I could see something wrestling behind her eyes—compassion and condemnation both in equal measure, as if it were somehow my fault that someone had put a spell on me at birth.
“Ice bath is ready!” Narine called out. The doctor shook herself, sliding one hand under my legs and another behind my neck.
She scooped me up, grunting under my weight, and rushed me across the room.
The smell of burning skin wafted through the air and I gagged, looking up at the doctor. She winced in pain as smoke singed up to the ceiling. Following the smoke, I peered down in horror to see that it was her skin that was burning. And I was the one burning her.
What the Hades? How was this possible?
“I’ll walk,” I said, but my words came out warbled, and black dots danced at the edges of my vision. When she reached the tub, she dropped me into it like a hot coal. My body crashed into the sharp icy coldness and a hiss of steam exploded outward and darkness pulled me into its sweet embrace.
NINE
My consciousness returned to the sound of murmuring voices.
“Why does the washroom look like a bomb went off?” The king’s growly voice invaded my mind but I was too weak to open my eyes.
“My lord, I cannot explain it. She… exploded with power,” Dr. Elsie said. “I’ve never seen so much dragon fire in my life. Luckily, Narine and I are partial dragon-folk or we would have burned alive. I was able to use my elf magic to shield us from most of the blast.”
My heart raced with what I was hearing. Were they talking about me?
I finally managed to open my eyelids and peered down at the end of my bed. King Valdren stood with his arms crossed over his muscular chest. Dried cuts and scars littered his arms, and there was black charcoal along his neck. He was fresh from battle.
“What does it mean?” he asked the doctor. I closed my eyes in case they were going to look over at me. I too wanted to know what it meant. Last I remembered, I’d been burning up, literally, and then Dr. Elsie had dunked me into some water and I passed out.
When the doctor spoke, her voice was so soft I barely heard her. “My lord, she reeked of spellwork. As if someone had done a spell to conceal her powers and the spell suddenly fell away, unable to contain it anymore.”
Hades. This was not good. Everything my mother had said was turning out to be true.
“Why would someone conceal her power?” he asked, dumbfounded.
“I do not know, but if you’re looking for someone to carry a child for you… she should be a top contender.” I heard her shuffle closer to him. “She smelled pure-blooded.”
I stiffened, feeling his eyes on me. My heart beat so loud and so frantically that I was sure the entire room could hear it.
Top contender for royal womb?
No. That’s not what I was supposed to be doing. My mother said to lay low and hurry home. Then I exploded with dragon fire in front of the king’s personal physician and had just moved myself up to top rank.
“Pure-blooded isn’t possible,” he said dismissively.
“A healer elf’s nose doesn’t lie,” she retorted.
“You’re half elf.” His voice held a dangerousness that scared me.
“Well, she’s close to pure-blooded,” the doctor amended. “I’m sure of that. Have the sniffers check her now to confirm it if you like.”
A silence fell over the both of them, and then the king spoke barely above a whisper. “Do you really think she’s powerful enough to carry and deliver a baby to term? I can’t bury another child.” The king’s voice broke, and the icy wall I’d built around my heart melted in an instant.
The sorrow in his tone consumed me. I had to swallow a whimper.
“Let’s let her rest,” the doctor said suddenly, and I feared that I actually had whimpered. My eyes snapped open just in time to see her pulling him out of the room.
Once I heard the door shut, I rolled onto my side and stared at the gold-stamped dragon emblem wallpaper.
He was just a man who wanted a child, and his magic was so powerful that most women’s bodies could not carry one for him. Would it be so bad if I were to? I wanted children eventually—but I wanted to fall in love first and then have a baby born out of that love. What this whole spectacle sounded like was that the king wanted the heir and not the woman. I wasn’t signing up for that.
I just needed to pray that my magic stayed in my body for the rest of my time here and that he chose someone else to be his next queen. I wanted him to have his heir, just not with me, not in a competition. I wouldn’t be a prize.