“Yes, Highness?” She looked up at him, setting the fork to the side. “I will try to answer your questions.”
“Would you like more bisque?”
She looked puzzled, down at her bowl, puzzled, and then up at Cas. “That wasn’t what you wanted to ask me.”
“Your bowl is empty,” he pointed to the silver tureen. “There’s more if you would like more.”
She looked up at him, her eyes searching his. “Say what you mean, Highness.”
“Why do I feel fluttering in my head when you’re around?” He hadn’t meant to ask that.
“What?” She looked concerned, rising from her seat and immediately crumbling to the floor. “Hog piss.” She blurted and then flushed bright crimson. “Pardon me.”
“Emryn, are you alright?” Cas got up and went to her where she was struggling to get up. “Let me help you.”
But she looked up at him and reached a shaking hand to grab his chin, staring him directly in the eyes.
“Don’t do that,” he took his face back, blinking to break the tremulous connection she’d been trying to build. “You’ll make yourself even sicker, Emryn.”
“I have to look, Highness.” She was still bright red. “If your illness has come back, then I have to remove it immediately.”
“I’m not sick, Emryn.” Cas said gently, moving to cradle her and rise. “Finish your supper and we’ll talk about something else.”
He put her back in the chair, trying very hard not to think about how thin she’d felt in his arms. He’d just feed her, and then she would get better.
She’d said it herself. The way she would heal was food and rest. So if he made certain that she had plenty of both, she would get better.
Cas really needed to figure himself out. He almost felt lovesick, and that wasn’t right at all.
She was a healer. He was the prince of Rodilla. There was no way there was anything between them that was more than him feeling indebted to her for saving his life.
She had a vow to the temples. He had a vow to his nation.
There was no future there for either of them.
That hurt. Why did that hurt in the same place that the flutter was? In the back of his mind and in the depths of his soul.
It didn’t matter right at this moment. He would make certain that she ate and rested and then tomorrow he would ask the questions that he had.
And she was nodding off into her soup now, head dipping and eyes fluttering closed no matter how hard she tried to keep them open.
“Emryn, would you like to rest now?”
She lurched, shooting up to force her eyes open, staring at him hard, like that would prevent her from falling asleep again. “I’m sorry, Highness. You had questions.”
“Tomorrow.” He rose and stepped to her side, lifting her from the chair and taking her over to the bed. “Maybe you would consider having breakfast with me tomorrow?”
She nodded, and he had to be imagining the way she cuddled down into his arms before he had the chance to tuck her into the bed. Cas stepped back, looking down at Emryn, who was already asleep.
Reaching out, he brushed a few strands of hair back from her forehead, wincing as the flutter got exponentially worse at the contact.
Maybe he should contact his old tutor. Asan would know where to point him in his search for answers. He had resources that the palace didn’t, ways of finding answers that had baffled a younger Cas.
He nodded and left Emryn’s rooms, heading down the hall to his own and retrieving the mirror that his suitor had left him with when their time together had been deemed over.
Asan had said Cas was welcome to contact him at any time. The First Wizard of Rodilla was a recluse, only seeing carefully selected students, so Cas had never wanted to pester his tutor.
But if he couldn’t get the answers he needed from Emryn, then perhaps Asan would have something that would soothe his troubled mind.