“I see.” Lynia swallowed down the pain and forced herself to smile. “Then let’s hope Lial finds something useful. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to help me track down and catalogue information about herbs?”
Arlyn eyed her, clearly not convinced by Lynia’s false cheer. But she nodded and grabbed a blank piece of paper. “Sure.”
Lynia split the introductory books into two piles and read off the names Arlyn should look for. Then she opened the first of her own books with a snap and set to work. She would not think about how Lial had left for a mission without a word to her.
No, she wouldn’t consider it at all.
Chapter 15
Despite Arlyn’s joke about shoving him through, Lial’s entry into Naomh’s small realm was smooth, and since Lyr had warned Caolte of his arrival, Lial was escorted to the mansion in the center of the cavern with respect. Fortunate, that. Lial had been so ready to get the task over with that he hadn’t considered the implications of entering a Seelie lord’s home dimension without a known ally present.
The place was a marvel, but Lial was too tired to appreciate it. He could find out later how a single crystal at the top of the cavern allowed so many trees to grow around the large house. A greater concern at the moment? The unstable energy that met his tentative mental probe. He hesitated to connect enough to draw in more power, and that would be a hindrance if Naomh required serious healing.
An uneasy pall hung over everything. Tree branches drooped, and the grass held an almost-wilted look. As he was led through the house, the guards peered at him with dull gazes, no question or comment disturbing the tomb-like quiet of the place. Since Naomh was connected to the estate, Lial made note of every unusual occurrence. They were likely to be related.
Instead of taking him to an office or receiving room as expected, the guard escorted Lial down an endless spiral staircase to a large, empty room and then left without a word. The elaborate space was beautifully designed, the floor painted to look like a gentle stream and the walls carved with scenes of Sidhe nobles at court. Mage globes hung from the ceiling, though one was curiously absent near the center. Based on the crack in the stone, it must have broken.
Was this a ballroom? Considering how long they’d spent descending the stairs and the lack of windows along the walls, the room was probably underground. Why would the guard have led him here? Tension knotted Lial’s shoulders, and he reinforced his shielding. The Sidhe lords were allies, but it paid to be cautious.
A door on the far side opened, and Caolte entered, his dark red hair so tousled that Lial thought it was aflame—which wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. But although Caolte’s face was pinched with worry, Lial relaxed slightly at the absence of that dire sign. Perhaps Naomh’s condition had improved.
“This is a curious location for a greeting,” Lial said when the other man neared.
“Consider it an honor that you are allowed to see it,” Caolte retorted. “My brother’s resting place is deeply guarded and difficult to find. Do not betray this trust.”
Lial inclined his head. “My only interest is in healing the injured. I give my word that I will not reveal Lord Naomh’s location, unless, of course, I must share the information with allies in order to save his life. I will not promise to let someone die to maintain secrecy.”
Caolte’s lips pinched, but he gave a nod in return. “Let us hope that is unnecessary, as Naomh would not be pleased.”
Though Lial was tempted to ask if Caolte did anything outside of his brother’s command, he resisted the impulse. For whatever reason, Caolte had long ago established himself as Naomh’s protector, and that was unlikely to change. Alienating the man would only cause trouble for Kai.
“Shall we?” Lial asked.
Without a word, Caolte spun on his heel and strode toward the door where he’d entered. Lial followed, careful to note each odd turn and random passage they traversed. Great gods, who had designed this place? There were living quarters here, but their arrangement made no sense. Bedrooms placed between kitchens and food storage—and the latter adjoined with a bathing chamber. An office with an open relieving room in the corner. He spied stairwells leading to nothing but the ceiling and corridors that held no doors. Unless the entrances were hidden?
He was hardly going to attempt to find out.
Eventually, the unusual living quarters gave way to empty rooms, and a few floors lower, Lial glanced through an open door to see manacles and chains attached to the wall. An involuntary shiver traced down his spine. He trusted Lyr and Kai implicitly, and they both had accepted Caolte’s word on Lial’s safety. Still, he couldn’t help but feel concerned about being led to the dungeon in the bowels of a high-ranking Seelie lord’s private domain.
