The Crow King's Wife (The Elder Blood Chronicles #5)(109)

“The only thing you will be finding is your pillow.” Zoelyn grumbled as she rose from her chair and moved to stand in front of him. He glared down at her in defiance but one solid push from her hand send him crumbling back onto the bed. A flicker of agony crossed his face as the wound in his side tore open further and she felt a moment’s regret for her roughness. “I’m trying to save your life, Grim. Shade can take care of himself well enough. The sooner you let me finish, the sooner you can go find him.”

“If he suffers from my delay I will not forgive you for this.” Grim promised in the same hoarse voice, but didn’t try to rise again. His jaw clenched as he closed his eyes and turned his face toward the wall.

Zoelyn stared down at him in bewilderment for several breaths before she realized he was finally going to submit to her healing. Silently she returned to her chair and leaned over the wound once more. It was almost impossible to keep from glancing at his face. She had never seen Grim act so strangely, but decided it had to be from the fever. Dominic had said that the fever mad rarely made sense in their ramblings. Her tweezers found the quill once more and she carefully pulled it from the wound doing her best to wipe away the puss and blood it left in its wake. With patience she didn’t feel in the slightest she pressed at the open wound and searched for more of the quills. She had only managed to find four so far and most Serpent tooth arrows held ten.

“Shade really did kill his Momma to save my Daddy.” Syrah’s soft voice broke the silence and Zoelyn glanced up at the child in amazement. “I could see the look on your face when Daddy said that, and I guessed that you thought he was fever mad. He isn’t though. Shade really did do it. I saw it, and I saw him cry when he gathered her body, even though he tried to hide that.”

“What was his mother doing there?” Zoelyn whispered in confusion as she looked from Syrah to Dray who simply shrugged in response.

“She was helping the Rivasans. She told Shade that his Father sent his regards. I think that was supposed to make him give up, but it didn’t. She turned into a dragon and attacked Daddy, and Shade killed her for it.” Syrah answered softly. He large grey eyes settled on her father once more and for a few breaths she actually looked her age as her lower lip trembled.

“He will be ok Syrah. Once I find all of the quills he will start healing on his own again.” Zoelyn promised and silently prayed she wasn’t lying to the girl. It all really depended on what manner of poisons had been on the arrows. There were certain poisons that were powerful enough to permanently damage an Elder Blood, but they were few and far between and usually too expensive for a common soldier to use.

“Even if Shade was saddled with guilt from killing his mother it doesn’t explain why he left like he did. I saw him glance back at Grim at least ten times during the flight. You would think if he was that worried he would have stuck around to make sure Grim would be ok.” Dray grumbled.

“Maybe he went to get Jala?” Zoelyn suggested hopefully. If Shade had in fact gone to get Jala, Grim was as good as saved. She had seen Jala work before and from what she had witnessed it was possible that the High Lady of Merrodin was a better healer than even Rose in Sanctuary.

“It wouldn’t take Shade nine hours to get Jala, and that doesn’t explain why he took the bulk of the slaves with him when he left. Neph is furious right now. Two of the missing slaves are Arovan girls. From what I overheard Neph already made arrangements to return the children to Lord Elijah and now two of them are missing thanks to Shade.” Dray said in a hushed voice.

Zoelyn turned to look at Dray in time to see him glancing back from the door. She smiled faintly and nodded. He wasn’t speaking quietly in hopes that Grim wouldn’t hear. Grim was a Shifter and could likely hear what was going on three rooms down the hall. Dray had been eavesdropping on Neph and didn’t want anyone outside the room to overhear the stolen knowledge. “It’s Shade. I’m sure he had a good reason for what he did, and he will explain it when he returns.” Zoelyn said with a shrug as she returned her attention to the healing.

“If he returns.” Dray added doubtfully.

“Let me up.” Grim snarled and pushed at her hands once more. His eyes were locked on her with more anger burning in their light grey depths than she would have believed possible in his condition.

With a weary sigh she flattened a hand firmly on Grim’s chest and glared at Dray. “If you can’t stay positive than shut up please. He is already behaving like a child and your words are only encouraging him.”

“A child?” Grim snarled as he feebly pushed at her hand. “It has been nine hours if he was coming back he would have been here by now. Let me up now!” She was sure the words would have been screamed at her if he had the strength, as it was Grim barely managed to speak louder than a whisper.

“Fear is a weapon to use against your enemy. To allow its blade to pierce your own heart is blasphemy.” Syrah intoned quietly from the foot of the bed. Grim’s expression shifted at once from anger to what looked close to despair as he collapsed back into the sheets once more. “Allow her to finish her work, Daddy.” Syrah commanded in a voice that mimicked her mother’s own patient tones so completely that Zoelyn felt the edge of tears burning in her eyes.

“If Nel was here you wouldn’t even think of fussing this much.” Zoelyn whispered as she pulled another quill free of his flesh.