Keiran reached out with his left hand to try and grab Jerris as he turned away, but he was easily able to shirk it off. The vampire lost his balance and fell to his knees, giving out a pained cry.
Jerris had tears in his eyes as he continued to take quick strides away. He knew if he looked back he’d lose his resolve and doing so wasn’t an option. While he and Keiran had suffered numerous fights over the years, he’d never walked away with the intent of it being permanent.
He made it through the door and nearly ran into Thana, causing her to spill some of the water from the cup she carried.
She looked up at the guard. “What is it? What’s wrong? Were you two fighting now of all times? I could hear you all the way in the kitchen!”
He placed a hand on her shoulder momentarily and gave it a squeeze. “Take care of him. Do the best you can.”
Thana didn’t get a chance to reply before the guard started walking away. Not understanding what was going on, she turned and hurried into the throne room.
Keiran was on his knees, clutching Jerris’ sword across his chest. His throat had gone completely dry, ice coursing through his veins.
“Keir!” she rushed over and knelt down before him. Fear raced through her at the oddly blank expression he wore. “What happened?”
It took him several seconds to process her presence. Her words didn’t make it through the rushing sound in his ears.
Thana set the cup she held to the side, placing her hand against his cheek. “Keiran!”
He slowly brought his eyes up to meet hers. He’d never felt anything before quite like the emotion roiling within him.
Jerris was gone.
* * *
“What in the hell did you say to him?”
Jerris looked up from the last small bag of personal belongings he’d needed to collect from his room at the castle. He dropped his gaze away when he saw the vitriol in Thana’s expression.
She didn’t back down, storming into the room and right up to the guard. “He won’t talk! Corina and I managed to get him back up to bed, but if he was in bad shape before, he is worse off now!”
The redhead sighed and dropped to sit on the edge of the bed. He patted the space next to him. “Thana, sit.”
His response caught her off guard, and she slowly sat beside him. Thana studied him for a moment, noting his slouched posture and reddened eyes. “Jerris, what’s going on?”
“I did upset Keir, you are absolutely correct,” he admitted, keeping his voice quiet. “I resigned, and after I pack up these few things left here, I’m leaving the castle and not coming back.”
“Resigned?” she asked, furrowing her brow. “With Kanan gone, the guard needs you more than ever! How can you just quit?”
He stared down at his hands. “I came to a realization after my father’s death and deciding to act upon it was…trust me, Thana, this isn’t a decision I made lightly. I have very good reason for it, and if this is the bow-shot Keir needs to realize what he’s doing, then so be it.”
“What are you talking about?”
He took a deep breath before turning to look at her. “My father didn’t die because he posed any real threat to Athan. He killed him to show Keir that he is serious. He did it to prove he would react and cause us to suffer consequences for Keir’s constant pushback.”
Thana shook her head and motioned with her left hand. “Jerris, I don’t know if the seriousness of Keir’s current state has escaped your notice, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that Corina and I both have significant worries that he won’t survive. Having you walk out on him right now is the last thing he needs!”
“Keir will live. He will recover,” Jerris flatly stated.
She frowned and leaned closer to him. “How can you be so certain? While I appreciate the optimism—”
He cut her off. “No, Thana, Athan does everything very deliberately. Just like I said the day this happened, if Athan wanted to kill Keir and be rid of him, he would have killed him outright. He wouldn’t have wounded him and then left without knowing for absolute certain that he wasn’t going to survive. Athan doesn’t make those types of mistakes.”
Her posture straightened, and she looked away. “You believe he killed Kanan and hurt Keir that badly just to put him back in his place?”
“Aye, I do.” Jerris closed his eyes. “But you know Keir will not back down, no matter the consequence. He will do nothing until he recovers, of course, but you know as well as I do that taking Athan down is Keir’s entire driving force. Sadly, my father was simply the first of those who will perish at Athan’s hands over Keir’s stubborn nature. Someday, killing Keir will be all Athan has left to do. I already watched him die once, Thana. As I told Keir, I won’t go through it again.”
That struck her harder than anything else he’d said. “…but he came back.”
“A luxury my father didn’t have. For him, death is permanent,” Jerris replied.
Thana’s previous anger began to surface again. “Your father knew the risks of his position. He was never afraid of Athan. Ridding the world of his evil would benefit everyone alive. I knew myself that being with Keir would be difficult. I won’t turn away from him, though. Your father wouldn’t have. I think he would be very disappointed in you, Jerris.”
“I don’t believe the dead trouble themselves with things like disappointment,” he replied. “I won’t be here to watch any of the rest of you killed. What if Keir’s next act of rebellion were to cause Athan to harm Zach?”
“How dare you,” she growled, twisting her hand into the skirt of her dress.
He leveled his gaze at her. “Thana, you have to admit it is in the realm of possibility, and there is nothing you could do to stop him.”
“Keir would never allow such a thing!”
Jerris shook his head. “And what would he do to prevent it? That sword was the only thing Keir had to give him an edge over Athan, and it is gone.”
