To Bewitch a Devil

218 I’ve found a cure

He headed up to the chambers to meet her. When he reached his door and opened it, he met her in the same place he had seen her near the window. Zavian walked up to her, wrapped his hands around her waist, and planted a kiss on the crown of her head.

“How are you today, Neera?” Zavian asked.

“If it is about my cough, that doctor you boast about is a quack,” Neera answered.

Zavian turned her around to face him. She looked at him as if bored while he was worried.

“I would have all the doctors in here to check…”

“There is no need. I have found the cure,” Neera said. “So I don’t want all of that. As a matter of fact, I would like it if you joined me for a cup of tea. The maids told me they plucked fresh mint leaves to brew this one.”

Zavian smiled at that. It was the first time since she was resurrected from the dead did she willingly ask for his company. The progress was happening even faster than he expected.

“I would be honored, my Queen,” he said with a kiss on her head, a gesture he hoped would earn him a smile.

And the semblance of a smile did find a way to her lips, but she looked uneasy. Neera walked past him, heading for the kettle with two cups set at the small table. She took the first cup, poured it, and slipped a drop of the drug into the second cup, keeping her back to Zavian all the time.

.....

“Thank you,” Zavian said behind her. She froze as she watched as he reached to take the undrugged one she had poured for herself.

No!

She didn’t stop pouring the other cup, all the time trying to come up with ways to exchange both cups. If only he had just waited like she expected him to.

She raised the cup in a toast. “To good health, and many more lives.”

Zavian mimicked the gesture. “Together.”

He took a sip and noted it had gone lukewarm, but didn’t mind it. Her company and the good tea were the highlights of his days since the wedding.

Neera took a seat on the bed, and with Zavian watching her the way he did, she had to drink it without coming off as suspicious. So she took sips at intervals, her action timed like a clock going off every two seconds. Zavian sat next to her, balancing the cup on its saucer, and watched her drink.

“What?” Neera asked, without looking at him.

“You never know the joy of the small things until it is gone,” Zavian said. “I have missed something as simple as this, Neera, us having a meal together.”

“It is just tea.”

“Still better than anything I can eat today.”

Her eyes flickered to him and returned back to drinking the tea.

“I could get Freya to handle your duties if you aren’t up for it,” Zavian suggested. “I understand being Queen can be overwhelming, but you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Neera.”

“Good, I wasn’t looking forward to it.”

“Neera,” Zavian called her. She looked at him then.

“Would you want to go out with me today? Just the two of us?”

“If you are looking for company, take a guard with you.”

“I am not, I want you by my side.”

“There is where I am at the moment, in the literal sense.” She stood, and set her teacup by the table. the drowsiness was almost instantaneous.

“I am sorry if I sounded harsh, I am still trying to adjust to my reality as a demon and as a Queen. Can you spend the rest of the day in silence with me instead?”

Zavian, taken aback by another one of her requests, gave a nod. “Sure, I want nothing more.”

“Better.”

Zavian could see the tiredness descend on her. She looked worn, and she had been right. It was too much for her as he had thought.

Neera’s head grew heavy with sleep. “Zavian, I want to take a minute off my feet.”

“I could also use some nap as well,” Zavian said as he joined her on the bed.

She was relaxed, and Zavian caught the hint of the human version of her as her eyes closed to sleep. Whatever made her bring up this change, he was ready for it.

….

Freya stormed into Azriel’s estate, her horse galloping with life after being cooped up in all too familiar surroundings for too long. She didn’t even stop when the guards gave her the signal to, almost running them over as she passed them.

She stopped right at the front door of Azriel’s main house, and in one swift feline motion, jumped off the horse. A young man of what appeared to be a stable boy rushed to her but froze as he stared at her, eyes fixated on her face.

“Where is your Master?” Freya asked him.

The man mumbled in a daze as if cast by a spell. On her good days, Freya would bask in the attention, but she had nothing but bad days for a long time.

She didn’t wait for him to answer her, and made her way in, taking turns through the familiar passageways she hadn’t visited in a long time. Maids and guards greeted her, their eyes widening in awe, and she trudged on till she reached Azriel’s chamber doors.

She didn’t even bother to knock before she stepped inside.

Inside, Azriel had his bare back turned to her, his hand reaching to a long, deep cut behind his back. He frowned at the intrusion and was surprised at his visitor.

“How did you get in here?” He asked her.

“I am the King’s sister,” she replied. “And I might have lied to and threatened your guards,” she jerked her chin to his cut. “What happened there?”

“Long story,” he answered.

“Make it short.”

“Some practice went wrong.”

“Are your battle skills already weakening?”

Azriel shot her a look. “No, I was overseeing the practice between two new recruits. I just got in the way.”

“Well then, you would have me to spar with when this is treated,” Freya said. She sat next to him and pressed her palm to the wound.

Azriel closed his eyes to the pain. “Why are you doing that?”

“Just trying to see something.”

“Or you just enjoyed causing me more pain?”

“That too,” Freya smiled for the first time in days. She took the piece of clothing from Azriel and wiped at the wound before she could begin treating it.