Page 89 of Heart of the High King
Chapter 36
Aleksander was perplexed by Rafe, and he had to admit he liked the idea of unraveling the puzzle of his mate. Sick of seeing him in pain, he wanted to insist that he not push himself until he was nearly falling asleep at his desk, but Rafe was stubborn. While he could admire his tenacity, Aleksander also wanted Rafe to give in to the demands of his body. Those thoughts he kept to himself. Rafe was proud, and while Aleksander would have once professed that he knew him well, there were secrets between them. It might’ve been nice to have a name of the person or people that had hurt him, but that wasn’t what disturbed Aleksander the most.
What separated them was Rafe’s need to shield himself from engaging in any real conversation. Sitting in their office, he pretended he wasn’t listening while refusing to interact with anyone. Aleksander was frustrated that he held himself away from everyone and everything, including the idea that he could be healed in any way. They had a few opportunities to be alone since Aleksander now went with Rafe as often as possible when he took Mortis outside. The wolf was fun company, and it amused him to no end when Rafe spoke to him.
Whenever the topic of their future together came up, Rafe would change the subject. If that didn’t work, he would simply walk or wheel himself away. Aleksander could not understand why he refused to even discuss his health, and he was acutely aware that there was a limit to the time they had to find a resolution. Not that his sorcerer friends were wasting a minute of it, and as Aleksander strode into the Sorcery D’Vaire boardroom, he wondered again how to get Rafe to consider the possibilities.
“Am I the last one here?” Aleksander asked, getting comfortable in his chair.
“Yep,” Dra’Kaedan responded. “But that’s okay. I know you were outside with Rafe and Mortis.”
“It’s the middle of the afternoon, and he’s already wiped but Mortis and I had to gang up on him to get him to go take a nap.”
Saura shook her head. “I can see the pain and fatigue on his face. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone push themselves so hard.”
“It’s both courageous and frustrating,” Aleksander remarked. “Let’s discuss why we’re here. What’s the consensus on what we can do for him?”
“As you know, we didn’t think the simulators would be helpful, but we’ve managed to put together at least a basis for testing. We’re using a drakeling model who is intolerant and while it’s not identical to Rafe, it at least helps us look at the differences between how light and dark affect the body at a cellular level. What we’ve discovered is that our hypothesis was correct. People react vastly different to the two forms of sorcery. Dark healing isn’t absorbed at the same amount, which means it goes slower but what isn’t used dissipates faster. It’s ideal for someone who has a reaction to light,” T’Eirick explained.
“That doesn’t mean there aren’t side effects, but they are less pronounced,” Vadimas added. “Because the tissues in Rafe’s case continued to expand from the little we’ve learned, we think it would be prudent to surround him with Cwylld stones immediately after we use a great deal of magic on him. It will leech out what is in his system and prevent him from experiencing such severe swelling.”
“Yeah, if we could isolate a room and line it with copper to protect everyone outside the space, we can sit him in there for days if necessary. We’ll need to work with hospital officials on that since this would have to be done with a medical team. He’s not in good enough shape for us to take this on alone,” Saura stated.
“And he’ll need traditional medicines since we can’t add any potions or druidic-enhanced herbs. But we can get our hands on ones that aren’t magically enhanced to be used in conjunction with what doctors can prescribe him,” Killian commented.
“Best case scenario would be if you were willing to consider cementing your matebond,” Severin remarked. “Not only are you a dragon but the largest and one of the most powerful born. That would be a boon for him.”
“Yeah, I mean, when we’ve used your dragon in the past for simulations, we’ve had to discount the data since your beast is off the charts,” Delaney said.
“I’m not opposed to that, but I’m not sure if I can convince Rafe it’s in his best interests. To this point, he’s unwilling to even discuss the idea of healing, let alone tying us together for eternity,” Aleksander lamented.
Dra’Kaedan’s jaw flexed. “Look, Bigfoot, you know I love you, but we simply don’t have the luxury of time. We can’t even focus on a starting point without knowing exactly what state of health he’s in. Somehow, we’ve got to get Rafe to allow us access to his records or to his doctor, so he or she can give us a rundown or point us in a certain direction. We can sit here every week and go over simulation data or whatever but if we do nothing but discuss it, we’re going to lose him. Aleksander, you’ll have to sit in our mansion waiting for his spirit to be returned to you, and we have no idea how long that’s going to take.”
“Unless he’d prefer being resurrected to being healed,” Chander pointed out. “We can do that too, but that’s the harder route, and I’d prefer it if we stuck to healing. Neither one of you needs the pain of what might amount to an agonizing death followed by lighting his pyre.”
“Yeah, I’d like to avoid that. I know he doesn’t want to be pinned down about this, but you guys are right. It’s a discussion we need to have and one that can no longer wait.”
∞∞∞
“You’ve got that look on your face,” Rafe pointed out. On the deck in his wheelchair, he’d been corralled into taking a nap that had lasted until dinnertime. Now the sun was slowly disappearing as he enjoyed the heat soaking into his aching bones while Aleksander sat pensively next to him.
“I want to talk to you, but I need you to give me the chance to get it all out before you escape into the house.”
“It’s the healing thing again, isn’t it?”
“Would you please just talk to me about it?”
Rafe closed his eyes. “Why can’t you let it go?”
“Think about what you’re asking me to do. You want me to tell you it’s okay to let you die. I’m never going to be satisfied with that. I want the opportunity to spend my life with you.”
“I was wrong to come back here.”
“Stop saying that. This is yourhome. D’Vaire is where you belong. You’re a High King.”
“I wish I’d been strong enough to stay away, so neither one of us had to be put in a position where we were at odds with one another. That was never my intention.”
“Rafe, I know that and I’m glad you’re here. Tell me why you are completely opposed to the idea of healing. I can assure you these sorcerers never give up. They push boundaries with every project and accept nothing less than success.”
