Page 101 of On Wings of Blood

I stalked down another corridor. I was nearing the House Drakharrow tower. Glancing around quickly to make sure no one was around, I shucked off my cloak and draped it over the woven cage, praying no one saw me like this.

Turning the next corner, I quickened my pace and headed up the winding stairs to the upper levels of the Drakharrow tower. At least no one from House Avari would see me now. Other houses weren't permitted to visit rival towers.

When I reached the Drakharrow infirmary doors, I paused and listened. It seemed quiet inside. Hopefully they had no patients. Unless Theo had done something stupid and fallen off a table in the refectory again.

I pushed open the heavy door and stepped inside.

One of the healers stood by a wooden table, sorting through dried herbs and glass vials. Good. She was the same one who’d helped me when Pendragon was injured a few weeks back. I knew her.

The woman looked up as she heard me enter, her brow furrowing as she saw the cloak dangling over the shape of the basket.

I cleared my throat and strode forward, yanking the cloak off the carrier.

“I have an injured fluffin,” I said curtly, holding the basket up so she could see inside. “I want you to treat it.”

The healer blinked, as if taken aback. “An animal?” Her gaze flicked back and forth between me and the cage.

“A fluffin is an animal, yes,” I barked. “I believe I just said that. Can you heal it? Yes or no?”

I wasn’t about to tell her how the wounds had been inflicted. If she thought I’d done it, fine.

“I...” She cleared her throat and smoothed the front of her apron. “Yes. Of course, my prince.” Only the House Drakharrow servants bothered to call me that within the school. But the fact that the healer was showing deference even though I’d brought an animal into the infirmary was a good sign.

I placed the woven carrier on the table. The fluffin pup stirred, his wide eyes fluttering open for a moment. The poor thing seemed too weak to do much else.

“Healer Ailith, I believe?”

She nodded.

“Ailith, I want you to keep this between us,” I instructed. “No one else hears about it. You’ll take care of the fluffin in your own chambers so no one else sees it. Understood?”

Her eyes widened a little but she nodded quickly.

Good. She wouldn’t dare challenge me. Not a blightborn healer. I was used to being obeyed by the blightborn who served our house. This would be no different.

My jaw tightened. I looked down at the fluffin pup in silence.

Then, without thinking it through, I bent down and whispered through the wicker bars of the cage, “Be strong, all right? I'll be back.”

I straightened up and caught the healer’s raised eyebrow. But she quickly schooled her expression into a neutral one.

My cold demeanor snapped back into place. I nodded at her. “I expect this animal to receive the very best care and to thrive under your watch. Remember–this stays between us.”

The healer gave me a measured look. She wasn’t stupid, this one.

Good. I wanted her to save the animal, after all. I could only imagine what Pendragon would say if I couldn’t manage that much.

“Of course, my lord,” Healer Ailith murmured. “It will be done.”

Without another word, I turned and left, resisting the urge to open the little cage and pick up the fluffin.

I’d check in on him tomorrow, I decided. Just to make sure he was still alive.

Not because I cared one way or the other, of course. But because House Drakharrow had standards to maintain. We needed to be obeyed in all things, no matter how trivial.

CHAPTER 21 - MEDRA

“And so began the Era of Pretenders.”

---