She stood up abruptly and turned around to face him. “You’re being a coward. Keir relies on you. He needs you. His blood siblings don’t mean as much to him as you always have. You have always been his real family! For you to abandon him now… My God, Jerris, for all the squabbling you and Keir do, I never imagined you’d simply walk away. Go fight like you used to if you must! Beat one another to bloody hell for all I care, but don’t do this!”
Jerris looked up at her. “I want to protect him, and the best way to make any sort of impact on him is to do exactly what I have, Thana. It broke my heart to come to this realization. Choosing to force myself away from the man who has always been my brother within days of losing my father… It wasn’t a flippant decision! As emasculating as it may be to admit, I’ve shed my fair share of tears over coming to this conclusion.”
Thana’s expression went slack and she looked to the side. “Well, when you pull your head out of it and decide to come back here, you know Keir will accept your return with open arms, without any resentment. He will be far too forgiving of you, but he’s better than most of us in that regard. I, however, will not forget this lapse in your loyalty.”
“Unless I know he’s retired his vain pursuit of Athan, I won’t return, Thana. It doesn’t mean I don’t care, and if you were ever to need anything, I would hope you would come to me,” he said.
“Not damned likely, Sir Steiner,” she snapped back before turning and striding from the room.
Chapter 5
“Does it hurt any less?”
Keiran stared up at the ceiling, lips pursed together as Thana pulled away a wet compress from his wound. “She’s only having you put those on me to cover up the stink, you know.”
Thana dropped the spent dressing into a bowl and sat beside him on the bed. She looked over the wound, noticing some real signs of healing finally beginning. Brushing off his remark, she forced up a smile. “Yesterday, Corina said there was improvement, but I can see it now, too.”
He lifted his head from the pillow and inspected the
gash running the entire width of his stomach. The sight of it still made him queasy, and he dropped his head back again. “I know Corina is going to show up now with another dressing. It hurts when you two insist on messing with it.”
She sighed and placed her hand on his chest. “We’re trying to help you, Keir.”
He frowned and turned his head toward the balcony doors. “It will either get better of its own accord, or it won’t. I doubt like hell you really need to trouble yourself with the constant fussing.”
Since Jerris’ departure two days before, Keiran’s mood had grown steadily worse. While she knew he was hurting inside over it more than he was from his injury, Thana was exhausted in her own right from tending to him, and she reached her breaking point.
“Fine, Keir. We won’t bother you anymore. Is that what you want? I’ll take Zach and tell Corina not to come in here. We’ll just wait and see if you ever come out of this room on your own.” She stood and picked up the bowl with her new right hand. “I’ve hardly slept since this happened to you. I’m not sure Corina really has, either. Between fretting over you, taking care of our son, and mourning Kanan’s death, the two of us haven’t exactly been having a lovely time.”
“Sorry,” he sighed and closed his eyes. Keiran was well-aware his moods had swung from profound depression, to guilt, to anger and back again several times a day. The two women had slaved over him since Athan’s attack, and what he felt wasn’t honestly directed at them.
She stood there and stared down at him for a moment, seeing that he was going to fall into another of his silent spells. Still, the fact he was feeling well enough to argue and fight back was an improvement. The seizures and involuntary catatonic states seemed to have passed.
“I’ll ask Corina if we can forego the next poultice, or at least put it off for a while to give you a break.” She turned away and headed for the door, stepping around where Zach sat on the floor.
The baby watched his mother pass by before flailing his arms with a small wooden horse clutched in his left hand. The toy slipped from his grip and made it far enough to smack Keiran in the side of the head.
He opened his eyes and looked over at his grinning child, tossing the toy back toward him. “I know, Zach. I’m an ass.”
The boy simply squealed in innocent delight, picking up his horse again.
* * *
Thana moved down the corridor, finding Corina on her way up the stairs. “He’s being wretched again and insists on not having another dressing applied. I say we spike the next one with alcohol out of spite.”
Corina waved her arms out before her, ignoring Thana’s statement. “Let me see your hand.”
The younger woman frowned, not understanding. “The new one?”
The old woman shook her head. “No, no. The real one.”
Shrugging, Thana held her left hand out toward her for inspection, still clutching the bowl with her right.
Corina looked her over before meeting her gaze. “Dear God…”
“What?” Thana asked, pulling her hand back.
Corina held her hands out between them, palms up. The skin on both was red and inflamed, blistering in places. “You have the start of this!”
Thana frowned and stared down at her own hand, noticing the splotchy, raised, red patches upon it. “What is this? Have we caught something?”
“It looks like the area around Keiran’s wound,” Corina said, shaking her head. “Now, we may simply be reacting to one of the herbs in the dressings, or whatever that sword is made of has contaminated us in some way.”
Thana’s jaw went slack, and she turned away, looking back up the stairs. “We might come down with the illness he’s fighting?”
“I don’t know, Thana, but we…we need to take precautions.” The old woman dropped her hands to her sides.
“Jerris was in that room, too. He touched Kanan after he was injured with the same sword,” Thana said. “If it is something contagious, he may have it as well. If he does, we will know it isn’t from one of the treatments we applied to Keiran. He certainly didn’t help with them before running away.”
