A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(60)

Rose: I was finally using an adult’s sword, but still nothing like the one Dagan wielded.

Thorn—

The sound of grunts and boots scuffing against the apothecary floor had my eyes up from the bandages and landing on a couple of armor-clad soldiers supporting a sweating, shivering man, paler than any person should be.

“Here,” I motioned to the infirmary. “You can place him on the daybed.”

“Thank you.” The voice came from behind the men, like midnight. Quiet, soft, and pitch-black.

Bleeding Stones.

Kane stepped into the apothecary behind them. In a simple unbuttoned white shirt, his few silver rings, and black pants, seductiveness dripped from him like rain down a window. Even after everything, I was so affected by his presence.

“What do you want? I have a patient to tend to.” I hoped my breathy voice might be accredited to shock.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

I swore steam was curling out of my ears. “Could you be any more self-obsessed? This man is dying.”

“Yes, and I’m here to help,” he said. “Lance is one of my best soldiers.”

Such an obnoxious liar. “Pretty despicable to use your own soldier’s illness as justification to come bother me.” I said as I followed the men into the infirmary.

The two soldiers looked anywhere but at us. Kane bristled, turning to them. “Leave us. Now.”

They scurried out without hesitation, one even bumping into my herbs in his rush and knocking sage and poppy seeds all over the floor.

A wet, hacking, cough drew my attention away from the spilled jars.

Poor Lance was not doing well.

He was shivering despite the blanket I had pulled atop him and sweating profusely. I would have thought it the flu or a fever, had I not noticed the two puncture wounds near his wrist, rusty with dried blood.

“What happened?”

“He was bitten. I believe the creature’s venom is what’s slowly killing him. Well, not that slowly, it seems.”

“Always so compassionate.” I scowled at him. “What bit him?”

Lance moaned incoherently, and Kane didn’t take his eyes off the shuddering man. “Can’t say for sure. Do you need to know in order to heal him?”

“It would help.” I moved into the apothecary to look through the shelves of anti-venom. “Funnel-web spider, stone goblin, horned ember snake…any of those?”

Kane followed me out, away from Lance’s bedside. “It’s not anything your ointments will work on. He needs you,” he demanded, with uncharacteristic sincerity. “Your abilities.”

“Fine.” I scooted past him and back into the infirmary, before placing my palms on Lance’s clammy face. He had started convulsing and twitching. Cranking the window open, I let the lilac-scented evening air waft into the room. I needed to work fast.

Ever since Dagan had shown me how to harness the atmosphere around me, I had been using it in small doses for particularly dire patients or overcrowded days. A soft wind breezed in like steam from a bubbling pot, and I redirected it into my palms, which in turn seeped power into Lance’s head. It funneled through him, a potent tonic to his pain. He gasped as the air itself poured through him, purging the venom from his bones, lungs, and skin. Lance shuddered out a heaving exhale and weak color began to return to his wet cheeks.

I exhaled, breath funneling out of me like a burst ball. It was getting easier and easier to use the elements around me, and I was never left craving quite the nap as before. I tucked the knit blanket around Lance’s body, as he drifted off.

“He should be all right now, but I’ll stay here with him for a few hours to make sure.”

“Nicely done, bird,” Kane murmured.

“I didn’t ask for your approval.”

He chuckled as I placed a cold compress on Lance’s head, and poured a glass of water for when he awoke.

“I’ve been working on it,” I admitted, as he left the infirmary to pace around the apothecary. “If you must know.” I followed him out, twisting my fingers in my skirts, then restraining my restless hands behind my back.

He needed to leave.

“Well, I’m impressed,” Kane said, eyes glinting. “And proud to have such a skilled healer in my own keep.” He continued his slow perusal of the space, which was now awash in buttery candlelight spilling in from the hallway. It gleamed off his rings and in his slate eyes. He was always glowing.

“Don’t you have something better to do?” I asked.

He lifted a brow. “You’re going to be here all night watching poor Lance sleep. I’m just offering some company.”

I scoffed. “I’m all right, thanks though.”

He turned toward me, eyes searing into mine. “Perhaps I just like to watch you squirm in my presence.”

My brows knit together. I had no more bite left in me. “Why are you like this?” I asked, exasperation seeping into my voice.

Kane threw me a sideways grin. “You don’t even want to scratch the surface of that question, bird.”

He was probably right about that.

“Have you found my family?” I asked.

“Not yet,” he said, strolling through the apothecary, opening and closing jars and drawers. “But I will.”