Blood-Bound [ Lore of Penrua: Book I ]

72

Mhera smoothed the blanket over Kaori's chest. On the other side of the prince's room, Emperor Korvan paced. Mhera had never seen him like this; he was driven to distraction with his worry over his son.

Physicker Naelis fluttered about, the long sleeves of her green robe billowing. She had already changed Kaori's dressings and examined the wounds. Now she was, predictably, mixing a tea.

Korvan paused to look at the physician. "Physicker, will he live?"

"I think so, Your Grace, although there are few promises in cases such as these," said the woman. She cast a worried look toward the bed where Kaori lay.

"I will live, Father," said Kaori. His eyes opened a fraction.

Letting out her breath in a sigh and sending up a prayer of thanks, Mhera reached for his hand. "Kaori."

Korvan crossed the room in a few quick strides. He leaned over Kaori, brushing the prince's golden hair back from his fevered brow. There was such an expression of tender joy on his features that Mhera had to look away. It felt intrusive to witness the emperor's relief. "Kaori, my son."

Kaori looked up at his father. The smile that crossed his face was tired and bewildered. "Father ...?"

"Shh, my son. Take your rest. You are safe now. Naelis, you will stay with him until he can move about on his own. I do not want him to be alone. He must have every comfort."

"Of course, Your Grace," said the physician. She turned with a cup of tea in her hands and approached the bed. Helping Kaori to sit up, she placed the cup in his hand and watched him while he struggled to take a few sips. "Good, Your Highness. Here; I shall set it on the side table. Try to drink what you can."

Kaori leaned back with a wheeze of discomfort, resting his head on the pillow. He drew a breath and let it out slowly, shifting underneath the heavy blanket. Then he said, quite unexpectedly, "Father ... how did Mother die?"

The emperor had stepped back to allow Naelis to tend to the prince, but had remained close at hand, watchful. Now, surprise crossed his features, touching them for a moment and fading away as he searched Kaori's face.

Then, the emperor looked at Mhera across the wounded prince's bed. There was something gathering in his eyes, something terrible. Without knowing why, Mhera felt fear tickle her heart.

"Father?" Kaori repeated.

Naelis had paused in her work. She looked from Korvan to Kaori and back again. A sudden tension had shattered the affectionate reunion between the emperor and his son. Cautiously, as if afraid to speak when she had not been called upon, Naelis said, "It was very sudden, Your Highness ... but Her Grace had been ill for quite some time. Her passing was not entirely unexpected, may Zanara grant rest to her blessed soul."

Korvan ignored Naelis. He did not look away from Mhera. "Why do you ask me this, Kaori?"

Kaori seemed to judge what to say very carefully. It took him a moment. Then he said, "I know Koreti was not your son."

There was a tense silence. Then, the emperor spoke lowly. Softly. "You told him," he said. He fixed Mhera with a penetrating gaze so intense that she quailed.

She shook her head, confused that he had so readily targeted her. "What? Uncle ... I didn't. I didn't know."

"You Saw it, didn't you?" Korvan backed up several steps from the bed. "I knew you would. You should never have left that island."

Mhera struggled to keep up. He thought she had Seen Koreti's parentage. He had feared that she would. A realization dawned, painful in its clarity. "You sent me there because you were afraid. You were afraid of my gift."