“I am not foolish enough to detain a healer,” Caolte said, his voice ringing with amusement.
Lial tore his gaze away from the chains and met the other man’s eyes. “Good to know.”
“We only need to descend a few floors lower.”
It was a good thing Lial was accustomed to physical activity. Between traversing the estate to treat injuries and check on patients and traveling into the valley to help in the village, he spent more time walking than anything else. Despite that advantage, his calves stung by the time they reached the proper floor.
Lial waited a couple of paces behind Caolte as the other man placed his hand on a closed door, magic swirling around him until the heat of it licked uncomfortably at Lial’s skin. Whatever spell Caolte wrought, the door finally clicked open, and Lial followed him into a small, spare room. Dirt squished beneath his boots as he examined the prone form stretched out on a stone slab in the center.
Vines twined up the rock and surrounded the Sidhe lord resting there. But the plants didn’t appear to restrict. Curious, Lial stretched out his senses, cautiously examining the energy swirling around and through Naomh. The plants seemed to be exuding power, but despite that, the other man didn’t react to their magic. If they were meant to provide energy, they were failing. Naomh’s energy stores read dangerously low.
“You were there when he was injured, correct?” Lial asked.
Caolte’s jaw clenched, and he nodded. “Yes. Did Kai not give you my account?”
“Do I look like the lord of the estate?” Lial circled the stone slab, searching for any clue as to why Naomh wasn’t pulling in energy. “I have heard some details here and there, but I am not privy to every report. In any case, I would prefer to hear the story in your own words."
“I’m afraid there aren’t many details, considering how quickly it happened.” Caolte knelt beside the low stone platform. “Meren used his magic to draw water from the nearby fountain and formed it into some kind of mist that he forced into Naomh’s lungs. While Naomh struggled to free himself, Meren stabbed him with an iron blade and disappeared.”
This time, Lial skimmed Naomh with his gaze rather than magic. Pale skin and lips, eyes sunken, the shape of his bones showing in stark relief as though he’d lost weight and muscle tone. A long robe covered Naomh’s body, but his chest rose and fell steadily beneath the fabric. Lial needed to examine the wound, too, but he would have to scan him for infection before he physically touched him.
Closing his eyes, Lial extended his hands over Naomh and sent out his power for a closer look. It didn’t take long to find the first hint of a problem. Though the man’s brain and vital organs were clear, darkness tinged the blood pumping through his veins. Was there an origin point? His first thought was the wound in Naomh’s stomach, but a quick check showed no increase in the amount of infection there.
He shifted to the lungs, only to withdraw from the area immediately. Well, then. There was the source. And there’d been more trouble there than just the darkness pumping through Naomh’s blood—that was akin to what Lial had seen in Fen’s blood a few weeks back. The stuff attached to Naomh’s lungs was different.
Tentatively, Lial eased his energy closer. He had no name for the substance atta
cking the cells, but he could tell immediately that it wasn’t bacterial. Was this what a virus looked like? He’d thought a virus would resemble a cellular organism, similar to bacteria, but no—not if this was it. These little particles had genetic material but weren’t alive—at least as best he could tell without closer examination.
He itched to delve into the mysterious particles so he could uncover their secrets. Virus or something else, he needed knowledge. Too bad he couldn’t risk it. With the infection taking over Naomh’s lungs so virulently, Lial dared not experiment unless the man’s life was in danger. Since this illness was exactly the type of thing fae bodies naturally flushed with magic, there had to be a reason Naomh’s body was not doing so. The wrong action could make things worse.
Was his body not clearing the illness because of his low energy? Upon closer examination, Lial could see that Naomh was absorbing energy from the plants, but the power drained away as soon as it was gathered. Because…Ah, there. His connection to this realm sucked out the bulk of it, and the iron still in the man’s wound repelled the rest. His body might purge the infection if some of his magic was restored.
