Two Thousand Years | The Empire Saga #1

Chapter Twelve

"Will you stop it? You're going to give her a heart attack."

Her heart caught in her throat when she heard Treyan's familiar voice. She rushed over to the side of bed, pushing her way between the two women, knocking one back, but she didn't care.

Treyan lay in rough-sewn leather armor, his hair out of its ponytail, and with his face dirty and smudged as though he rolled in the mud. At first glance, nothing seemed wrong with the rest of his body, but then Alex looked at his right leg. The pants were charred away and from his thigh down to his calf, the skin oozed with blood and pus. In a few places she could see down to the muscle, or worse. Trying to maintain her composure, the last thing she wanted to do was throw up in front of these people who looked at her like she was someone important.

"Welcome, Empress," the healer said as she arrived through the open infirmary door.

Alex tried to swallow down the bile, as she turned toward the elder healer as she approached the bed. "Will he be alright?"

"There's only one way to find out," the first woman said, but her attention was on the other two women on either side of Alex. Soon she was barking out orders, telling one to fetch warm water and soap, and the other to grab clean cloths and dry bandages as she rolled up her sleeves and stood beside the prince on the opposite side of the bed.

Alex felt helpless as she watched. She didn't want to know what happened—she just wanted to make it better. But her eyes didn't leave Treyan's as the healers began their work.

"What were you thinking, going out there by yourself?" she asked, her voice hoarse.

"I wasn't by myself," he insisted, wincing as he tried to sit up, and the elder healer pushed him back down so that the others could begin to untie the armor at his shoulders. "But I do have an empire to defend."

"And what about me?"

She must have looked stricken, for his gaze softened.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

She allowed herself to believe him—that he meant it. "Don't do it again," she scolded quietly, and had to move another step back while the healers worked at removing the remaining armor, and eventually his shirt, leaving him bare from the waist up, and she looked away before the blush on her cheeks became too obvious.

"Yes, Empress," he said, amusement in his tone, even if he did hiss when a healer moved too close to his injured leg.

She returned her attention to him at that, and her eyes once again fell toward the wound.

"You don't need to stay for this, Empress," the elder healer reminded her.

"I know," she said softly, but didn't move to leave. Not as the healers began untying the thick laces of his heavy leather pants, cutting away at the material around the wound for easier removal.

This time, she didn't allow herself to turn away. The leather of the pants that remained around the wound looked as though it had melted into the skin itself, and something in Alex's gut told her its removal was going to become painful very quickly.

Treyan was silent the whole time, watching the healers work around him as much as he monitored Alex's every move. She couldn't tell if it was out of amusement or respect that she actually stayed. Finally, the elder healer approached him with a piece of smooth wood in her hand and held it up to him as her glanced at her. "This is going to hurt, my prince."

He smirked. "I've had worse."

The healer rolled her eyes, and again offered the piece of wood to Treyan. "Let's see if you've kept that sense of humor in the next hour or so."