Page 62 of The Court of Secrets
“You were better back in Niferum,” I cried.
“I hid my feelings. It didn’t go away altogether.”
“No.” I groaned. “You were better. Being around me makes it worse.”
He shook his head. “I know what you’re thinking, and I will not be going back to Niferum, especially not with all you have going on. It’s not going to make it any easier, love. I’m going to stay and help you.”
I bit down on my bottom lip. “If you insist on staying, then you will need to keep away from me. I cannot have you feeling as if you’re being tortured or making this curse worse for the mer king, not until we have reunited the Objects of Kai.”
“My men are working on it. We will retrieve the Amulet−”
“Not the Ring.” I scowled, thinking of Kiros. “He has it hidden, somewhere well. How do you plan on retrieving it?”
He didn’t respond.
“Blaise, you need to leave, before this gets worse than it already is.”
“Don’t,” he said softly. “Please.”
My heart ached from his tortured gaze, the vulnerability on his face. “Go.”
“I won’t.”
I pushed him at arm’s length. My mouth dried as I stared at him. “Get out.” I shouted it this time, and he backed away, tears in his smoky-gray eyes. “Leave.”
He hung his head, shaking it, and shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked out the door. I didn’t look to see if he looked back.
Loving me had killed eighty men. It was killing him. I had no choice.
***
Orb-like eyes regarded me as the little pixies were brought into the room by the physician. Seeing them only reminded me of Cedric, when he’d illegally imported one to Berovia. I made a note to find another advisor, as I’d made him one to force the court to accept him. It hadn’t worked.
A pixie flitted overhead, her butterfly-like wings beating against the still air in the musky room. The stench of death lingered, and the potion sat un-stoppered next to the bed. The physician scrunched his nose when he examined my wounds. He peered at me through half-moon spectacles. His glacier-blue eyes had paled with age. White hair covered his round head. “How did this happen?”
A voice I recognized as Adius’s sounded behind him, though I hadn’t seen him slip in behind the physician. “You’re not here to ask questions.”
A pixie landed on my shoulder and placed her hands over one of the deeper cuts. A warmth protruded from her palms, pulsating through me in waves. When she took her hands away, all that remained was a pink scar.
“Thank you,” I said.
The physician furrowed his brows. “No need to thank me, Your Majesty.”
“I was speaking to the pixie.” I glanced at her. She looked back with appreciation.
The physician’s eyes widened, judgement pooling in them. He glanced at Adius, who only grinned at my response.
After several minutes, he stood, pushing his spectacles up his dented nose. “The scars should disappear within a few hours.”
I glanced down at the pink marks covering my arms. “Thank you.” I looked at him and the pixies. “All of you.”
He caged them again and left the room quickly. My stomach dipped as he did. Before I could say anything, Adius marched to my side. “No time to rest I’m afraid, Your Majesty. A woman has been murdered. I came when it happened, but I thought it best to wait for you to be healed first.”
My eyes bulged. “Where?”
“In the courtyard.”
Stars filled my vision as the necromancer threatened to push through. I pressed my fingers against my head, feeling the ridges of my skull beneath my fingertips.Join us.His voice tinkered, echoing around in my head. I grabbed the potion and gulped it down.
