He opened his eyes again, slightly wider this time, and lifted his hand as if to touch her face. Before his arm had crossed more than half the distance, however, he dropped it limply to the ground. His eyelids drooped. “I can. It’s one of the first things my mother taught me.”
She let out a huff of surprised laughter. “What is it, then? Sir?” She gently shook his shoulder.
He went silent and deathly still, the slow rise and fall of his chest the only sign that he was still among the living. Odessa blew out a long, troubled breath and scrubbed a hand down the side of her face, pushing wet strands of her silver-blonde hair aside. She looked up at Katrin, who was hovering anxiously. “Even if Boris would allow him to stay here—which I doubt—he needs more help than I can give him, especially during the day. We need to get him to the palace.”
The doe lowered herself to the sandy ground beside them, waiting patiently as Odessa slowly rolled and dragged and shoved the man until he was draped over Katrin’s back. The deer rose gradually, staggering a little under the man’s weight, andOdessa stood with her, keeping a steadying hand on the man’s shoulders.
They walked along the well-tended path that traced the shore of the lake and led to the palace gardens. Katrin’s steps slowed the closer they got, and her breathing grew labored. She was strong and graceful, and at a full run could easily outpace even the swiftest of Dmitri’s horses, but she was not a beast of burden, and her stamina was quickly dying out. Thankfully, they were met by a familiar face as they rounded a corner of the path and entered the royal gardens.
“Odessa? What are you doing here?” Dmitri’s voice was laced with confusion, then dismay. “Who is that?”
“I don’t know,” Odessa answered honestly as she pulled the stranger off Katrin’s back. His weight nearly brought her to her knees, and it was only because of Dmitri’s aid that she managed to stay upright. “I heard someone falling into the lake. I thought it was you at first.”
Dmitri frowned. “I didn’t see any boats when I walked by.”
“Neither did I. I don’t know how he got so far out, but he was nearly drowned by the time I got to him.”
“He’s alive?” The prince looked dubiously at the limp form supported between them.
“Yes, but he’s unconscious.” Odessa pressed her lips together nervously. “If I could be sure that Boris wouldn’t mind, I would let him stay with me, but?—”
“Absolutely not,” he interrupted. “Pulling strange men out of the lake is one thing; it’s another to let them sleep in your home.”
“You make it sound like I just go around the lake looking for men to retrieve.”
“You don’t?”
She would have punched his arm had she not had her hands full of soggy leather and muscle, and she had to settle for glaring at him instead. He blinked innocently. “Anyway,” shecontinued, “since he likely needs more help than I’ll be able to give him with my…duties, I was hoping that you would be willing to take him in and have your physician take a look at him.”
“Of course,” Dmitri answered easily. He bent his knees and pulled one of the stranger’s arms over his shoulders while he slipped his arm around the man’s back, relieving Odessa of his weight. “And I’ll have the guards take a look at the lake to see what they can find.”
She nodded, suddenly feeling a strange emptiness now that her arms were free. A cool breeze blew past, causing her to shiver in her wet clothes.
Dmitri noticed. “You should come with me. Mother won’t mind if you stay the night; we always have a room for you.”
Odessa glanced up at the sky, which was just beginning to lighten with the first hints of coming dawn. She shook her head. “Thank you, but I’ll be fine. I still have some chores to finish up.”
His eyes narrowed as he searched her face, as if looking for the answer to a puzzle. “Are you sure?”
“Perfectly.” She infused her voice with more cheer and pep than she felt. Katrin shifted to stand behind her shoulder, and Odessa reached up to pet her nose. “I’ll see you later, Dimi.”
“Alright. I’ll come by later with a report on your patient.” He smiled. “Thank you for your assistance, Katrin.” With a final nod, he turned and half-carried the stranger down the path, calling for his guards as he neared the palace.
Odessa sighed wearily as she and Katrin retraced their steps and walked silently back to the lake. “Well, that was an adventure,” Odessa said as she looked around the place where she had brought the stranger to shore, searching for her shoes. She pulled them on, then saw that the man’s bag was still lying discarded on the ground, and she scooped it up, intending to give it to Dmitri to return. “I guess we’ll have to put curse-breaking on hold until tomorrow night. Or tonight, I suppose,since it’s already nearly dawn. Thank you for all your help. You should go take a nap while you still can. Sonya will probably be up and causing who knows what kind of mischief soon.”
Katrin bumped her shoulder.
“I’ll get some sleep later. I have to finish my chores or risk the wrath of Boris.”
An unimpressed snort flared Katrin’s nostrils, and her large, dark eyes flashed with an anger that was almost human.
“I know, I know. But I’d really rather not find out if curses can be compounded.” She gave Katrin’s withers an affectionate pat. “I’ll take a nap once the sun comes up.”
Odessa walked the begrudging doe to her enclosure and locked the gate behind her, then hurried through the rest of her chores, doing her best to ignore the uncomfortable dampness of her clothes and the way her scalp itched from the dirt that had dried along with her hair. She had just pulled the last gate shut when the first streaks of dawn appeared in the sky, and a soft, matching light surrounded her.
Sharp pain radiated through her bones. Though the routine was familiar by now, the experience was one that she still had not grown accustomed to, and Odessa whimpered with pain as she dropped to her knees. She curled in on herself, as if making herself smaller would speed up the process.
It never did.
