Page 172 of Of Blood & Stone

Realization thrummed through Elnok as he leaned back, turning around to Sylzenya. Tears stained her face, a smile gracing her lips, a beautiful stream of colored paper decorating her long windswept hair.

“Oh my gods,” Elnok whispered.

“What?” Orym asked. “Are you two… fucking? Because it certainly seems like you two are fucking.”

“She… she healed everyone.”

Orym stalled. “Her? She… she did this?”

“Yes,” Elnok said, shaking his head, “She really did.”

Suddenly, a woman barged through the crowd, her beige linen clothes catching the breeze as she yelled Orym’s name at the top of her lungs.

Yenna, Orym’s nurse from the coastal village.

“You forgot your damn medicine!” Yenna yelled, running into them as she shoved through people.

Elnok laughed. “Still his nurse even after his cure?”

Yenna’s eyes widened as she finally noticed Elnok.

“Gods, you really made it back,” she exclaimed, wrapping him in a quick hug, “Your friend here is even worse when he can walk. Can barely keep up with him these past two days. Oi! Orym! Just because you feel better doesn’t mean it’s all gone, alright? I swear, if you don’t listen to me?—”

Orym swept her into his arms and kissed her.

“Better?” he asked her.

Her face flushed, cheeks pink as she forced the medicine into his open palm, a trace of a sheepish smile lining her lips.

Elnok crossed his arms and raised a brow, a wide smile pulling at his mouth.

Orym shook his head. “You’re not the only one who’s been busy.”

Turning around, Elnok caught Sylzenya’s eye, her smile broad as she motioned for them to keep walking. He wrappedhis arm around Orym as they continued the journey up to the castle gates. His crew met him in the crowd, shouting and yelling, embracing him with tears and stories of the wonders since everyone had been miraculously healed. Elnok laughed and cried with them until they reached the castle.

Standing at the entrance was Tosh.

Elnok stopped. His brother wore a deep maroon tunic, the sleeves billowing out at his wrists. Black hair draped past his chest, shining and healthy. His face was no longer sunken in, but filled and round, a glowing olive tan on his face. A faint smile sat on his mouth, one that looked so much like their mother’s.

Stepping forward, Tosh bowed before Elnok.

“Welcome home, brother.”

Unwinding his arm from around Orym, Elnok stood before his brother. He sniffed the air, trying his best to detect if any wine stained his breath.

“You’re healed,” Elnok said.

Tosh nodded. “Happened the same as everyone else. Two days ago, everyone began to recover, myself included.” He raised his hands. “I haven’t touched wine since, and I feel as if I’m thinking clearly for the first time in over a decade.”

“That wine you were drinking, Tosh, it wasn’t normal wine. There’s a lot to explain.”

Tosh folded his hands. “I figured there might be. But before we go through all the grating royal welcome festivities, I want you to know what I’ll be presenting to you in our castle.” A servant approached him from behind, the blue-and-red-jeweled Vutrorian crown on a maroon pillow. “Elnok, my time as king has been nothing but chaos. I don’t belong on the throne, and if what I think is true, that you’re part of the reason our kingdom is healed, then I think the plan moving forward is obvious.”

He turned to the servant, taking hold of the crown and extending it to Elnok.

“If you wish for it, you would make our mother and father proud as the King of Vutror.”

Elnok stared at the gilded crown, fingers trembling. The one his father had worn during his time. The one Elnok had been accused of stealing over and over again. And now, the one his brother freely gave to him.

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