Otherwise, the sickness could overcome him.
Lial drew back into himself and opened his eyes, focusing on Caolte. “This is bad.”
“Explain,” Caolte snapped.
“He has an infection,” Lial said. “An illness, much like one a human might get.”
Caolte shot to his feet, his hair taking on a suspicious glow that heralded danger. “That is impossible.”
“I would have thought so, too. However, Ralan recently warned us of a plague that may be unleashed.” Lial’s gaze flicked down to Naomh’s still form. His breathing was steady despite the virus, but for the first time since Lial’s arrival, a long shiver shook the Sidhe man’s body. “I don’t know what Meren has been playing with, but I would wager he forced more than water into your brother’s lungs.”
“Ruya,” Caolte snarled. “It is difficult to know. Meren didn’t work with Kien, not exactly, but he paid far too much attention to the poison Kien released into the energy fields. Is it a form of that?”
Lial considered the question carefully. The darkness in Naomh’s blood was similar to Kien’s handiwork, but it was unclear if it was connected to this infection. “I don’t know for certain. All I can tell at this point is that Kien’s energy poisoning invades a person’s magic system while this illness harms their physical body.”
A single spark danced above Caolte’s head. “Then heal his body.”
“I would if I knew how,” Lial admitted, as much as he hated to. “But I lack the knowledge to defeat something like this. Lady Lynia and I are researching that now.”
Caolte’s eyes flashed. “That is unacceptable.”
“I see.” Lial lifted a brow. “So you prefer I experiment on your brother? While there are a couple of things I’ll try to keep him stable, attempting to treat an infection with no knowledge could make the situation worse. Perhaps you would be happy to risk the illness replicating throughout his body instead of merely the lungs, hmm?”
“No.” Caolte closed his eyes for a moment, visibly gathering in his anger until the glow faded from his hair. “Forgive my ill temper. I feel my failure to protect Naomh keenly, but pain and anger will not resolve the results of that mistake.”
Such a curious man. Caolte and Naomh shared a Seelie Sidhe father, but Caolte’s mother had been Unseelie where Naomh’s had not. How had Naomh’s younger half-brother come to be his most dedicated bodyguard? It was surely a fascinating story, but it was one that would have to wait.
“It is no matter. I am hardly the master of pleasant discourse,” Lial replied. “As to treatment…I believe your brother’s low energy is partly to blame for the infection’s persistence. He is losing too much power to maintaining this realm.”
Caolte frowned. “I have some ability to connect to this place, but I cannot take on the bulk of it. Not with my current level of access.”
“Then we must wake him enough to pass the responsibility to you.”
Immediately, Caolte shook his head, his hand slashing down in a gesture of denial. “Absolutely not. Kai is his heir, not me.”
“Kai is not here, and I do not think you’ll coax him to be.” Lial studied the other man. Why was he so uneasy with the suggestion? “He will not risk infection with his bonded carrying their first child.”
“That is not my role,” Caolte insisted.
There had to be more to this, something to do with the way Caolte protected Naomh. Unfortunately, Lial had neither the time nor the energy to care. “I do not want to see my friend’s father die, but I will be unable to stall this while said father’s energy is pouring like water into an underhill realm. It is unstable enough here that I can’t draw in power to attempt any kind of healing. Is your brother’s life worth less than whatever role you think you have?”
Caolte paled. “It is Kai’s birthright.”
“Once Naomh has been healed, you can pass the stewardship back,” Lial retorted. “And if I fail, you can grant the realm to Kai. Though I must insist you decide now. There is much afoot on Moranaia, and I dare not stay here long. Truly, removing this source of harm is the best way to protect him.”
For a few moments, Lial thought Caolte would still decline, but after staring down at his brother for what could have been an eternity, he nodded. “I am uncertain how to manage this. He was near death when I placed him into the dreaming.”
“We must both feed him energy until the transfer spell.” Lial held back a sigh at the level of exhaustion this would bring, but it couldn’t be helped. “Then I will take over if you are too distracted.”
