I pushed upright and crawled to the head of the bed to nestle into my mate's arms. “What do you mean? I thought that explosion was you.”
Raven burst out laughing and pulled me closer.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“What in the names of all the Gods and all that is sacred are you doing?!” the Dragon King demanded as he burst into Sevarin's workroom ahead of me.
Wincing, I waved at the Volper man over the King's shoulder. “Good morning, Sevarin.”
Eyes covered in protective goggles and a heavy leather apron over his pretty clothes, Sevarin glanced up from the vat before him. In it lay Levru, one of the Okon warriors, immersed up to his chin in silvery liquid. His eyes were wide, but in them was a glimmer of hope.
“My job,” Sevarin said curtly. Then he nodded to me. “Good morning, Eliel. You look well . . . rested.”
Raven growled, his stare starting to glow.
I patted his arm, and he calmed with a grimace.
Meanwhile, Sevarin picked up a glass jar and a syringe. After examining the black liquid inside the jar, he extracted a small amount with the syringe. “I had to distill a volatile ingredient. I apologize for the minor explosion. Don't worry.” He motioned at the black streaks on the wall. “There's no structural damage to the fortress.”
“No structural damage?” Raven gaped at him. “How do—”
“I'm nearly there, Your Majesty,” Sevarin cut him off. “Stand back, if you please. I believe this elixir of black toad lily could be the final component.”
Raven narrowed his eyes on the syringe as his arm swung out to push me out of the room.
“He said stand back, not get out,” I protested as I ducked to look under Raven's arm.
Sevarin added a couple of drops of the elixir to the vat, and the silver liquid shivered. “Close your eyes, Levru.”
Levru closed his eyes just as the liquid bubbled around him. Then it began to glow. The glow brightened until, suddenly, it went black. All of the liquid. The Okon man sat up, gasping. He should have sprayed the liquid everywhere, what with his wings coming open and his big body bursting out of the wide metal tub. But the black concoction had a thick consistency and slipped off him in globules to plop back into the vat.
“Am I whole?” Levru held out his arms and stared down at himself. “The glow is gone! Look at my flesh! It's no longer gray!”
I gaped at the naked man, and not just because he was very fit and had lovely wings. His skin had indeed lost its gray tinge and was a healthy tan. Not a single vein stood out, glowing or otherwise, and the scars at his neck were gone. I dove under the King's arm and hurried over to Levru, my hand extended.
“Eliel!” Raven grabbed my wrist before I could touch the Okon.
“He's not radiating cold!” I spun toward my mate. “He's healed!”
“I'm healed?” Levru looked down at himself and then stepped out of the vat. He went over to Sevarin.
“No.” Sevarin waved him off. “No, don't you dare!”
Levru hugged Sevarin and lifted the Volper man off his feet as he spun them in a circle. “Thank you! Thank you, Sevarin!”
“Put me down, you big, feathered idiot!” Sevarin shouted.
Levru laughed but put the alchemist down. “I don't know how to repay you.”
“My fee is three silvers. The King has agreed to pay me, but you could do it instead.”
Levru looked from the alchemist to the King.
“I'll take care of his fee,” Raven said. “I'm very happy to have witnessed your healing.”
“It's a bit more than healing,” huffed Sevarin as he pulled down his goggles to let them hang on his chest. “I had to unravel the threads from his flesh and soak out the magic. It was an undoing and very tricky. That amateur who did this made a mess of things. It's amazing that anyone lived through his experiments. A child would have had more success.”
“You have exceeded my expectations, Master Sevarin.” I held out my hand. “Thank you so very much for your hard work.”
