The Lycan King's Muse

Ep 27: Preparation

I think I slept almost one day and a half. Instinctively, I put my hand on the other side of the bed right after I woke up. It's cold, and the bedsheet is neat.

So, Lyall never came back.

A sinking feeling envelops me as my mind conjures images of Lyall with a mysterious woman. Picturing Lyall's hand on the woman's neck and their hips conjoined in a passionate flair...

I erase those pictures from my mind, then pinch the bridge of my nose. But as luck would have it, my mind ends up going to the boy. He came to me out of the blue and cried in my arms.

The timing could not be even weirder because... if Lyall was visiting the woman, which I believe to be the boy's mother, why did the boy come to me and cry? I didn't ask what made him cry because at that time it seemed irrelevant. My motherly instinct kicked in and I held him for as long as he needed me to.

After that, we played chess like nothing ever happened.

Oh, I've named him Sky, and he seems to respond well to it. At least, better than the previous names I tried on him.

I guess I dozed off while we were playing chess. Using a lot of magic and arguing with Lyall made me so tired. Although I don't know how that small of a boy would be able to carry me to the bed, he did. He probably used his magic.

My head spins around the room, but as expected, the boy –I mean, Sky, is nowhere to be seen. I hope he is no longer sad.

Right then, someone knocks on the door lightly. "Miss Mars?" It's Nari calling me from beyond the door, "Are you awake?"

"Uh... yes. What is it, Nari?"

"Your Majesty sent us here to help you prepare for the academy?"

The academy! Right, Lyall has agreed to let me go to the healer academy.

Wait...

I look in the window's direction. A small gap between the curtains let me know that it's still dark outside. The sun has not risen. Does the academy start this early? In my old pack, I start my shift at 8 AM. And we usually wait a long time for a patient to come in.

Then again, it was a small clinic in one ordinary werewolf pack. Since werewolves can heal themselves most of the time, we only get one or two patients every day. Perhaps things are different in the royal infirmary. I imagine that all the hard cases, especially those that their lycan sides can't heal by themselves, are referred to here. So, maybe that's why it's starting so early?

I jump out of bed in haste. My feet are not ready for the impact, and I stumble to the floor with a loud thud.

"Are you okay, Miss Mars?" someone else asks behind the door. Nari is not alone, it seems. The other voice is a deep and heavy man's voice. My guess is that he is the guard assigned to me by Lyall.

"I'm okay!" I cry out. I don't want to give the first impression to my guard that I am so vulnerable and clumsy.

In haste, I rise, brush my hair with my fingers a bit, and open the door with a smile. Dear Goddess, I hope I don't look like a zombie today.

"Oh, Goddess! You're bleeding!" Nari cries out as her eyes see the dry blood on my sleeve and arm. She grabs my arm as if trying to find the source of the wound.

The man, who is wearing a leather jacket and dark army pants, immediately walks into the room and looks around.

"Oh no no no, don't worry," I hurry to say, "This is from yesterday. I didn't have time to clean myself properly. It was exhausting for me and I immediately fell asleep."