“No to which part?” Razik asked, wondering if he’d hit his head harder than they’d all thought when he’d passed out. Niara had said that was the least of the worries, but now Razik wasn’t so sure.
“Where is Kailia?” Cethin demanded, sucking in a sharp breath.
“She’s down a floor in your old bedchambers,” Razik answered. “Lie back down. You have broken ribs and were stabbed. Again. Twice.” Then he sighed as Cethin pushed to his feet, using the bed to steady himself. “That’s the opposite of lying back down.”
“Shut up, jackass,” Cethin grunted, making it to the pole of the four-poster bed before he had to stop and suck in another sharp breath.
With another audible sigh of resignation, Razik closed the distance between them, reaching for his shoulder.
Cethin jerked back, barking another curse and gripping his side gingerly as he rasped out, “What are you doing?”
“As entertaining as it would be to watch you maneuver the stairs, Niara will have my balls if I let you do that. So I figured I’d Travel you down there,” he answered. It was a half truth. Niara would be livid, and she was formidable, but he wasn’t about to tell Cethin that he was trying to prove himself to his uncle too.
“Yeah, all right,” Cethin muttered, his body relaxing some.
“You’re welcome,” Razik said, gripping his shoulder and pulling them through the air before Cethin could finish the curse that he’d started to utter.
As soon as they appeared, Cethin forgot about him anyway, grimacing as he rushed to the bed. Wren had lurched to her feet, and Jarek had pushed off the wall at their arrival, both of them momentarily startled.
“Why hasn’t she woken yet? Where is Niara?” Cethin demanded. He lifted a hand but stopped short, his hand hovering over her brow as though he was going to smooth her hair back.
“Niara has been monitoring both of you since our arrival here,” Razik supplied, crossing his arms and leaning a shoulder along the wall. “She suspected you would wake first. I’m assuming she’ll be here anytime for her rounds, and she’ll be none too pleased to find you up and about.”
“Here, Cethin,” Wren said, tugging on the armchair to move it closer.
Razik gently moved her aside, picking the chair up to set by the bed. He’d no more than put it down before Cethin was lowering to the cushioned seat. There was a fine sheen of sweat at his brow that told him being up for those few minutes had taken its toll, and he had to agree with Niara. Those daggers of Kailia’s had done something to the male and had affected his healing abilities.
Turning to Jarek, Razik said, “Notify Niara and Tybalt that Cethin’s awake.”
Jarek nodded, gaze bouncing between him and Cethin with a questioning look, but he said nothing as he left the room. When he turned back, Cethin was leaning forward, half out of the chair and pulling Kailia’s blanket back.
“For fuck’s sake, sit down, Sutara,” Razik growled.
“I need to see her wound. How’s it healing?”
“It’s healing like the best Healer on the continent is tending to it,” he snapped.
Cethin sank into the chair, tipping his head back and eyes falling closed as he pressed his hand to his side. Razik wanted to tell him it’d be better if he lay down, but the male wasn’t going to listen to him, so he’d let Niara deal with that. Instead, he said, “Niara believes both of you will take longer than usual to heal for different reasons.”
Cracking an eye open, Cethin met his gaze, but when he didn’t say anything, Razik went on. “We believe the daggers used to stab you are having some effect on your healing speed, and the…prior injuries don’t help the process.”
Cethin snorted a derisive laugh, closing his eye again.
“As for Kailia,” Razik continued, “her abdominal wound was substantial, but Niara believes there are mental facets that are keeping her sleeping longer.”
“What does that mean?” Cethin asked, opening his eyes and sitting up straighter. Or attempting to. He quickly slumped back against the chair again.
The door opened then, Niara and Tybalt striding through.
“It means,” Niara said with a pointed glare at Cethin as she moved to the bedside, “that her mind is keeping her asleep to protect her for the time being. What happened in her past?”
“I don’t know all the details,” Cethin answered, watching every move the Healer made.
Niara only hummed as she worked, peeling back the wound dressing and applying more of a paste she’d made. Adding a new dressing, she replaced the blankets before turning to Cethin once more.
“You should not be up and moving so soon, your Majesty,” she said, her deep brown eyes raking over the king as she assessed him. It was easy enough to do considering Cethin was shirtless, showing the bandage wrapped around his abdomen.
“I needed to see her,” Cethin said, grimacing when she pressed along his torso.
