Page 55 of The Keeper of the Kingdoms

We both whirled around and looked to where a small crowd was gathered around a stall, the one where Kiera had been looking.

I scanned the faces and didn’t see her, so I reached out through our bond as we made our way over. There was nothing.

“Excuse me,” Nyx commanded in his general’s voice, clearing a path to the center of whatever had everyone’s attention, and as the crowd parted, I gasped.

Kiera lay unmoving on the ground.

“Kiera!” I ran the rest of the way, shoving fae out of my way and dropping down beside her.

She was pale, a light sweat shimmered on her brow. Her breathing was rapid and shallow while her heart beat quickly. I took in a breath, and that’s when it hit me. The smell of Dragon’s Bane was unmistakable.

“Get back,” I yelled over my shoulder at Nyx. “Dragon's Bane!” Without warning anyone around me, I shifted. I couldn’t risk the exposure in fae form. In dragon form, it would take more than a little dose to really affect me, and I had to help Kiera. Fae ran away as I became my vast dragon, pushing over stalls and not caring that I couldn’t find a clear space to do this.

Kiera’s life depended on quick action.

I picked her up in my talons and was airborne before Nyx had fully shifted to join me. I flew the short way to the palace and landed on the healer’s wing, laying Kiera down as Nyx landed with Zaria and Luka on his back.

Nyx went right to the bell on the landing wall and knocked it with his head, staying in dragon form and not allowing Zaria and Luka to dismount. Kiera had been exposed and we couldn’t know if it would affect us all. Well, not Luka, but us dragons and, subsequently, our ryders.

Healers, including Kiera’s father, came out to the landing, and I thanked the Goddess he was here to help her.

“Dragon's Bane,” Zaria called to them from Nyx’s back.

It was all the information they needed as they gathered her up and carried her inside. I shifted, dashing to get some pants and follow them. But a healer stopped me at the door.

“Let us get her out of her contaminated clothes and started on treatment before you go in.”

“I’m not waiting out here,” I said commandingly.

“You’d rather be further exposed and give us a second patient to take our attention away from your ryder, would you?” She left no room for argument and when I didn’t want to toss her out of my way and defy her orders, I’d try to remember to thank her for being good at her job.

“When can I see her?”

“Soon. We won’t keep you out, but we need to strip her and cleanse her to rid her of the contamination and while we are doing that, you need to bathe to make sure you’re not carrying any contaminants, either. Any more could kill her.” She looked over my shoulder to the others. “That goes for all of you. Don’t let me see you back until you’re scrubbed and changed.”

I ran, not thinking about anything other than getting back to Kiera as fast as possible. A sharp whistle stopped me. I look back to find the others following.

“You can’t go back to the barracks with even a hint of Dragon’s Bane on you,” Nyx said. “Come and bathe in our suite. It’s closer anyway.” I nodded and turned to follow them.

They let me bathe first, and whilst I was scrubbing, Luka knocked and held out a pile of fresh clothes through a crack in the door.

“Thank you,” I called as he closed the door again.

I emerged with dripping hair and damp clothing stuck to my skin, but I had no interest in wasting time drying off properly when Kiera’s life hung in the balance.

“Go, we will be right behind you,” Zaria said, ushering Nyx into the bathing chamber and following him in.

Luka was gone, so I headed straight back to the healer’s wing and found the room where they were treating Kiera. No one stopped me from entering. They were busy around her bed.

“How is she?” I demanded of anyone who would listen.

It was her father who looked up. He eyed me and I felt lacking. I hadn’t yet been formally introduced to him, though he was no doubt aware of me. This was not the introduction I would have hoped for. I was an unknown dragon who had failed to protect his daughter. He rounded the bed and came to me. I tensed, expecting a physical response. But he wasn’t a dragon. His people were far more passive. Nevertheless, he could cut me with his words.

“Thank you for acting so quickly,” he said in his soothing healer’s tone, shocking me.

“I’m sorry. I should have been with her. Will she be okay?”

“Her system is in shock. As a newly bonded ryder, she has never had this reaction before. Before you came, it would have had no effect on her,” he explained.

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