“Didn’t you say you couldn’t connect to the magic here?” Caolte asked uncertainly.
Lial shrugged. “I will manage.”
Another shiver wracked Naomh’s body, the force of it seeming to spur Caolte to action. He sat on the floor beside his brother while Lial lowered himself down on the other side. Lial gestured for the other man to go first. Once he’d made note of how Caolte’s energy affected Naomh, Lial closed his eyes and poured his own power in as well.
As Caolte began the process of waking, Lial monitored and maintained Naomh’s systems. No small task. The Sidhe lord’s body was weak from the flakes of iron that had been cauterized into the wound in his stomach, not to mention the effort required for the wound to heal. That Meren had done so much damage—and with cold iron, besides—spoke to a hate Lial found difficult to fathom.
Finally, Naomh stirred to awareness, and Lial rushed to stop the adrenaline that would accelerate his heart rate. Ruthlessly, he forced calm to cloud Naomh’s mind instead. “Convince him,” Lial whispered aloud.
Sweat beaded on his brow as he waited for the results of a mental conversation he could sense but not hear, and his limbs grew heavy as he poured energy into a rapidly crashing Naomh. They had to succeed soon. Lial was near his limits, and if he lost control, he would be unable to keep his patient still and relaxed.
A new power surged in the room, one that both did and did not emanate from Naomh. Lial’s stomach lurched as the man’s energy levels plummeted even further, and he could no longer attempt to examine what happened between the brothers as Caolte stopped contributing power. Instead, Lial blocked out all thoughts of exhaustion and poured himself into the task.
Endless marks later—surely—Caolte began to give Naomh energy once more, and though no words passed between them, Caolte forced Naomh back into the dreaming as quickly as possible. As soon as the Sidhe lord was stable, Lial stopped providing energy and withdrew. Only to be confronted with the crushing weight of the magic he’d done.
Too weak to consider dignity, Lial flopped back against the dirt floor without opening his eyes. Gods, he hurt. Every muscle seized and throbbed from the effort. For a moment, he considered sleeping then and there, but of course, he couldn’t. He had to find the strength to return to Moranaia in case Lyr, Meli, or anyone else wa
s injured by an assassin.
Today was definitely not his favorite day.
It was nearing dinner, but Lynia detected her son in his study anyway. She could have a word with him there. Almost reluctantly, she closed her notebook and stood, straightening the growing stack of books before leaving the library. Caraden had updated her a short time ago, promising a delivery of texts within the next few marks, and Lynia had contacted her acquaintance at the Citadel’s library for more from there, too. Now was as good a time as any to rest.
Perhaps sleep would dull the worry.
She knocked on Lyr’s door and entered at his call. As his mother, she hadn’t always stuck to such formalities, but she’d discovered it was prudent since he’d bonded with Meli. Knocking had become the norm after the second time Lynia had stumbled across her bond-daughter attempting to coax Lyr away from his desk rather…creatively. A noble goal when Lyr was over-working, but not something Lynia wanted to witness.
This evening, he was alone.
Lyr glanced up from the stack of papers on his desk. “How goes the research?”
“Well enough overall, although progress feels slower than it actually is.” Instead of standing awkwardly in front of his desk like a supplicant, Lynia circled to the side, leaned her hip against the edge of the wood, and crossed her arms. “I’m waiting on more books from the palace archives and the Citadel.”
His gaze shifted to the water clock and then back. “Is all well? You wouldn’t usually seek me out so close to dinner without good cause. Not that I’m not happy to speak to you at any time, Laiala.”
“There’s no crisis,” Lynia said, smiling. “At least not anything new. I was up working all night, and I’ve done a great deal today. I didn’t want you to worry when I skip dinner. I plan to eat in my room and take a nap.”
Instead of returning her smile, he studied her intently. Her son never had been easy for her to fool. “Why do I get the feeling there’s more you want to say?”
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