added, “and hold them firmly! Do you understand? He will fight you. Even in his weakened state. Do NOT let him flail. Do you understand?”
Thor nodded back, nervous, and she wasted no time. She leaned forward, took the knife, and in one quick motion cut deeply into the wound that was already festering, half of it black. She cut in a small area, right at the center, and Reece suddenly shrieked as she did, trying to sit up. He buckled like crazy, and Thor, sweating, did his best to hold him down. It took all of Thor’s might. He had never seen his friend like this.
She held a pan beneath his arm, and black liquid began oozing from the wound, filling nearly all of it. Gradually the oozing stopped, and Reece began to calm, breathing hard, moaning in agony.
She threw the pan of black ooze out an open window, set down the knife, hurried over to a stand, took a red ointment, and quickly rubbed it into the wound. It hissed, and Reece screamed once again. Thor did his best to hold him down, though it was not easy.
She wrapped a fresh bandage around Reece’s wound several times, then tried to calm him by laying an open palm on his chest, reassuringly, slowly easing him onto his back.
She held a palm to his forehead, pried open both eyelids, and examined his eyes. She let go and his eyes closed. She waited patiently, and after several seconds, his eyes fluttered, then opened. Thor was shocked: he looked exhausted, but alert.
“I feel better,” Reece said weakly, his voice hoarse.
“That is the poison leaving you,” she explained. “We may have just caught it in time.”
Reece licked his lips, chapped and dry.
“Am I seeing things, or are you the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen?” he asked, sounding nearly delirious.
The girl blushed and looked away.
“You’re seeing things,” she replied. “Either that, or making fun.”
Reece grew serious.
“I swear I am not, my lady,” he said, eyes open, more alert, looking at her with urgency. “I must know your name. I think I love you.”
She reached up, took a small vial of liquid, opened Reece’s mouth and poured it in.
“My name is Selese,” she said. “You don’t love me. You love my medicine. Now drink,” she said, “and forget all of this.”
Reece gulped down the liquid, and a moment later, his eyes closed, unconscious.
Selese looked at Thor.
“Your friend will live, it seems,” she said. “But I doubt he’ll remember much of this. He was delirious.”
But Thor was of another mind. He had never seen Reece so smitten, and he knew he was not one to take love lightly. He felt that, despite his sickness, Reece’s feelings for her were genuine.
“I would not be so sure of it,” Thor said. “My friend does not speak lightly. I would not be surprised if he has found his love.”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Godfrey walked with Akorth and Fulton down the back streets of King’s Court, on guard, keeping a loose hand on the dagger on his belt as he went. His eyes shifted, and he was increasingly paranoid in light of the week’s events. Godfrey no longer underestimated the tyranny of his brother’s reach, and felt he could be assassinated at any moment. He had become closer to Akorth and Fulton than ever, grateful to them for helping save him, and while they were hardly warriors, they were at least two more bodies, two more sets of eyes to stay vigilant.
Godfrey turned the corner and saw the sign for his old tavern, hanging crookedly, swinging in the afternoon, drunks spilling out of it, and he felt a sense of repulsion. A wave of anxiety overwhelmed him. He no longer felt comforted being here; now he just associated the place with his near death. He told himself that he would never walk through its doors again.
But he trudged forward, despite his fears, right through the open door, because he was determined. He was determined to bring Gareth down, whatever the cost, whatever the personal danger. There was too much at stake for him now, too much blood that had been drawn. He couldn’t just let this go and disappear quietly in the night. He had to find out who had tried to poison him, not for his own sake, but for the sake of them all. If he could prove the assassination plot, then legally it would be enough for the Council to depose Gareth. All he needed was a witness. One