Page 3 of A Touch of Royalty
The healer stirred, opening her eyes and looking up at Cas. It felt like his entire universe lurched to one side as she stared into his eyes. Something fluttered at the back of his mind, like feathers, like the wisps that you feel when you walk through a spiders web in the garden.
The healer rose, leaving Cas no choice but to let her go, even though the flutter at the back of his mind demanded otherwise.
“Majesty?” The healer had turned away from him and was bowing to his mother. She was unsteady, Cas could see her shaking and trying to hide it.
“Your thoughts, healer?” His mother asked.
”I have undone the illness, Majesty,” the healer said thoughtfully. “I would ask to examine him further, if he consents, as there was something odd about the way it was acting. As though it was trying to hide from me.”
“I’m right here,” Cas protested.
The healer turned to look at him and paled even further if that was possible. “Highness,” she stammered.
“I hardly think we’re standing on ceremony now, Healer.” He tried to smile, but exhaustion hit him like a hammer, and he watched her shift back into healing mode.
“Rest,” she walked over and helped him lie down, tucking the blankets back around him. “I will return tomorrow and do more.”
“I don’t understand,” Cas held in the yawn. “What’s happening?”
“Healing draws from the one being healed.” The healer looked down and away from him, but before she managed to avert her eyes, he saw the guilt there. “It makes you tired.”
”You-“ he couldn’t contain this yawn, and it threatened to split his face in two. “You’re tired too.”
She nodded. “Guiding a full body restoration is tiring.”
”Then you should rest too.” The dark was gathering, a massive wave threatening to drown everything that he was.
“I will return to the temple.” She turned away from him as the darkness claimed his vision. “Call for me if anything changes.”
When Cas woke again, it wasn’t the city healer that was looking at him. It wasn’t the woman he wanted to see. Rather it was the head of Rodilla’s healers that was looking down at him with puzzlement.
“You need to eat, Highness.” The healer looked down at him. “Your body is wasted and needs the calories.”
”Where-“
The healer smiled. “Healer Emryn is back in the city temple.”
”Emryn?”
“My finest healer,” the head said. “The only one that could have restored you, if the reports I have received are correct.”
“Give her my thanks?” Cas wasn’t certain why he was suddenly desperate to see her again. “I owe her much.”
“She is a healer,” the head said flatly.“Her Majesty has already attempted to elevate her. Emryn has made a vow to the moon and to the temples. That vow is for life.”
“I would not ask her to break her vow,” Cas said. “Only that you give her my thanks.”
“I will speak to her,” the head healer said quietly. “Give her your words. She has said she will return to see you again.”
That was a relief, but he couldn’t say why.
3
RETURN
Emryn woke, sudden and sharp, from a dream where something beyond her understanding was pleading with her.
Trapped, alone, frightened. Whoever they were, they needed help.
