The infirmary was tucked into a corner of the ground floor service quadrant at the far end of the Amethyst wing. It was a quiet area well suited for study and recuperating patients, although the latter were a somewhat rare occurrence within the palace. Usually the menders traveled to their patients, but not this time.
Alori hesitated outside the entrance, her hands clasped behind her back. The palace employed five mendmages, each of them a master of their craft. Alori knew them well enough, all except the youngest who had only been out of training a few months.
According to her father, one of the mendmasters had asked for her. It was anyone's guess what she would walk into.
One foot in front of the other.
With a final shuddering breath, she pushed the door open and stepped inside. The walls were a neutral gray, the dull tone brightened by an abundance of natural light spilling in from two large windows overlooking the city limits. The reception area was quiet and orderly, much more organized than Alori's workspace in the observatory. There were no medical books lying open on the tables, or concoctions left out on top of the apothecary cabinet, forgotten in haste. There wasn't even a chair out of alignment.
A long hallway extended off the front room, narrow and closed off from the entrance. Sunlight leaked out around the seams of a closed door at the end of the corridor, but the rest of the doors leading to it all stood open.
The pitter patter of soft-soled shoes preceded Mendmaster Doari emerging from her office at the near end of the hall. She looked up, her eyes appearing overly large through her magnified spectacles.
"Your Highness, I didn't know you were here. I apologize for keeping you waiting."
"Oh no, I just arrived." Alori's hands were quickly becoming hot and sticky inside her gloves. "My father said that Yuka woke up."
Doari blinked away her surprise, darting glances down the corridor. "Well, yes, he has. However, we're still sorting things out. That's why we sent for you. You see–"
The door at the end of the hall opened with a loud crack. Yuka stood behind it, sagging into the doorframe, his hair sticking up in jagged blue spikes. The dark bags under his eyes and yellow pallor of his skin hinted that his condition wasn't great. But he was alive, and conscious.
Their eyes met. "Princess Alori."
There was a sort of desperation about him, worlds different from his usual lackadaisical air.
"It's good to see you've made it out of the woods, Mr. Ellis."
Alori resented her choice of words immediately. Out of the woods? Could she have created a worse allusion to their tryst?
"You're not well enough to be on your feet, young man." Doari gestured for him to close the door, sighing in frustration. "I'll send the princess in once we've had a chance to speak."
"No!" He nearly fell in his determination to argue with the healer, but gentled his tone to continue. "I mean, if Her Highness agrees, I'd like to request a word in private."
Doari pursed her lips. They both turned to Alori, awaiting her answer.
"I..." Alori's jaw quivered. Looking either of them in the eye seemed like an admission of guilt.
What was Yuka's angle, now? Surely, he wouldn't be scheming against her after he had been happy to see her with Taelan. Reeve trusted Yuka with his life, so why shouldn't she trust him with a simple conversation?
She nodded. "I'll grant the bard's request."
Doari frowned, taking a step back to create a more open path down the hallway. "If you insist. But keep in mind, he's still coming out of a delirium. He was half-conscious most of the night, tossing and turning and speaking in riddles."
YOU ARE READING
The Princess and the Bard (Royals of the Realms #1)
Romance*Beta version -- still editing* Crown Princess Alori must choose her consort before her coronation. As the Ville-Realms' most powerful mage, she alone possesses the ability to protect her people from the looming threat of demonkind... with the help...
