Page 69 of By Mistake
Oresti hadn't been truly scared to death in a long time.Not since a case had led him to an old, abandoned house in search of an escaped killer and the bastard had locked them both inside and played the world's worst game of hide and seek.
He reached up to touch the necklace again, hand still trembling.If Shimari hadn't been so damned insistent he wear it…
"You're not allowed to ever take it off, that's for certain," Shimari said."You're all right, darling.I'd never let you be anything else."
Oresti managed a smile, reaching out to cup the back of Shimari's head again, drawing him into a brief kiss before they resumed their journey down the hallway.Andrus had already beaten them there, and looked faintly amused as he watched them.
Shimari kissed him in turn, and Andrus held his hand as they were let through the wide double doors that led to the healer's hall.
He could hear Latasha sobbing.Which wasn't something she ever did.He took off running, ignoring people shouting at him, and burst into the room the crying was coming from.To find his father, siblings, and various in-laws all packed into the room already."Alina?Is she—"
"She's alive," Oranti said."For now.Barely.The blood loss was…severe does not even begin to cover it.If not for your friend, she would definitely be dead.I don't know what he did, but it stabilized her long enough to get her here.Markus went back with her."
Latasha wiped her eyes, sitting up from where her wife was holding her, then standing and going to Oresti."Her leg, Oresti.Her left leg is justgone.There's nearly nothing left of it.So much blood."She started crying again, pressing into his shoulder.
He held her tightly, until her wife took her back, then hugged the rest of his siblings in turn.The only one missing was their sister Karina, who was abroad.Gods, what a letter she would be receiving soon.
"She'll be all right," he said."Alina is the toughest of us.She'll be fed up with healing inside of a week and trying to go back to work by the start of next week."
"I wish you were wrong," Telish said with a sigh, dropping back down next to his betrothed, a handsome man from neighboring Perrishta who'd initially come to Esaria in the course of his research on a royal relic.He'd met Telish and never left."Damn her."
Oresti sat down next to his father, Andrus on his other side, warm and reassuring.Shimari remained close to the door they'd come through.Directly opposite him was another door that would lead to where the healers were actually attending Alina.
"If that bastard wasn't already dead, I'd go kill him myself right now," Oresti said.
"Dead?"Latasha said."So you did get Farthing?"
"Yes, though the matter is…complicated, to say the least."
Oranti sighed."You may as well tell them everything.But nothing that's said here leaves this circle, am I understood?"
After a chorus of "Yes, Your Majesty," Oresti laid out the whole tale, supplemented by Andrus, of all that had happened since they'd met, the murder investigation he was put on, all the way through the parts of the ballroom fight none of them had witnessed.
A ringing silence fell as he finally ran out of words.
It was Telish who finally spoke."So you're saying now there'sthreezero-class demons in the palace?Where is Kressen of the Blood right now?"
"Either with Greivs and Coret, or with Renik, or both."
"I don't know what to say," Latasha said."If Karina was here, she'd be birthing dragons.Who is going to tell her?Not me."
"I'll handle it," Oranti said in amusement."She's due to come home soon for the wedding, anyway.I'll speak with her then.Just know she'll hunt you down to ask a million questions."
"I know how to avoid being found," Oresti muttered, closing his eyes as he slumped back against the sofa.Next to him, Andrus had passed out.Not surprising, given the night, all that Shimari had drained from him after expending unfathomable amounts of energy in the fight.
He wanted badly to have Shimari take him up to the room, so he could sleep comfortably, but if he did that, Andrus would kill him.Even though there was nothing to do here but wait.
Just as he was starting to doze off himself, the terror and strain of the evening finally dropping into exhaustion, despite his anxiety over his sister, the door opened and the royal master healer, Vahn, stepped into the room.He smiled faintly and gave a bare nod, then went to Oranti as they all stood up.
"Her Highness is recovering.She lost most of her left leg, up to mid-thigh.The blood loss was frankly the bigger issue, but recovery tonics and rest will fix that.Whoever managed to get the bleeding under control long enough to get her to us saved her life."
"A friend of mine," Shimari said."He's…an old hand at dealing with blood and wounds.I'll be sure to convey your words to him."
"Do that," the healer replied."If he's ever seeking work, he's welcome here.Now then, she's not up to many guests right now.I'm surprised she hasn't gone back to sleep, honestly.She wanted to speak with 'Oresti and his two' first, and then the rest of you can see her."
Oresti stepped forward, Shimari and Andrus right behind him.
The empty space where her leg should be was jarring, to say the least.Alina was pale, far, far too pale, devoid of the vibrancy that was so much a part of her.Oresti immediately went to her right side, Markus on the left, and took her hand."I'm so sorry, Alina.We should have stopped him sooner."
