Page 106 of Frost Bound

“I don’t know, and I don’t like it,” Flyka muttered.

He flat-out ignored the courtiers trying to get his attention. Neve picked up his speed, feeling that something was wrong. He practically bounded up the stairs to the royal wing, and growled when ten warriors milled about outside his chamber.

They bowed immediately, and Olwen stepped out of the crowd and touched Neve’s shoulder. A slithering sort of fear curled in his gut and wound its way up into his chest.

“What’s happened?” he snapped, feeling like he was about to come out of his skin. “An assassination attempt on thereilleve?” They’d already avoided two in the last three weeks.

Olwen sighed. “Dahlia is fine.”

“But?”

His best friend winced, the scar on his face pinching. “She’s been wounded.”

Neve took one step forward, and Olwen’s hand slipped to his chest, holding him in place. “What?”

“She’s rough and concussed. It’s a head wound, so it’s bled a lot.”

He pushed past his friend, through the group of warriors, and into their chambers. He stopped in his tracks, his stomach bottoming out. Dahlia sat at the foot of the bed, her legs dangling over the edge. Her left eye was completely swollen shut, and blood dripped from her right temple, down her cheek, chin, and neck. There was so much crimson. Loshika was stitching the wound, muttering softly when his wife’s ladies-in-waiting murmured about fainting.

He wanted to break something.

Flyka stepped to his side and hissed. “Godsteeth, she took a beating.”

Dahlia popped open her good eye and locked on to Flyka. “I thought I heard you,” she slurred.

Neve moved to the side of the bed, staring down at the healer, who was tying a last stitch. “How bad is it?” he asked gruffly.

“Laceration to the head, black eye, possible fractured cheekbone, split lip, and a concussion.” Loshika cut the thread and dropped the scissors and needle into an empty wooden bowl on the bed.

He scowled, and stepped between his wife’s knees when the healer moved out of the way. Gently, he slipped his finger under her chin and tilted her face to the side to glare at her swollen eye that was a garish black, blue, and red. Humans were ugly when beaten.

“What happened?” he demanded.

She flinched. “Not so loud. My head feels like it’s going to crack open.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her ladies-in-waiting. “Were any of you there when this happened?”

All four shook their heads no.

Loshika pressed in on his left side and began cleaning the blood off her neck.

“And you?”

The healer didn’t spare him a glance. “No, my lord.”

He growled. “Can anyone tell me what theqovhappened to my wife?”

Dahlia blinked her one open eye at him, her pupil blown wide. He frowned. She didn’t smell of fear or desire. Why was her eye like that?

“Her pupil,” he murmured.

“A side effect of the concussion, I believe,” Loshika said softly.

“You believe?”

“I’ve been studying aboutsaloessince she asked me to travel with her. It’s not my specialty, my lord.”

Fair, but frustrating.

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