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“Ben,” I wheezed as I slowly lowered his hefty form to the floor. “This isn’t what I meant by snapping out of it.”
The door behind me opened and I looked over my shoulder to discover Chase and Hannah standing there. Their faces revealed their confusion.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” I insisted as I draped him over my lap. “Now could someone help me get him back on the bed?”
“What’s going on here?” a brash voice spoke up down the hall, and the next moment Grant made his appearance. A smallish man of about sixty and with a black doctor’s bag in one hand followed behind him.
“Never mind that,” Chase replied as he took up Ben’s feet. “Just help me get him on the bed.”
The pair hefted Ben off me and over to the bed. The stranger sidled up to me and looked me over from behind a pair of thick spectacles. A bemused smile danced across his lips. “Good evening, Miss-?”
“Millie,” I told him.
“Would you mind waiting outside with the others for a moment, Miss Millie, while I inspect my patient?” he requested.
I nodded, and Hannah set the bowl of hot water on the nightstand before she followed me out of the room. Grant soon came out and closed the door behind him. I tried to catch a glimpse of what was going on. The doctor stood beside the bed with the back of one hand against Ben’s forehead. That was all I saw before the entrance was shut.
“Well?” Hannah asked him.
Grant shrugged. “He’s not any worse, but we should wait to hear what the doctor has to say.”
Hannah turned to me and set a hand on my arm. “Would you like to come downstairs to the kitchen with me, dear?”
I managed a smile as I shook my head. “I’ll be fine.”
Grant ran a hand through his disheveled and dirty hair. “I wouldn’t mind a pint of something to drink.”
Chase sighed. “That doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.”
“Then come along, good sirs, and I’ll see what I can fix for you,” Hannah invited them as she patted my arm. “And don’t stand here all night, dear, or we’ll be putting you to bed, as well.”
“I won’t.”
The trio traveled downstairs and I was left alone with my thoughts. I couldn’t even focus on them, though, as my curiosity and fear watched the door. Ben had mentioned before that he didn’t like doctors. They had a chance to discover his unique physiology.
The door opened after ten excruciating minutes and the doctor stepped out with a smile on his face. “You may come in now, Miss Millie.”
I slipped past him with my heart pounding in my chest. The scratches and scrapes Ben had received from my bruising had mostly healed, and those that hadn’t were wrapped in a thin layer of gauze.
I hesitantly approached the bed but stopped some five feet away. “Is he going to be okay?”
Amanzi joined me at my side and chuckled. “Oh yes. A man of his nature is not easily destroyed, especially by magic.” I raised my eyebrows and he nodded. “Yes, I know of his condition. The family entrusted me with this information long ago so I might openly treat him during their many stays at the villa.”
“If nothing’s wrong then why is he still asleep?” I wondered.
The doctor’s good humor faltered a little and he sighed. “I answered that he would be well, but even he needs a short rest to recuperate.”
I winced as I thought back to the others who had been trapped in the watery storm. “So normal men would be worse?”
“Possibly, but there are currently many capable doctors in the area due to the thunder races,” he mused as he eased him into the chair. “And I expect that everyone will come out only slightly scathed and with wounds enough for bragging rights.”
I dropped onto the edge of the bed where I couldn’t take my eyes off the slumbering Ben. “I’m so glad. . .”
He lifted an eyebrow. “And yet I see no gladness in your face. Is something bothering you?”
I set a hand on my left arm and shook my head. “It’s nothing.”
He chuckled. “You are as bad a liar as Ben, when he’s in the mood to lie to me.” The good doctor let out a soft groan as he stood. “But perhaps you wish to think without an old codger like me around.”
