Vi did as Sarphos instructed, shifting to slide an arm under Taavin’s back. He was dead weight and nearly impossible to lift, but Vi managed it. Sarphos gingerly tilted his head back, parting Taavin’s lips and pouring the inky liquid she’d seen earlier down his throat.
“Will he choke?”
“No, the potion will be absorbed before it even gets to where his lungs split off.”
She turned her attention back to Taavin, continuing to hold him. Sarphos continued giving small doses of the medicine, counting quietly to himself. Just when the bottle was almost empty, Taavin’s eyes jolted open and he erupted in a fit of coughing.
Vi shifted her arm further around him, patting his back as he wheezed and gasped. Sarphos inched away. She narrowed her eyes at the healer, silently reminding him of her threat if he dared to run. But Sarphos was distracted and soon, too, was Vi.
“Vi?” Taavin whispered.
“Taavin.” His name was a breath of relief on her lips.
Vi leaned forward without a thought. Her forehead pressed against his and tightened her arm, their noses nearly touching. Her eyes dipped closed and for three blissful seconds she just listened to him breathe, feeling his frail form against her. Feeling him wonderfully alive.
“You terrified me,” she murmured, pulling away.
“That feeling is mutual. I thought you’d gone off on your own and left me.” Taavin’s hand tried to reach for her face, but only made it to her forearm.
“I wouldn’t leave you.”
Sarphos cleared his throat, reminding them both of his presence.
Taavin’s eyes peeled away from hers. He turned slowly, looking Sarphos up and down. The morphi healer returned the glare inch for inch.
“You did wander far, I see…” Taavin muttered. She could feel the tension rising between Taavin and Sarphos.
“Sarphos is a healer of the Twilight Kingdom. He’s the one who’s helping you.”Helping. Not helped. She hoped Sarphos’s care would be ongoing until Taavin was back at full strength.
“I see…” Taavin ground out, his jaw tense. Though his face relaxed when he looked back to her. “How did you find a morphi healer?”
“She claims she went through a tear in the shift. Something I have not forgotten she promised to show me,” Sarphos interjected.
“A tear? Vi, you didn’t—”
“Yes, I did. And I haven’t forgotten, I will still show it to you,” Vi interrupted and gave Sarphos a look. He’d kept his side of the bargain, she’d keep hers. She turned back to Taavin, putting his protests to rest with a short, “You were weak and getting worse. I had no other choice.”
“You have a choice now—don’t go with him.” Taavin grabbed her arm. “I don’t want you leaving my sight… I don’t want you going somewhere I can’t get to.” Taavin’s palm finally found her cheek. Vi leaned into it slightly, her eyes dipping closed. He’d been the only one to touch her this way.
“As the crown princess of the Solaris Empire, I must keep my word.” Vi gingerly trailed her fingers up his arm. “Just as you must keep the word I gave on your behalf, in exchange for Sarphos’s help—that you will not harm any morphi while you’re here.”
“I will not harm a single morphi, so long as they don’t harm you.” Taavin’s eyes swung to Sarphos.
“We do not harm unjustly.” Sarphos seemed to emphasize the wordunjustlyan odd amount—as if to imply Taavin would. His rage toward Taavin was something Vi still didn’t fully understand.
“I can protect myself,” Vi reminded Taavin.
“I know you can…” Taavin sighed, his eyes shining in the dim light of Sarphos’s glowing stone. “Please, be careful.”
“I will be.”
“We should go,” Sarphos needlessly reminded. As if Vi wasn’t aware her time was running short. “The king is expecting me.”
“I’ll come back as soon as I’m able,” Vi vowed.
“If anything happens to you I—” His throat closed and he choked on the word. Taavin shook his head, continuing down a different path. “I finally have you in reach and I’ve barely had a chance to speak to you.”
“And we keep getting pulled apart.” Vi gave him a small smile. “I know… But the road to my father, to figuring out this—” she touched the watch around her neck “—isn’t going to be a short one. We’ll have plenty of time. For now, we both need to focus on starting that road at full strength.”
