Deyvid instinctively turned to look at Petur, who sat beside the head of his bed.
“Don’t try to speak yet,” his lover advised. “Drink a little.Justa little,” he added as he held the cup close to Deyvid’s mouth. “The healer is fairly sure your organs weren’t seriously punctured, but we don’t need to test that by dumping a lot of liquid in there.”
Deyvid swallowed two blissful sips of the most delicious water he’d ever tasted before clearing his throat and saying, “How long?”
“Five days,” Petur replied briskly. “Downright lazy of you if you ask me.”
“I didn’t ask,” Deyvid said. This wasn’t the nicest time to make fun of him. He glanced down at where his wound rested beneath blankets and bandages. “How bad was it?”
“Bad enough,” Petur said with a scowl. “Any deeper into your core, and you’d have died of it. As it was, the healer thinks your intestines were nicked but not badly enough to let them leak into your gut. You’ll have to be careful about eating for a while, though. Only meals that are easy to digest, so you don’t strain yourself.”
Deyvid gave himself a moment to take all that in. He’d been in bed for five days, treated by healers, tended to by Petur, and had nearly died. How much of what he thought he remembered had just been a dream—or a nightmare?
“Was Tania here at some point?” he asked slowly. “I thought, maybe …”
Petur nodded. “She came by several times. Most of the escort we brought to the convocation are leading her back to Delomar as we speak. You and I will leave with a small reserve once you’re capable of sitting for more than five minutes in a saddle.”
Deyvid nodded. “Tomorrow, then,” he said.
Petur sighed. “Don’t joke about this. You almost died for the life of a woman who—” He cut himself off.
“Darling,” Deyvid whispered. “What happened?” He raised an arm that seemed as heavy as an oak branch toward Petur and was relieved when he clasped it firmly. “Is it the marriage?”
“You heard that?”
“To Symon Parador, yes?”
Petur stared at their joined hands. “He’s the one, apparently, and there’s no getting out of it this time. I tried. I tried, but—”
“I’m not angry,” Deyvid interjected.
Petur turned his scowl on Deyvid. “You should be,” he snapped. “I’ve been yours for a decade, and now she’s taking me away from you. What, that doesn’t bother you? Does it make you happy instead, perhaps?”
“Petur,” Deyvid said with a sigh. He was too tired for this to be an argument. “You know I’m not happy, but an engagement was inevitable.”
“It didn’t have to be,” Petur said, his voice soft and a little broken. “She didn’t have to do this, but she did. And now we’ve got to live with it.”
“I’m sorry,” Deyvid offered, and Petur shrugged.
“I suppose it could be worse. He’s got some skills, at least.”
“He is rumored to be an exceptional mage,” Deyvid agreed, racking his brain for whatever else he knew of Prince Symon. “He’s married into the Parador family through his father, but he has far more magical ability in his little finger than the queen’s son has in his entire body. I’m surprised they’re willing to give him up. He’s quite the asset to their royal family.”
“That’s down to the heir, no doubt,” Petur said. “Darius has always seemed to me to be the jealous type. It’s probably for the best that his stepbrother is being married out.”
That phrasing was a good sign. Maybe it meant that Petur was going to be reasonable about this arrangement after all. “Have you met Simon?” Deyvid asked. “Do you like him?”
“I’ve never met him, and I refuse to like him.”
Well, so much for reasonable.
“The wedding’s not for a while yet,” he went on. “I was able to get that much of a compromise out of Tania.You’regoing to handle his escort to Delomar, which means you’ve got to heal up first.” Petur squeezed Deyvid’s hand lightly. “That’s the onlyway I’m doing this, is if you heal. The fate of nations rides on you getting over this little incident, darling. I hope that’s motivational.”
Deyvid chuckled, then groaned as the little incident sent a bolt of pure, hot agony through his abdomen. “Fuck.”
Petur leaned over and looked him in the eyes. “I know it’s going to be hard,” he said tenderly. “But I’ll be with you all the way. You’ll come back from this stronger than ever. I swear it.”
“Well, if you swear it,” Deyvid joked, “then it must be true.”
