Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 205594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1028(@200wpm)___ 822(@250wpm)___ 685(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 205594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1028(@200wpm)___ 822(@250wpm)___ 685(@300wpm)
“Whatever it is, we gave them the last of your blood and it seems to be helping. They’re sweating but no rash so far, so the healers are hopeful. They’ve been quarantined and only humans are allowed in to see them, so the spread should be minimal.” She nudges a bit of meat toward me. “Eat more. You need to produce more blood as quickly as you can.”
I make a face, but put a slice of braised fowl on my plate. If I make more blood, I can give more to Nemeth. “How is Second House coping?”
“Not well,” Riza admits with a tiny smile. She props her chin on her hand and gives me a dreamy look. “I love Tolian with all my heart, but he doesn’t have the patience to lead. Says he’s a willing sword, but he’s not a king. And if one more person asks him about stairs, I think he’s going to lose his mind.”
I manage a smile at that. “Stairs are important. No one wants to feel like things are off-limits to humans and not Fellians. It makes humans uneasy.”
She nods. “That’s what I told him, and that he’s going to have to be patient. Made such a face, too.”
“How are the human quarters coming?”
“Very well. It’s a process, but you can see moods improving all around.” Riza smiles. “You were right that no one would want to move into the abandoned plague houses. I don’t know why Tolian suggested it.”
“Because this is his home. He means well, but he doesn’t understand that the Liosian survivors need a fresh start, and by that, a place to call their own. The city will get sorted in time. For now, the women need homes where they can feel safe to be themselves, and not be reminded that someone died there recently. I wouldn’t be able to sleep there myself.”
She grunts. “He’s a male and a soldier. He can sleep anywhere.” Riza gets to her feet, wiping her hands. “Feel well enough to give blood to your lover or do you want to wait a few moments more?”
“Now,” I say. It’s always my answer. Any time I’m allowed to give Nemeth more blood, I will. Riza won’t let me donate too much because she worries for my health and that of the baby, but we’ll manage. Nemeth needs me more than anything.
Riza just nods and then gets out the needles. She takes blood from my arm, moves to him, and injects it. I lean against him, rubbing his bare skin as if my touch will somehow make it circulate faster in his body.
“I’ll leave you alone with him,” she tells me in a soft voice. “The healers will come by again shortly. Call if you need anything.”
I nod, pressing my cheek to his shoulder. Is it just me, or is the rash on his neck fading? Or am I seeing that because I desperately want to see that? He’s still sweating and unconscious, his wings trembling against his back.
Forcing myself to sit up, I find the bowl of water Riza’s left nearby. It’s still warm, so I dip the towel in and wipe Nemeth’s skin down. “I know you’re sick and you probably want to join the Gray God in his realm, but allow me to tell you all the ways I think that is a terrible idea.” I keep my tone light and flirty, so perhaps he’ll hear it somewhere deep inside and respond. “First and foremost, you’re needed here. You’re the only one of First House that remains, which makes you the king. I know you probably don’t want to be the king, but I think you’d make an excellent one. You’d be kind and sympathetic to the humans because you married a particularly fantastic one, and the Fellians would follow you. Truly, if you were on the throne it’d be ideal for both parties.”
I continue bathing him, even though I’m so tired I want to curl up next to him and sleep for a week. But if I don’t bathe him, one of the nurses will come in and do so, and I’d rather it be my hands that he wakes up to instead of that of a stranger. I want him to be touched with love. If everything that’s happened is true—and I suspect it is—Nemeth broke ties with what his family wanted because he loved me.
That’s why he hid me when we arrived. Even then, he was protecting me.
So now I’m going to protect him. I stroke the damp cloth over his chest, then move to his other arm. “Let me tell you a bit of what it’ll be like if you decide to die on me. First of all, I have it on great authority that there is no war poetry allowed in the Gray God’s realm. You know how much he loves peace, and I’m afraid that war poetry is simply out of the question.”