Song of Blood and Reign

Chapter 66

Chapter 66

All Lyv wanted to do at that point was flip the small rectangular table she'd laid all of her healing supplies on, along with the vials of her sisters' blood and the larger vial she was using to try and concoct a kind of tonic that would in any way help Bence. All it seemed to be doing as soon as she set it over the small flame was disintegrate it all in a puff of black smoke. She could almost hear the laughter of Guinevere and Corliss at her failed attempts.

"Dammit!" she yelled, slamming her fists on the table to make everything on it rattle violently.

A heavy sigh sounded from behind her. "I told you, my darling, nothing is going to work. Why can't you just leave it be?"

"Why are you trying to discourage me every time you wake up, huh?" she asked in return, whirling around to face Bence, who was propped up on the bed, watching her. "I'm trying to figure out how to save you, can't you see that?"

"Yes, I can...and against my wishes I might add."

"I should just put you back into an enchanted sleep."

"I wouldn't call that a threat, even though it seems like you're trying to make it so. My dreams are wonderful, so I wouldn't mind," Bence smiled at her.

Lyv couldn't smile back. She couldn't even look at his face, not when the black veins of the blood poison had finally reached his neck and began creeping up his jaw. Every time she helped him change, she had to keep blinking back her tears and swallowing down the vomit that rose in her throat at the sight of it. His arm was now completely blackened, along with the side of his torso. Now, it had started spreading up his neck and down his leg.

Just as she'd told Jai every night as they laid in their tiny bed in the shared cabin just down the hall, she had to try something, anything. She was at least able to keep the pain at bay for him, numb the fire that would have bene coursing through him otherwise. There were times when she couldn't, though, and all he could do was clench his teeth so hard that they ground together. Once, he even bit clear through his tongue before she was able to get a better grip on it with her magic.

Of course, she and her sisters wouldn't take Bence's demands of them not offering up their own blood or Lyv offering up her dark magic in an attempt to save him. Like she'd told Jai that first night on the ship, they had the conversation as soon as they knew Bence was sleeping comfortably.

"I can't..." Ada started in a whisper that first night on the ship after almost an hour-long silence. She held her arm to Lyv so tight her nails dug into her skin. "Please, take whatever you need. And if you need more, just ask. We have to try, Lyv, no matter what he says."

She was selfish enough not to protest. Unfortunately, she needed a new vial from her sisters every night since she flew through them even just attempting to find a cure one drop at a time. And for Lyv herself...well, the obsidian stone beneath the skin of her forearm was steadily growing in brightness and never dulled even as she reigned in her dark magic.

After five days at sea and having spent every single one of them trying to come up with some way to save their father from the poison, Lyv wasn't getting any closer to finding a solution. Once they were in Ayveri, though, and Lyv had use of her proper supplies in the palace infirmary, she would hopefully have more success.

Now, Bence smiled and held out his good hand for hers. Dropping her chin to her chest, she walked over and held it tight before stretching out on the bed beside him. Both of them stared up at the wood-paneled ceiling of the captain's quarters. Their breathing, the echoes of the crew from above, and the sounds of the water slapping against the side of the ship was the only noise in her ears.