I loved her so much.
***
The next hour was a blur.
Thessa called for guards, for a healer, for people to help carry me because I couldn’t walk, could barely stay conscious, my body giving out in ways I didn’t understand.
They took me to the infirmary.
It was a large room with multiple beds, stone walls, and a fire crackling in the hearth. A healer, an older woman with kind eyes and efficient hands, directed the guards to lay me down on one of the beds.
I was vaguely aware of Caelan somewhere in the background, trying to get close, being blocked by Thessa’s shouted commands. Good. I didn’t want to see him. I didn’t want to hear his voice. I didn’t want anything from him except answers, and I was terrified of what those answers would be.
“What happened?” the healer asked Thessa.
“I don’t know. I found her collapsed in the corridor. She was crying, then she vomited, then she almost passed out.”
“Has she been ill? Any symptoms before this?”
“I don’t... Riley?” Thessa squeezed my hand. “Have you been feeling sick?”
I tried to focus. My vision was clearer now, the world slowly stabilizing, but I still felt awful, weak, hollowed out. Every ounce of energy had been drained from my body, leaving me empty and exhausted.
“A little,” I managed. “Nausea. Dizziness. Since I arrived.”
The healer frowned. “How long ago was that?”
“Several days. Maybe a week.”
“And before that? In the human realm?”
I thought back. The nausea, the fatigue that wouldn’t go away no matter how much I slept, the way food tasted wrong and certain smells made me gag.
“A few weeks, maybe. I thought it was stress.”
The healer exchanged a look with Thessa. One I couldn’t interpret.
“I’m going to run some tests,” the healer said. “Just need a bit of blood.”
She produced a small needle and vial. I winced as she drew blood from my arm, trying not to look. I’d never been great with needles, blood, or medical procedures in general. Add it to the list of things I was handling poorly today.
“We’ve adopted some of the humans’ technology,” Thessa said, clearly trying to distract me. “Lytopia was so outdated before the portals opened. Needles, certain medical practices, even some of the plumbing. It’s been a good change, actually. Made things more efficient.”
I nodded weakly, grateful for the distraction even if I could barely process the words.
The healer bustled away with the vial, muttering about confirming results. Thessa squeezed my hand again, her expression a mix of confusion and concern.
“I’m sure it’s nothing serious,” she said, but she didn’t sound sure.
I lay there, staring at the ceiling, my mind a hurricane of images I couldn’t escape. Caelan and Vix in his office. The overheard conversation. Her hand on his thigh, positioned with a familiarity that spoke of practice, of habit, of a relationship that went far deeper than he’d ever admitted.Everyone knows about us.
My brain was really committed to torturing me today.
I started crying again, and I couldn’t stop it. The tears just came, pouring down my temples and into my hair, silent and uncontrollable.
I had trusted him. I had opened myself up to him. I had let him claim me, mark me, make me his in ways that could never be undone. And all along, he’d been keeping secrets still, lying to me, making me look foolish in front of an entire court.
“Hey.” Thessa’s voice was gentle. “Whatever happened, whatever my idiot brother did, we’ll figure it out, okay? I’m on your side.”
