A Kiss of Fire (A Kiss of Magic #2)(74)

She didn’t want to watch. She didn’t want to see him suffer any more pain.

“I have seen much worse,” she told him. She wasn’t going to leave Sin’s side for a second. She had been a political ruler for too long not to be savvy to the implications and dangers that came with Sin being incapacitated. He would need a protector and a voice and she would be that voice until he told her to do otherwise.

The physician removed the bullet with a growl of agony coming from his patient as he was cut open without so much as a sip of liquor to dull the pain. She wondered if they had laudanum in Kith. She figured not, otherwise the physician would have used it, wouldn’t he? The use of the opiate as an anesthetic was a relatively new practice amongst Sarens, so perhaps it had not traveled to the Kiltian medical community.

The doctor stitched closed the wound left by his knife and Ariana could see the livid bruising that was beginning to spread up and down Sin’s breastbone. Every move he made, every breath he took to expand his ribcage must be excruciating. Her chest ached in sympathy.

Once the doctor was done she demanded that the room be cleared of all but herself, Mariah and one of the temple servants. This servant she used to fetch her things like water and clean bandages. It wasn’t long before Raj Vich swept into the room.

“What is this I hear of my brother being ill?” he demanded. His carriage was held with self-importance and she could see the avarice in his eyes. If something happened to Sin, this man would be prince of all his peoples. It must be a heady feeling indeed to face being so close to such a possibility.

“Injured,” Ariana corrected. “He has been shot.”

“Shot! What is being done for him? Can he assume his mantle of power?”

She supposed she should be grateful Vich asked after his well-being first before his follow-up question.

“He will be bedridden for quite some time. You will need to rule in his stead for the duration of his convalescence.”

“This I will do for my brother,” he said grandly. But it was clear to Ariana who would be served most by this assumption of power.

“I will stay by his bedside and care for him myself,” Ariana said. “If this is all right with you.”

Vich nodded and waved the matter off. “You may do so. Only ask for anything and it will be given to you.”

“Make certain that is clearly known,” she said, thinking of Mordol’s insolence.

“It shall be known. All will be done to aid my brother or there will be an answer to me.”

Vich then swept out of the room and grandly as he had entered it, not bothering to try and speak to his brother or to spend time at his side.

When Fatima arrived it was a different matter entirely. Fatima was shaken to see her son brought so low. Her hands shook as she sat beside his bed and took his hand in hers. Ariana perched on the arm of the chair Fatima had pulled up to the bed and rubbed a soothing hand over the raji-mother’s back.

“Thank you for bringing my son back to me,” Fatima said once she had had Ariana relate the story of what had happened. “My people need him. Raj Vich would not be good for this realm. He is far too selfish. But I think you know this already.”

“I wouldn’t presume…” Ariana said hesitantly.

“No. It is all right. I know my sons well. I know their weaknesses and their strengths. Vich chafes under his brother’s shadow. He cannot be content with his lot in life. He covets that which could be his if only his brother were not alive.”

“You…don’t think he would make an attempt on Sin’s life do you?” Ariana was aghast. But even as she said it she knew it was not outside of the realm of the possible.

“Without a wife and an heir, my son is in a precarious position. He is aware of this, but he doesn’t think his brother would go so far. As Vich’s mother, I would like to think my second son is not so mercenary that he would harm his elder brother for the sake of assuming his mantle. However, I know Vich well. He lives to undermine his brother. To make himself appear the better ruler. Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes he does not. I think Sin tolerates him for my sake…and for the fact that there are no other heirs to this throne other than Vich and his sons.”

“There are no cousins? I would have thought with the rulers being allowed so many wives there would be no shortage of relatives.”

“Disease was a terrible curse of our people before the end of the war. We were all packed in so tightly together that if one fell ill almost all others fell ill. It wiped out nearly all of the family one wet spring when plague came and ravaged us. The only cousins left are women. No. Sin and Vich and their sons are all that is left of the royal line. Why do you think I have pressed my son all these years to find a wife?”

“I don’t understand why he has not done so before now,” Ariana said, her brow furrowed with concern for Sin’s bloodlines.

“My son is, I think, a romantic at heart. He wanted what his father and I had. One good, true love. I think he has found it at last.”

Ariana flushed and looked away. “Do not get your hopes up, Fatima. I will not be staying.”

“Do you not love my son?” Fatima asked, surprised.

“I…I do not. We are lovers, but no more. I do not have the depth of feeling you or your son are seeking.”

Fatima regarded her silently a moment. “I see,” she said softly.