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There was no happy ending for us, so why make him endure the presence of the woman who betrayed him and nearly got him killed? We would surely live and exist apart from now on—going through the motions as king and queen during the day, then acting as strangers at night.
Whatever I thought we were building between us was over. Better I stay out of his way until he got back on his feet to send me away for good.
Turning my back on him, I walked out the door. “Aeris? Eadaoin?”
The two stuck their heads around the corner immediately. I knew they hadn’t left after I ordered them away. I could hear their poor attempts to whisper quietly and breathe softer.
“Yes, my lady?” Eadaoin asked.
“Eadaoin, fetch cold water and cloth,” I ordered. “The last thing we need is fever to set in. Also, send for a servant to light the fires. Send another down to the kitchen and tell the cook to prepare chicken broth. I doubt he’ll be able to keep down much, but I have to try. You need strength to recover, and you don’t get stronger on an empty stomach.
“Aeris, get ointment and bandages from the healers. There’s no sense in them running back and forth when his dressings need changing. If there are any other medicines he needs, bring those up too with instructions.”
“Yes, my lady.”
They hopped to—taking off in different directions. That done, I returned inside, grabbed the chair from my vanity, and placed it and myself right next to my sleeping husband. Hishandsome face was hidden under a mask of ointment-soaked bandages, but all I saw was him.
“If you need a reason to hang on, you listen well, Alisdair Lumenfell. If you leave me, your fierce and brutal queen will rip open the veil, chase you through the Meadows, and bash the notion that we were ever meant to be apart out of your head.
“You didn’t marry a bird, you married me,” I whispered. “And you are just as much mine as I am yours.”
I couldn’t tell if he heard me, but it didn’t matter. I’d hold him to the promise all the same.
THE NEXT FEW DAYS PASSEDin a blur of changing bandages, slathering ointment, spooning broth past unresponsive lips, and murmuring sweet, pointless chatter at his still form.
“You should rest, Lady Ana.” Aeris fluttered behind me, chasing me around with a bath robe and jeweled comb. “Your bath is ready and waiting. Please, bathe, eat, and then sleep for a few hours. Eadaoin and the healers will watch over our lord while you do.”
“No,” I replied—as I did when she asked an hour before, five hours before that, and a day before that. “I’m not going anywhere until he wakes up. Alisdair needs me. For once, I’m not running from him.”
“My lady, you’re dead on your feet. You haven’t slept in days. You think you’re speaking to me right now, but I’m over here!”
Blinking, I twisted around, landing on the Aeris standing in the doorway—not following behind me as I thought. My eyes crossed trying to focus on the real her.
“If you continue on like this, you’ll find yourself sharing the sickbed with our lord. Take a rest.”
I sighed. “Do the healers have something that can keep me alert and awake?”
She pressed her lips together tight.
“You don’t want to say, but the rule-follower in you won’t let you lie to your queen,” I said, smiling. “Go on. You can tell me.”
“Fine.” She sniffed. “They do have such an aid, but do you know what would be even better? Proper rest, food, and sleep.”
“No.” I was beginning to understand Alisdair and his abruptness. Why waste time with pleas, excuses, and explanations when an entire sentence was already contained in one word? “Fetch the aid for me, please, Aeris. Thank you so much.”
Aeris stormed out, mumbling something about obstinate, pain-in-the-ass queens, and it was all I could do not to giggle. The stress of Alisdair’s situation was getting to everyone if the prim-and-proper Aeris was finally breaking decorum.
I glanced at Alisdair, and the urge to laugh vanished immediately. It had been days, and there’d been no noticeable improvement. Healer Soulstitcher said at some point, Alisdair needed to find the will to summon the magic needed to heal him the rest of the way. If that was true, he hadn’t found that will. He wasn’t summoning that magic.
“She calls me the pain in the ass, but you’re the pain in the ass.” I bent over and dropped a kiss on his nose, the only part of his face free of the bandages. “All you have to do is wake up, but you’re stubbornly refusing because you can never give me what I want without torturing me a little first.” My smile was soft as I slipped my hand under his. “The joke is on you, because I’ll wait as long as it takes.”
I’d be waiting a long time was Alisdair’s silent reply.
A week passed, and then two. My husband didn’t open his eyes.
“Conn obviously didn’t learn from his predecessor Lorcan. The basks only have the right of the territory I give them,” I said. “Tell him he and his people return to the northern marsh, or I’llhave his throat ripped out and replace him with a leader who listens.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the soldier replied, bowing out of the room.
