Page 51 of A Touch of Royalty

“I’ll show you some stretches, Highness.” A voice came from behind her. Emryn turned to come face to face with the captain of her husband’s guards.

“Thank you,” she said with a nod. “That would be very kind of you.”

The captain showed her the stretches, and while doing them made her want to cry, by the time they were back in the saddle, she did feel better.

But that was all gone by the time they made the inn where they were going to spend the night. It had been hours and whenEmryn’s feet touched the floor, her legs went straight out from under her and she fell to the floor.

In front of the Mother, the Guard, the inn workers, and her husband.

“I’m alright,” she said hurriedly, trying to get back to her feet. “I’m simply not used to it yet.”

Cas walked over, helping her to her feet and then into his arms. “I should have thought, forgive me, Emryn.”

“I don’t mind, and we’re in a hurry.” She kissed his cheek. “The stable master at the palace gave me some cream to help with the pain and the stiffness.”

They had supper, and Cas helped her with the cream, making Emryn blush bright red the entire time he was touching her legs. He’d never said anything about taking her to bed, so she gritted her teeth and ignored the feelings in her body.

Besides, he was preoccupied with worry for his people. And that wasn’t something that she was going to try and get in the way of.

It took a furthertwo days to get to the manor that sat in the middle of Cas’ lands, right next to a large-ish village. She dismounted, head ringing with the scent of illness and grabbed her skirts to go and handle it.

But Cas stopped her, standing in her path when she would have simply marched off. “Let’s get your escort sorted first,. Emryn. And maybe some lunch.”

“Alright,” She shoved the feeling away and made herself focus on the meal that was placed in front of her.

She didn’t make the village that day. Cas wouldn’t let her go without an escort and the soldiers were all exhausted from the journey.

She would begin in the morning.

34

CONCERN

She was gone in the morning when he woke up. Cas dressed and hauled ass down to the village to see that not only had she taken the escort that he’d given her, she’d taken the rest of the soldiers and had raised the militia as well.

They were all running around in something that looked very like chaos, but if you focused on Emryn as the center, it all resolved into something very different.

A large canvas construction was going up in the center of the market square, bedrolls laid out in a very precise grid that Emryn was in the midst of dictating as he walked up.

“What can I help with, Healer?” His wife deserved the title, even if the Head in the capital had tried to strip her of her vow.

“I need the beds laid out,” she said, gesturing. “I will give the word that the sound are to bring the sick, but I need a safe place to put them.”

“Done,” Cas said, going to pitch his lot in with the soldiers who were measuring the distance between the beds.

Emryn wanted them precisely a foot and a half apart, which felt too close, but his wife knew what she was doing.

It took the best part of the morning before the structure was in place and the beds were laid out. And then Emryn had the town bell struck, and the ill started leaving their houses.

Some could walk, but the better part of them were being carried by their families. Cas couldn’t see that this sickness discriminated; it looked like all ages and stations were affected evenly.

And once again, Emryn was in the middle of it all. The sound brought the sick and laid them in the beds she indicated, rank after rank of them filling with the sick until the entire tent was full of hacking coughs and groans.

It was nightmarish, but Emryn just stepped into the middle of the tent and gestured.

The guard nodded, taking the ties off the sides and letting the canvas close until there was no way to see inside the tent.

But there was no way to miss the blast that took the nearest guards from their feet when Emryn took the blocks off her healing.

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