Page 58 of Stars May Burn

I scrambled out of bed and looked for a bell to ring for my maids, but there were no ropes on the wall. How could they have not woken me? Why didn’t Kasten have a bell by his bed? I’d only taken a step before I realized how desperate I was for the toilet.

I opened the door to Kasten’s bathroom and shrieked. The general stood with his back to me, shirtless, though heavily bandaged, with a towel around his neck. How had he been so silent in here? He whirled in surprise at my entrance and somehow grabbed a dagger. Who took a weapon into their private bathroom?

The thought made a strange, strangled laugh escape my throat which only increased my embarrassment.

He took a step toward me, the dagger already gone, but I panicked and shut the door in his face. Had I really just screamed at seeing my husband in his own bathroom? What was wrong with me? I didn’t let go of the handle.

“Sophie? Are you all right?” He sounded genuinely concerned. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

I stood with my back pressed to the door, desperately trying to think of something sensible to say to cover my foolishness.

“Yes,” I managed. By the three kingdoms, my hands were shaking. Why did he have to be shirtless? What if he’d been on the toilet? I hadn’t knocked or anything. My stupid heart wouldn’t calm down. Worse, it felt like it was bouncing around my ribcage.

There was a pause through the door. “You put these bandages on me, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” My voice was far more breathless than I intended.

“I was, eh, wondering if you could help me fasten these fresh ones. I thought I could redo them myself, but I can’t reach the back without pulling on my stitches. I got the original ones a bit wet when I washed. Though, they needed changing anyway.”

I took a deep breath. He was my patient. The shirtlessness was just the same as all the other times I had changed his bandages. Only it didn’t quite feel the same now he was awake.

“Could I…could I first use the lavatory? Please.”

There was an awkward pause. “Of course. If you would let me out of the bathroom.”

I noticed the gentle pressure on the door behind me.

My cheeks heated further. “Oh.”

I stepped away and lowered my face as he slowly opened the door and walked back into his bedroom. I wondered for the umpteenth time how I had ended up in his bed.

I watched his bare feet and no higher as he cautiously skirted around me. “Thank you,” I squeaked and walked into the bathroom, closing the door as quickly as I could.

Like mine, the room had a huge bathing pool, currently empty, as well as two sinks. I wondered if the design was ‘his and hers.’ For some reason, that only heightened my discomfort.

After I’d relieved myself, I looked in the floor-length mirror by the sink. I looked a mess. My hair had mostly fallen out of its bun, some of it sticking to my neck, my makeup was smudged around my eyes, and you could tell I hadn’t slept well in a week. My rumpled dress was even stained with splashes of tonic.

And Kasten had just seen me.

What would Miss Claris have said? No, it didn’t matter. She was gone. I’d told her to go.

I washed my face and neck in the mirror and repaired my hair as well as I could with Kasten’s rather useless comb.

From the other side of the door, I heard an impatient rumble. Kasten must be sore. He was well overdue for his pain relief tonic. Not to mention, he was probably holding his bandages in place, which would cause increased discomfort.

I stopped my fussing and walked back into the room, determined not to make myself more of a fool.

Kasten was perched on the edge of the bed holding several of my tonic bottles with a puzzled expression, frowning at the labels. He opened the top of one; I hurried over before he could drink it, removing it from his hand.

I tried to keep my thoughts to efficient professionalism. “Did you change the poultice under the bandages?”

He shook his head. “I just washed it. Stitches were all in place and it didn’t smell infected, so I was just going to put the bandages back on.”

“I can make you a new one. It will help. None of your wounds were clean when you arrived. We had to wait two days before your side and stomach wounds were clear enough of infection to be stitched. The poultice will help draw out any infection that remains and keep the swelling down.”

I waited for him to nod, then bent to my bag of fresh herbs and pestle and mortar. “It can still get reinfected, even at this stage. And this has some local anesthetic properties. I can also give you a tonic to relieve the pain systemically.”

He settled back on the bed, and I could feel his eyes watching me. The tension between us was almost too much as I tried to concentrate on crushing the herbs and mixing in the honey.

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