not poison.”
Hesitantly, I bring it to my mouth. It tastes like spring and a waterfall as the light liquid slides down my throat and warms my stomach. The weirdest experience.
I hand him the empty vial, and he picks up the thread and needle. Gently, he sanitizes my bleeding arm with another clear liquid that burns like a bitch. I don’t complain at that, and I don’t even flinch when he brings the needle to my skin.
“Why are you so adamant on fighting Kata?” Roman’s voice startles me from my concentration.
My gaze slides from my arm to him. “She’s the one who started this whole rivalry. In Ezkai Gavriel’s class, I was trying to find a way to make peace until she had to bring up this stupid rumor about my family.”
“What rumor?”
A shiver runs down my back when the healer pulls the needle and the thread through my flesh.
“She blames me for her brother’s death just because I’m from Wetra. Now she thinks it was my father who executed her brother, which is nonsense. How would she even know such a thing?”
“Nightingales are among the oldest Ezkai families. Her whole bloodline is full of Decarios, the purest kind. She’s got resources,” Roman says. “It’s easy for her to figure out stuff about your past and family, believe me.”
I blink at him. So she may be telling the truth.
“She’s the one who started spreading stupid lies about me, right?” I sigh and shake my head. “The one about me being Wetran royalty.”
“And the one about you fucking your brother because it’s a custom amongst Wetrans,” Roman says nonchalantly.
Even the healer’s swift hands pause for a heartbeat after hearing that one.
“Unbelievable.” I shake my head. “I don’t even have a brother!”
Roman shrugs and inspects his nails. “People don’t care about the details or the truth. As long as you give them something juicy to talk about.”
The magical brew must be working on me, because I can’t muster an ounce of anger, even though I should be furious right now. All I feel is dreamy fuzziness in my chest, and my limbs are light.
As if I’m a cloud.
A soft, fluffy cloud.
Roman doesn’t speak until the healer is finished with the stitches and wraps my forearm in a bandage. Next he works on my thigh.
“Here you go,” the old fae says once he’s done. “I’d recommend you rest for the day. I know human Decarios heal quicker than regular humans, but still slower than fae Decarios, so it’s best if you let your body recover before jumping into another fight.”
I nod, but I’m not pleased.
I don’t have the luxury of resting or slowing down. Not when I have Kata breathing down my neck, and I still have to nail the rest of my training before our rapidly approaching graduation day.
If, after all this, I don’t receive an invitation to join the Order… Well, I don’t know what I’ll do.
“There are other types of rumors about you,” Roman whispers once the healer is gone and we’re alone.
All the usual amusement and mischief are gone from his face and voice.
Even the calming elixir doesn’t soothe my anxiety. I think I may throw up.
I swallow and pretend to be as disinterested as I can. “What rumor now?”
“That a certain Ezkai has a thing for you,” he says.
Son of a bitch.
I arch an eyebrow. “Is it Ezkai Gavriel? Do people think he brought us to the dungeons under the castle and fucked us there as our punishment?”
My joke doesn’t land. Roman remains serious. I have never seen him serious.
“You know exactly which Ezkai I mean.”
I shrug. “So? They can think whatever they want. I can’t stop them from imagining things.”
“Is there any truth to those rumors?”
I roll my eyes. “Seriously? I know fae think humans are stupid, but I’m not that stupid. I know the rules.”
Roman searches my face, clearly not convinced.
“I hope you’re telling the truth,” he says. “Because even the rumor alone is enough to ruin lives.”