Corina nodded. “I will go see him to check his condition. I hope to God he doesn’t have any symptoms, though he almost deserves them.”
* * *
The pounding came at the door for the third time. Whoever it was seemed absolutely determined to get inside. Annoyed, Jerris looked back over his shoulder and saw Corina’s face appear in one of the windows beside the door.
“Damn it,” he mumbled, getting up from where he sat and going to answer.
She stood with her hands laced before her stomach, not flinching when the door was abruptly jerked open. “We need to talk—it is very urgent.”
He frowned and averted his gaze. “Why? What is it?”
“Take off your shirt.”
The redhead raised his brows and looked at Corina again. “Excuse me?”
She pushed her way into the house past him and turned around. “I need to see if you have symptoms! Do it!”
He closed the door behind him and took a step forward. “What in the world are you talking about? What symptoms?”
“Jerris, this is very serious. Whatever that sword did… Please, take off your shirt and let me examine you,” Corina said, lowering her tone. She glanced around the single room of the house. “Where is Magretha?”
He waved toward the door. “The neighbors needed to go to the cathedral to attend to a cremation, and she volunteered to stay with their smaller children for the day since she was feeling better.”
“Good, good, we needn’t frighten her with this if it proves to be nothing. Now, off with it.” Corina went closer to him, ready to rip it from his torso if needed. “You used to run the castle naked as a child all the time, there’s no need for modesty around me now.”
Embarrassed, Jerris surrendered and pulled off his shirt, tossing it over the back of a chair. “There. Now, what do you think you’ll find?”
Corina brought her hands to her face and gasped. Everywhere Kanan’s blood had soaked through and contacted Jerris was now red and inflamed. It went from his hands, up his arms, and there were wide swaths of it across his chest and stomach. “Oh, Jerris…”
He looked down at himself and frowned. “What? I’m burnt from the day I buried my father, Corina. I foolishly took off my shirt to do so. There is nothing wrong with me.”
She moved closer and shook her head. “Sunburn doesn’t look like that, Jerris! Look at me!”
Jerris stared down as she thrust her hands out between them, seeing similar lesions going all the way to her elbows, though hers were in a more advanced state. “What is this, Corina? Are you saying we’ve contracted something because of that damned sword?”
“I…I’m afraid so,” she admitted, letting her hands fall away. “Jerris, I have it, you have it, and so does Thana. While Keiran is slowly recovering from whatever this is, I don’t know what it will do to us or if we might spread it even further!”
He looked at his arms, seeing the small blisters forming within the red patches. “Spread it further? Have I put Mag in danger by being near her?”
“I honestly have no answer for that,” Corina admitted. “So far, it seems to have only affected us three, but without knowing exactly what it is…”
Jerris’ heart raced, a nervous sweat crawling across his skin. “Corina, if Mag falls ill to this, I… I can’t cope with seeing someone else hurt right now!”
“Perhaps you should come back to the castle with me and let her remain here until we know what we are dealing with,” Corina said.
His frown returned and he shook his head. “I’m not returning to the castle, Corina. I’ll isolate myself from Mag, but I’ll be damned if I’m going back there.”
She hadn’t expected him to agree. “Keir would do well to have you back, Jerris, illness aside. You’ve broken his heart.”
He scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Has he improved at all?”
“Then he doesn’t need me.” Jerris retrieved his shirt and pulled it back on. “I have things to do, Corina. Thank you for coming down and bringing this to my attention, but I’ll deal with it on my own.”
The old woman shook her head and moved past him toward the door. “Just be careful. Should the symptoms worsen or spread further, you know where to find me. I have to get back.”
He watched her depart, surprised she’d not pushed harder for him to go with her.
Not that he would have.
Jerris stared down at his hands. “What in the hell am I going to do?”
* * *
“The sea is so gray and ugly here,” Garhan lamented, standing with Mari on the docks in Stanth. “Do they never get tired of seeing this color everywhere?”
“Gary, you will see the coast of Aleria soon enough,” she replied, pulling out the note Keiran had sent along with her. “We just need to find our ship.”
He reached over and plucked the letter from her hand and unfolded it. “I suppose we better find this Captain Dassion Agrine so we can get on our way. If he’s even here, of course.”
“Well, if he isn’t here, I’m sure there will be another willing to take us for the amount of gold Keir gave us.” Mari offered him a smile before reaching out and snagging the letter back and tucking it away. “Are you ever going to enjoy him.”
“Fun one, is he?” Garhan asked.
She snorted and rolled her eyes, recalling her meeting with him back in the Sador Empire the year before. “So very.”
Garhan wondered what that meant and turned around to look at the buildings lining the harbor. Their wooden facades were all weathered to a silver hue, though many had been painted at some point in years past. “Tordania isn’t much on aesthetics, is it?”
“It isn’t Aleria, Gary,” she replied, eyeing the town. “I think these people here are more worried about basic survival than the arts. You’ve been in a terrible mood, you know. I will throw you off of the ship, should we find it, if you don’t come around.”
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