“Well, you can clean those hands this time after you get the fangs,” Shonda ordered.
“Don’t wanna leave big boss,” Snaglak sighed sadly.
“You’re to do what Michael, Shonda and Finley say when I’m not around, Snaglak,” Declan managed to get out.
His voice sounded hoarse and he had to swallow a bunch of times to get all the words out. His throat hurt. A memory of Vulre’s arm tightening around it or from something else?
“Declan?!” Michael cried and Declan felt a strong hand stroke his left arm.
“Baby, it’s okay. We’re all here,” Shonda told him and he felt her hand on his other arm.
“Declan!” Gemma burst out and there were sudden tears in her voice. “You’re–you’re awake. But your eyes aren’t open.”
They weren’t. He was having a hard time opening them. He was having a hard time doing anything.
“Are you in pain?” Finley asked, concerned, but efficient. “Rhalyf, what should we do?”
“Well… this isn’t exactly a science,” Rhalyf cleared his throat. “I’ve only removed a binding like this once. On Declan. So, in fact, I’m not certain that anyone, but me, has ever done this. Declan, how do you feel?”
“Like a Mack truck ran over me then reversed and ran over me again,” Declan admitted.
His whole body hurt. It was as if he had been trapped in a vise and someone had been tightening it until his bones creaked. He was released from it now, but it still felt like his body was re-inflating somehow. What had happened to him? Was there a fight? What was Rhalyf talking about when he said “binding”?
“Can you open your eyes, Declan?” Finley asked.
“Will they be red?” Gemma asked softly.
Red? Why would my eyes be red? Unless… Ah, binding. He removed it.
“Yes, they will be,” Rhalyf answered evenly. “I will not put any spell on him–even a mild glamour–for a day at least.”
The glamour is gone. I look like… myself.
Declan tried to remember his true looks. But even though he had dreamed far more clearly of his time as Rahven in the Under Dark, he had no memory of his face. Besides, his face then would have been that of a child. Not his face now. Would he still look the same, but for white hair and red eyes?
What will Aquilan think of me then?
And it was in that moment that he realized the one voice he had not heard in that room. The Sun King’s. While he had not expected Elasha or Darcassan’s, he had hoped that Aquilan would be there.
Because I’m unwell… I… something… something happened…
The memory of the magic leaving him. Re-Awakening. Destroying the Leviathan nest as if it was tissue paper.
I did that. And maybe more besides. Until my magic and my true looks were bound. Maybe because I was too dangerous to leave unbound.
Yet the thought of another spell being placed upon him, squeezing him, made Declan want to vomit. He shuddered. Slowly, he tried to open his eyelids. It felt like they were sealed shut with sticky tape. He reached up and rubbed them. Finally, he was able to open them, but he immediately squeezed them shut.
“Too bright!” he cried.
“But it’s just a single wisp,” Gemma sounded agonized. “I didn’t think it would hurt–”
“It’s not your fault, honey. He’s just really light sensitive right now,” Shonda soothed her daughter.
“It’s okay, Gemma,” Declan got out. “Just give me a minute and I’ll be able to handle it.”
“If you’re sure,” Gemma said softly.
“I’m sure. Just a minute.”
