“I nearly got Dolion, and then his demons nearly got me,” I replied.
I finished putting in the herbs as Hannon pulled a chair from the corner and set it behind me.
“Here, you don’t need to stand for that,” he said as he pushed my elbow out of the way and had a look. “What do you need me to do if you lose consciousness?”
He peeled off his shirt, dirty and sweaty but not bloody, before turning it inside out and readying to pull it around me.
“Here.” Nyfain grabbed the bandages that Hannon had obviously overlooked in the state of chaos and handed them over. “She said she wanted water first—I’m not used to having healing…draughts at my disposal. I didn’t know which was best to do first.”
“Not a problem. This is perfect,” Hannon replied, taking the bandages so Nyfain could go back to the fire. “Thank you.”
“I won’t pass out, I’m good. Don’t scare Nyfain.” I took a seat. “Sorry about my bare butt on the wood.”
“Of all the things you worry about,” Nyfain mumbled, straightening from the fire. “How bad is she?”
“She’ll pull through,” Hannon said, and while that was almost certainly going to be the case, I was glad he didn’t elaborate.
“How’d it go with you?” I asked, my vision swimming again, my body cold. I had lost a lot of blood, but at least the pain had dulled. The everlass was starting to work.
I went back to grinding the herbs. Or had I even started?
“Here, let me—”
“No, no.” Hannon put out his hand to stop Nyfain. “She needs something to do. Let her work those plants. It’ll keep her conscious longer.”
Fear and anxiety seeped through the bond even though Nyfain’s face was now flat and emotionless. With Hannon in the room, he didn’t want to show his emotions.
I rolled my eyes and then swayed. I grabbed myself before I could go too far, feeling Nyfain’s hand on me, holding me steady.
“I love you,” I said, because I was about to tell him off, “but you need to go check on the battle. Even if Dolion took off, you need to make sure everyone is okay. You have a broader responsibility than just me. You’re the prince and future king. You need to put them before me.”
He flicked my hair out of the way and put his soft, comforting touch against my upper back.
I fluttered my eyes closed but continued to grind, knowing the movement really would help keep me awake. Sleep, in these situations, was the enemy. If you slept, you had a chance of never waking up.
“There are two incredibly powerful and competent alphas on that battlefield,” he said. “I left Weston in charge of the ground, and Micah will handle anyone in the air. As I said, the battle was disbanding, thanks to you diving headfirst into Dolion and managing to somehow bite him, so the rest will just be cleanup. I am sure they can handle it without me. If anything, they’ll want to know you’re taken care of. They all saw what happened. They will have recognized that my princess has more courage than any battle-hardened warrior.”
“I mean…not to brag, but I kind of am a battled-hardened warrior. You don’t hunt wild boar and stay naïve.”
“She’s not lying,” Hannon said, wrapping me up. “She got a couple bad scrapes like this from them, actually.”
“I got those kills, though.”
“Victory at a cost,” he replied, something he’d often said when patching me up in the past.
I repeated the words I always answered with: “The cost is worth it for our loved ones.”
“Yes, it is,” he replied.
Nyfain stepped over to the water, looking down into the pot, probably willing it to go faster. His muscles flared, and his whole body looked tense with worry.
“Shouldn’t she be lying down?” he asked Hannon.
Hannon glanced at me, moving quickly but not hurrying. He stepped around Nyfain, taking something from the shelves and carrying it over to the table. He was making a poultice, no doubt.
“No, I don’t think so. She typically does better when she’s sitting through it. If she lies down, she’ll surely pass out, and then I won’t be able to get the elixir into her fast enough. She knows how to get through a near-fatal wound.”
I probably should’ve told him not to elaborate.
“It’s fine,” I said. Searing agony rolled through me. “It’ll be fine.”
“I can feel that you are lying,” Nyfain replied.
“She’s not lying to you, she’s lying to herself,” Hannon said, very unhelpfully. “I suggest you let her. It seems to help.”
“Very chatty all of a sudden, aren’t you, Hannon?” I said. “Very chatty.”
Nyfain’s worry increased. His power pumped through me, helping.
His dragon is freaking the fuck out, my dragon thought. We must look bad.
If only he’d seen me after a torture session. He has no idea what we can handle. Don’t worry about it.