Page 34 of Right Next Door
“Is it just righsling berries she’s allergic to?” Davard asked, interjecting into the conversation and making Misty frown as she remembered his presence.
Tsok wasn’t here.
He had to know. There’s no way he didn't know. She already figured out that Davard reported on her to him periodically, and Davard was here. He had shown up before her friends, who followed her to the healing center, had even left. They were gone now, having left to clean up her salon. Nikti, who felt guilty for no reason, was going to decontaminate her entire kitchen and make sure that anything the berries even sat beside was cleaned. Flik left last, promising that he’d stop by tomorrow and make sure that she was okay.
She was. Whatever medicine they’d hit her with before they left had reduced the swelling enough to let her breathe, and the mediring she was currently being circled by even now was making sure that she wasn’t going to go back into anaphylaxis.
Because she had gone into anaphylactic shock. It was such a big, scary word all of a sudden. Sure, she knew that’s what happened when people had a sudden, deadly allergy, but it was one thing to know things like that happened to other people and another entirely for it to actually happen to her. To live through it.
To almost die from it.
She shivered as the doctor assured them that she was likely only allergic to the berries. But he was going to send her home with some of that emergency medicine. If she couldn’t get it directly in her neck vein, like the emergency people had, she could just shoot in her thigh and it would work fine, if just a little bit slower. If she got in contact with the berries again – which was unlikely, as they weren’t a common food – or if she found she was allergic to something else, she could use it then.
Weirdly, that didn't make her feel better at all. Instead, it felt like there was a time bomb in her chest, just waiting for her to trip over something else and fall face first into another deadly allergy. And she could never know when it would happen, because it was only the second time she tried something new that the bomb would go off. So, everything she hadn’t tried yet, and everything she had tried only once before was still a suspect.
She didn't like this at all. The medscanner finished its job and the floating rings returned to their place at the top of the bed. She sat up with a frown.
Davard gave her a determined look. “Don’t worry, honored charina. I will be sure that all staff know that those berries are absolutely forbidden within the manor. I will also update your security team so that they know not to allow those berries near you if you go out.”
“Erm, thanks,” she mumbled. She desperately wanted to ask if Tsok knew she was here. If he was coming but had just been really far away when he found out. And just chose not to comm. Or maybe he forgot he could.
She wanted to ask if he even cared at all.
But she didn't want to be that desperate woman, clinging to a man. So, she bit her tongue and gave the healer a smile.
“Am I clear to go home?”
“Yes, honored charina,” he assured her, smiling. “If you experience any further problems at all, please feel free to return.”
She nodded once and hopped off the bed, straightening her skirt as she did so. Davard gave her a kind smile as he gestured for her to follow him out.
Chapter 14
Tsok
Davard was late today,
On the whole, that wasn’t unusual. He was doing the work of two males. Still, he wasn’t usuallythislate. Tsok wasn’t worried, but he didn’t like it. He could use this as an argument that Davard was doing too much and he should stop working so hard.
Stubborn old male.
Tsok didn't let his absence stop himself from working though. He had to finish preparing this report for the seniors so they could begin working on next year’s Coalition gathering. There was a lot of work to do, even with it being so far away. It was never too early to start, and he had a lot of plans.
Including spreading True Match further into the universe and on Kree.
While his government might be uncomfortable with mating itself, they certainly weren’t mad about the money the business was bringing in from offworld. It wasn’t the fact that mating existed that bothered them, only what it turned their own people into. Specifically the males. So, letting True Match flourish inthe Coalition, where everyone else had more sane methods of mating, was quite fine to their way of thinking.
He could use that to leverage-
“Honored char. Forgive my tardiness.”
Lifting his eyes from his work, Tsok smirked as Davard climbed the steps to the second level where his desk was looking out over the rest of his office.
“There you are,” he started, teasing. “Here I was about to see if elder aid should be seeking you out.”
“You’re hilarious,” Davard said, completely deadpan.
“I told you that being both my aid and steward of my land was too much work for one male, didn't I? Doesn’t this prove it? You’re…” Tsok checked the clock, “half a mark late.”
