Page 17 of Faerie Hunted

“It might be just those things, and until we find a way to combat the way your immune system is reacting and heal the bite, then I’m going to have to keep inconveniencing you. Keep in mind, this is a scientific explanation for something that may be magical. We’re simply doing the best we can.” He attempted a smile. “Prince Michael tells me you’re an excellent student at the Elite Academy.”

It was Baldric’s attempt at distraction and although I appreciated it, I couldn’t stop staring at the way he expertly mixed the blood with the rest of the vials. Within moments, he’d tapped the mixture into the IV line until it mingled with the fluid already in the bag.

“Mike’s absolutely lying to you,” I admitted. “I’m not the worst student there but I’m certainly not the best.”

And it felt like a million years since I’d focused on my classes. Too many other things had happened since the last time I’d walked those halls, or spoken to Juno Ians, my old mentor. Not since she’d been attacked.

“Well, if nothing else, trust me when I tell you I’m going to do the best I can to make sure you’re back up to peak performance.”

“I’ll never be at my peak performance,” I muttered.

“Maybe this conversation, if it won’t convince you, will distract you from the transfusion. At least the big guy here knows I’m trying to help.” Baldric gestured toward where Noren dozed with one eye half opened to watch.

I didn’t feel any different once the transfusion started. But the adrenaline rush from the alarm at last began to recede the longer I lay there propped against the pillows.

I offered up a meager grin for Baldric.

It wasn’t the easiest thing for me to trust, but he seemed like the kind of guy you could depend on. I wanted to depend on him and believe it when he said he could help me.

Anything was better than the sickening dizziness.

I must have passed out because the next thing I knew, the mattress beneath me sagged and Mike sat there beside Noren, dwarfed by the direwolf’s frame.

“Mike?”Oh god, please let me be sleeping pretty and not drooling or anything like that.“What are you doing here?” I swept a hand across my mouth to check and pushed the hair away from my face.

He looked haggard, his hair sticking up at all angles and the dark circles beneath his eyes making him appear more human than I’d ever seen him.

“Tavi. I needed to see you.” His low tone gave me the shakes.

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s not good. It’s not good at all.”

Mike watched the wall and I watched him, neither of us daring to breathe. “You’re scaring me.”

“It’s my father. He’s in a coma.”

5

“I’m not a royal, and I’m not important.” I shook my head and dug my proverbial heels in. “I shouldn’t be here.”

Baldric had come in to detach me from the IV line but I swayed on my feet, staring at Mike where he stood near the door with his arms crossed over his chest.

“You might not be a royal but you belong at my side.” He stubbornly met my gaze, his lips pressed into a thin line, his teeth gritted. “This is an emergency, Tavi. I need you with me.”

He staunchly refused to budge and we ended up in a staring contest of epic proportions.

It definitely helped distract me from the squirming in my gut. My attention returned again and again to the bite on my arm that refused to heal and the transfusion I had to be given daily just to stay upright.

It would take every ounce of strength to make it through this no matter how optimistic Mike felt.

He’d woken me up in the hospital and demanded that I join him for this meeting. With King Tywin in critical condition, his second in command, Premier Cosmo Foxfall, had called an emergency gathering of the Elder Council and any courtiers in residence.

Mike was required to sit through the meeting. But I wasn’t.

I was a nobody.

With all those eyes on me, and my wits stunted from the stupid bite, this was asking for trouble.

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