Page 14 of King of Knights

I rush over to the child. Placing a hand upon her forehead, I quickly assess what ails her. My lips part and tremble. She is very ill.

“You have to heal her,” Benjamin demands. “Heal them both.”

I turn my head to Annabeth. She looks pale and much thinner than usual. She’s been sending her eldest daughter to cover for her.

I thought nothing of it. It’s not the first time her eldest daughter has come to work in her stead while she tends to her husband or their two youngest children.

I tighten my fists at my side. It pains me to say my next words, but I have no choice. I close my eyes as I speak.

“I cannot,” I whisper.

Healing this child or Annabeth will harm my own. I don’t have the strength to take away what plagues them.

“You must. You think I don’t know you are a witch? You’re no simple healer. You have power. Heal her,” his voice rises with each word.

“Benjamin, please,” his wife whispers in a plea.

“No, you have waited long enough to come to them. They will heal you. She is the most powerful of them all. She parades around with that…that…he is not a human,” he bites out.

“I must ask you to leave,” Yanique says firmly.

“Not until she heals them,” he says brokenly.

My heartstrings tug. This is not an easy thing for me to do. To send them away.

My sister has not mastered the type of power needed to heal them both. If I were not with child, I would still need a few days rest after doing what needs to be done.

They have waited too long to come to me. Death has already claimed them. I would be snatching them from the reaper’s door. It is a fight I cannot win in my condition.

“You will leave,” Yanique says with more force. “We cannot help them. The most we can do is ease their pain for a little while.”

“You’re all spawns of the devil. You pray to gods who have not shown themselves in centuries. I’ve never seen them. I’ve only heard stories since I was a boy.

“We are left with nothing, and they have no care for us. Where are your gods? Where is your power? They are right. You should all be burned,” he rages.

“Leave,” I say, shaking the room.

He wants to see power? There he has it. I will not be spoken to like this, not inside the place we have built to help.

His eyes widen and he takes a few steps back. His wife rushes over to grab him by the arm, but he pulls free from her hold. He narrows his eyes on me.

“I told you we shouldn’t have come here. Let us just go,” she pleads with her husband.

“All you have done for them,” he almost sobs.

“She would if she could, my love. Please, let’s go,” she replies.

“I am sorry, Annabeth,” I say softly.

“It is okay, mistress. I understand,” she says, her eyes dropping to my belly as a smile graces her lips. “May the gods grace you with favor.”

“May they also be with you,” I say sadly, my hands going to my belly.

“Curse you and the gods,” her husband says bitterly as he scoops his daughter into his arms.

Ask For Help

Yanique sighs for the millionth time as we read through scrolls in the caves. It’s been a few days since I first shared my plans with her. With some reluctance, she decided to help me.

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