“Yes,” he returned, as he tried to put it down on a moss-green stool in a dark corner of his room where no light reached. He couldn’t manage the movement in his current state. Even taking it off had clearly taken supreme effort.
I eased it from his grip.
“It has to be… that corner,” he told me. “To… recharge.”
“Got it,” I said, as I carefully eased him onto his bed, then placed the crown upon the stool.
The moment I did, I was jolting back as a wave of citrine magic imbued with some golden flecks shot up from the stool and immersed the crown.Huh.So that was how it recharged.
“Why did it run out of charge today?” I asked him, as I moved back to the bed.
“I was… out and about. Away from campus. Doing research. In the… sun more than… normal.”
“Oh, that’s why you were frowning and touching it in the Cafeteria? You got hungry, and chose that over charging it right when you got back from wherever you were?”
He frowned, an almost-smile lifting his lips. It probably would have been a full-on one if he wasn’t so pained currently. “So, you are… treating me like… your prey.”
“What? No.” I looked away. “Get over yourself.”
I scanned his suite.
Everything was so unbelievably tidy. Nothing on the floors, bed perfectly made, no knickknacks around or even books on his desk or nightstands.
But then I caught sight of something stunning on a square metal table half in the room, half obscured by the hallway that led out to the balcony. It was dark down there, meaning the balcony doors were also covered with those velvet drapes or something like it, and I strained to make out the details of the stone sculpture that was set upon the table. It was a hand reaching up and grasping what appeared to be an ornate key with two fingers. It looked like it was forever frozen in a state of straining to obtain a sturdier and more complete grip on the key, but never actually able to do so.
Wow.It was really something.
I swung my head back to him. “Tell me there’s something in here that can help you, or I’m taking you to the Infirmarywhether you like it or not. And it’s not like you can kick or scream about it right now anyway.”
A weak glare mixed with an amused curl of his lip came my way.
“The chest… under the bed.”
“Chest? All right.” I crouched down and peered under the bed, locating a large brown leather chest within reach.
I pulled it out and hefted it onto the bed beside him.
He went to sit up, but couldn’t, collapsing back down before he’d even fully managed to sit up.
“What do you need from it?” I asked him.
“Oval bottle. A potion for… the crystallization.”
Fortunately, as I went to open the chest, it wasn’t sealed with magic.
I opened it up fully and took in the sight of a dozen oval-shaped crystal bottles with a dark mixture inside each.
Beside each the neatly positioned bottles was a suede cloth wrapped around something.
I took out one of the bottles and screwed off the chrome top.
With my free arm, I carefully eased him up against the headboard.
He went to reach out for the bottle, but his hand was shuddering and messed-up with the shriveling situation.
I shifted onto the bed on my knees and guided it to his mouth, then tipped it as he parted his lips.
It was all I could do not to jolt and spill it as I fed it to him when his weary eyes locked on mine, an intensity emanating from him and into me.
