Page 16 of The White Stag
“It took much longer for this to happen when you were younger. I think it’s your Fae side trying to get out. That tea should have lasted longer too. There are a few fire signs that have the ability to burn off their own venom.”
I wanted to keep talking because I wanted my mind off how I felt.
“Like what?”
“Ifrits, fire salamanders, and Manticores. They all have the ability to burn off poisons. That’s what I can think of off the top of my head.”
“What’s an Ifrit?”
They didn’t get a chance to answer me. A cramp ripped down my entire thigh, and I couldn’t contain my scream. My back arched off the bed, and then two muscles on either side of my spine seized up. I was trying to hold it in and be strong, but I felt tears in my eyes. I bit down on my lip to hold in my screams until I tasted blood.
Two hands slipped into mine. Cyrus had one, and Oisin had the other. They would always be here, even if Alastair had tried to make me forget them. My monsters were still in the background, trying to find me.
“Squeeze as hard as you want and scream it out. This isn’t a grin-and-bear-it house. Get it out,” Oisin said.
“Don’t bite that beautiful lip,” Cyrus said. “No one here cares if you curse. Yell at us if you need to.”
I barked out a laugh in between the pain. I wasn’t angry with them. They’d been trying to convince me I didn’t need those pills since I got sick and thought I needed them. If I had listened and dealt with this ages ago, Alastair never would have gotten his hands on me. I knew they blamed themselves, but we all should have been blaming Alastair.
Finnan came bustling in, dripping wet from the lake and wearing some ridiculously tall chef’s hat with pink lips on it that saidKiss the cook.He was carrying a silver tray with a bowl and glass on it. I felt my stomach try to eat itself at the mere suggestion of even putting anything in my mouth.
“I can’t,” I moaned.
Finnan elbowed Cyrus in the face to get him off the bed. He brushed my hair off my forehead with his tail.
“We don’t really do horse pills you have to swallow in the Fae realms. Food and drink are medicine where you come from. I can’t make this disappear, but I can make it easier. This tea is full of herbs that will help with the cramps. I made the soup from a mushroom that reduces fever and inflammation. Plus, I am abangingcook, and even my remedies are delicious.”
“Finnan is a braggart, but he’s right about this,” Cyrus said. “He’s made both of those for us for different reasons. They work and taste a lot better than some of the other Unseelie who make them.”
“That’s because I sprinkle it liberally with hobgoblin love.”
“That’s gross, Finnan,” Oisin said. “If her stomach is upset, she can eat it later.”
I struggled to sit up. My stomach was already upset, but the rest of my body was revolting too. If I made my tummy a little more upset, I could ease what was happening in other areas.
“Help her up, asshole,” Cyrus growled. “The only way anyone can get Reagan to do something she doesn’t want to do is to do what Alastair did. Of course, she’ll tell us if she doesn’t want it, but it looks like she does.”
Oisin pulled me into a sitting position. I had full-on body shakes and couldn’t even hold on to the spoon. I felt utterly helpless as Finnan fed me. Even when I had been stuck with Alastair and had my mind controlled and Ballard managing every aspect of my day, there were still things that were just mine that I did for myself. They knew. My monsters always knew what I was feeling.
“Even strong women need to be taken care of sometimes,” Cyrus said. “That poison is no joke. In the Fae realms, it’s only ever given to criminals to make them easier to handle while they are imprisoned. If they aren’t a lifer, getting them off it is a process. There’s no shame in being fed.”
“I heard the Seelie king has someone to wipe his arse for him,” Finnan said.
“I heard that too,” Oisin said. “Which meant Alastair did too. If it makes you feel better, he had to learn how to wipe his butt when he got banished. Humans will take a lot of crap jobs for money, but if it got out that he was paying someone to wipe his ass, he’d get canceled so fast.”
“Here. Drink this,” Finnan said, passing me the glass.
The tea was lovely and refreshing. There were hints of pineapple and mango, even though I wasn’t sure if those grew in the Unseelie realm. I managed to eat the entire bowl of soup and finish off the tea. I couldn’t say I felt better immediately, but I knew most remedies take time to work.
I felt my eyes grow heavy, and I just really needed to take a nap. They wouldn’t stay with me before, but they drew chairs around my bed. I felt Finnan’s tail wrap around my wrist like he used to, and I felt comforted.
I slipped off into sleep and hoped I felt better when I woke up.
Cyrus
Iwas seething. Reagan was sleeping, but she was also delirious. She had given us a brief idea of what went on in that house, but she was acting like she was mostly fine. Breaking news—she wasn’t. Reagan was tossing, turning, and talking in her sleep. Yeah, she wanted revenge, but she was also fucking terrified of Alastair.
From what I could gather, he never laid a finger on her. His abuse was verbal. I didn’t care what anyone had to say on the topic. That was just as bad as using fists. Alastair took away her free will, and when his control slipped, he terrorized her and everyone around her to keep her in line. Then he ensured she had that tea to wipe it away. The bastard did it because helikedit.
