in the doorway to the sitting room just as Wolfe entered the cottage. The healer hurried toward me. “You have it?”
I held up the pack. “I have it.”
My heart pounded hard as we hurried up the stairwell to the large bedroom Haydyn loved. It was the view. She loved a view. The wide window captured the Silver Sea like a frame around a master painting created by nature.
I hugged Valena when she threw herself at me, and my eyes drank in the sight of Haydyn.
I felt a raw, choking burn in my throat at how pale and slight she appeared lying on the bed, her moon-colored hair spread across the pillow. “Oh, haven,” I whispered. “She looks—”
“You’re in time, Lady Rogan,” Raj reassured me, removing the blue plant from the pack. He breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to us all. “I hate to ask it of you, but I need time alone with the princezna to do this. I’ll require Valena’s help, of course.”
I didn’t want to leave. That old stubbornness of mine wrapped around my legs, gluing them to the floor. Wolfe, however, slid his arm around my shoulders to draw me away, and it was only then I saw Matai standing by the door. He gestured for me to follow him out of the room.
“Matai,” I mumbled as Wolfe guided me downstairs in a daze. I was exhausted. It felt as if my body might just float up into the air and drift away on the wind.
Before it could, Matai enveloped me in a tight hug. “Thank you, Rogan,” he whispered in my ear, hoarsely, grief and worry and heartache soaking every word. “Thank you so much.”
I gave him a watery smile and let Wolfe draw me back into his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder as we waited.
“We’re betrothed,” Wolfe told Matai.
“What?” Matai choked. “Dear haven, has the world gone topsy-turvy?”
“Actually, yes,” I replied, turning my head on Wolfe’s chest to meet Matai’s gaze. “You should see it out there, Lord Matai. What a mess.”
“We’ll fix it,” Wolfe insisted, rubbing his hand up and down my back.
“I hope so.”
Matai lowered himself into a chair. He looked weary. “Tell me all that happened.”
I put it down to Haydyn’s love for the dramatic that instead of Raj coming down to tell us she was cured, a tousled blond head peeped around the door frame of the sitting room, followed by a stunning face blooming with color.
“Haydyn!” I screeched like a little girl, pulling from Wolfe’s embrace to rush to my best friend. She squealed and crossed the room to meet me halfway. As we shook in each other’s arms, crying somewhat hysterically, no one would have guessed that the princezna of Phaedra had only hours before been moments from death.
I pulled away, barely able to see her through my tears. “Look at you! Should you be out of bed?”
“Not really,” Raj opined from the doorway, his eyebrows drawn together in consternation.
Haydyn shrugged. “I don’t care. My body aches all over but I feel so awake! I’ve been sleeping forever, Rogan. Don’t make me go back to bed.”
I laughed and pulled her tight, afraid to let go of her. “Don’t ever do anything like that to me again.”
She huffed against my shoulder. “It’s not like I could help it. Oh, Rogan.” She retreated, her eyes brimming with love. “How can I ever thank you for what you did for me? Raj explained everything. How you went all the way to Alvernia, into the mountains, for the cure! Rogan—”
“You would have done it for me.”
“In a heartbeat.”
“Well, it took a little longer than that, but—”
“Can I perhaps …?” Matai appeared at our side, his eyes fixed on Haydyn as if he couldn’t believe she was real.
Reluctantly, I stepped away to let the two lovers embrace.
I raised an eyebrow at Wolfe when they kissed in front of Raj. Raj, for one, didn’t look surprised.
“Ah … happily ever after,” Valena sighed dreamily from the doorway.
Chapter 33
If I could have wished for anything in this life, then I would have wished for Valena’s words that day to be true.
But unfortunately, life just doesn’t always work out that way.
Haydyn and I had much to catch up on once we returned to the palace.
The sight of Haydyn put paid to all the rumors and gossip of her illness that had spread across Sabithia and even into the neighboring provinces. Calm swam through the provinces like the tide flowing in at night.