My stomach bottomed out. “How did you know?”
“I sensed it. Our mesmer connects when we want it to, but I like to think this connection comes simply because we’re brothers.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Did anything happen last night out of the ordinary? Did he seem different?”
Good hells.
“Um . . .” There was no time to be demure, not if Jonas would suffer. “We bathed together and I stayed here.”
Sander nodded. “Makes a bit of sense then.”
“Did I cause this? I wouldn’t hurt him.”
To see a genuine, kind grin on the prince’s face when his eyes were so eerie was unsettling. “You did nothing wrong, Skadi. Thenightmare is of you, so it makes sense. He only succumbs to this when he is truly terrified someone he cares about is being harmed.”
I could not summon the words. Jonas had pleaded to someone. Whatever was happening in his head involved me.
My hold tightened on his hand. “You know what to do though?”
“We do. It was terrifying the first time. Jonas’s emotions fuel his mesmer at times to the point his body cannot release it, so it attacks him. He doesn’t like people knowing, not even the other royals know this happens.”
My teeth clenched. I brushed my fingertips over his brow, helpless. He was bleeding trapped in a wretched nightmare and could not escape.
“How do we help him?”
“With this.”
I reeled around as the queen, wrapped in a sleeping robe much like mine, raced across the room, worry in her eyes, the king at her back. In Malin’s hands was a vial of a murky liquid.
The queen came to where I stood at the side of the bed and knelt over the mattress. She handed the king the vial without a word, like they simply knew their parts to play.
Kase pressed a hand against Jonas’s cheek and tipped the vial to his son’s lips. The king was quiet, somber, but I did not need his magic to see the fear in his eyes or the soft way he whispered, “Break free of it, boy.”
Malin rested a hand to Jonas’s brow. She closed her eyes. After a horrid pause, the queen began to smile here and there, even chuckle.
“Maj is drawing happy memories forward,” Sander said, not looking away from Jonas, but it was clear the explanation was for me. “Helps combat the terror until the elixir brings a dreamless sleep.”
I pressed my back against the wall, steering clear while they brought him back to me. Dorsan, still tunic-less, stood in the doorway, stern and stiff. I waved my hand, mutely dismissing him.
He didn’t move.
“There we go,” Malin whispered and moved aside.
I let out a rough breath. Jonas’s eyes were now closed and his chestwas rising in slow, steady breaths again. Nothing more than a peaceful sleep.
“I’ll send for some herbs to work the fever.” Malin squeezed Kase’s arm. The king had not stopped watching his son’s features once.
Upon his wife’s touch, he seemed to realize the fear had passed, and backed off the mattress. “Will you look after him while we gather the herbs?”
“Skadi?” Sander’s eyes were once more the brighter shade of green, lighter than Jonas’s but still as piercing.
“Sorry, what?”
“Will you watch him?” the king asked again, his voice a rough rasp.
“Yes.” I stepped to the edge of the bed, nodding frantically. “I won’t leave him.”
