The Kept

The Alliance

When Nerys returned to her room, Xai was laying on her bed while the young physician stitched what appeared to be evidence of someone's sloppy attempt at disemboweling the former guard. There was a bright, fresh bruise on the physician's cheek and his face was beaded with sweat from either extreme fear or concentration, but his hands were steady.

Nerys had firmly rejected Esteri and Nyx's insistence on checking her room before she entered out of the worry that they might find more excuses not to leave once she let them in. She had just wanted a few hours alone. Now she felt more than a little stupid.

"Hope you don't mind," Xai said. "I borrowed your bed."

"What happened?" Nerys asked.

"Vayk's gone, but he left me a little parting gift," Xai said with a grunt. The physician flinched as Xai grabbed his hand. "I'm not a practice cadaver!"

"You will be, if you don't stop moving so much," the physician said, not breaking his concentration. "You're lucky. They only grazed the important bits, but you could still bleed out."

"Luck had nothing to do with it,"Xai bared her teeth at the physician but his focus was entirely on his work. She sighed and let her head fall back onto the bed.

"Seems my survival is going to be as much a surprise for Vayk as your husband's. And twice as unpleasant. Is the other ship ready? He has four days to make his rendezvous point. If I leave right away I could catch up to him in three. I am going to shove that frilly little bow right–"

Xai groaned as the physician poured several drops of a black-red liquid from small bottle into her wound. Her face contorted as the liquid steamed and sank between the sutures. A magenta plume rose from her flesh and hovered in the air above her long after the substance was absorbed.

"Right up his frilly little–" Xai tried to continue, then rolled to her side clutched hands over her stomach. "Gods! What did you do?"

"The Balm of Aloysius is typically diluted due to the extreme pain it causes during treatment, but in some cases it is necessary to subject the patient to it at full potency," the physician said as though explaining it to other students. "Your injury fit the criteria for it, and you will heal even faster than if we applied the solution as usual. If you survive, you'll return to almost full functionality within the week."

Nerys sat on the other side of the bed and the physician frowned as she beckoned him to her. He still clutched the powerful little vial.

"How long would it take for a less severe injury?"

"A few hours to a day, but the solution for non-critical injuries may contain no more than one drop for every three liters. I can't, in good conscience, use it undiluted on your injury, my queen. The pain could stop your heart–"

Nerys plucked the vial from his hand. She removed her tunic and began peeling the bandage from her back.

"Who is Vayk going to rendezvous with?" Nerys asked Xai.

"The prince... Ardin," Xai said between gritted teeth.

Nerys leaned over Xai, whose eyes were squeezed closed.

"Take me to him," Nerys said.

Xai eyes labored to open until they were the smallest of slits, and her grimace deepened as she saw Nerys unstop the little bottle.

"We might share the same enemies," Xai said. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to protect you from them."

"I'm not asking you to," Nerys said. "One way or another, I am putting an end to my brother's feud. Just get me to him."