The king put an arm behind Norah and helped her sit up, sending a ripple of fire through Alexander. But he knelt beside her and held the water to her lips. She took a few gulps, coughing in between and wincing again in pain.
“Easy,” Alexander told her.
She took a few more sips, more careful this time. When she’d had her fill, the king laid her back against the pillows on the bed. Alexander held the glass back out to the Destroyer, who scowled at him murderously underneath his wrap. But he took the glass and set it back on the table.
“Who did this?” Alexander asked the king. He would kill them too.
The king was silent.
“Do you even have him?” he asked angrily. “The man responsible?”
“Of course we have him,” the king said defensively, finally speaking.
“Who is it?” he asked again.
“The brother of one of my previous wives.”
Previous wives? How does one have previous wives? His eyes blazed at the king.
“Avenging her honor, no doubt,” Norah said weakly. “Her family’s honor. They’ve been humiliated with the annulments.”
Annulments? The king had had other marriages? Alexander glared at him with an indicting fury. All of this was his fault—everything that had happened. He looked back to Norah. Her sympathy, her compassion, her understanding—they had always amazed him, even now, as she lay near death. But he couldn’t find compassion within himself for the attacker or this king.
“I want to speak to him,” she said. Her voice came at barely a whisper, yet it still managed to take them all aback.
“That’s not a wise idea,” the king said to her.
“He tried to kill you,” Alexander added to the argument. “What is there to say?”
Norah turned her head to the king. “I want to speak to him,” she said again.
“Your fever hasn’t even broken,” the king replied. “You need to rest and heal before you do anything.” As much as he hated it, Alexander nodded his agreement with him.
She swallowed, struggling with her words. “Promise me you’ll let me speak to him, that you won’t kill him.”
The Shadow King’s face remained hard and disapproving. “Rest,” he said, “and I give you my word I won’t kill him before you speak to him.”
Norah nodded faintly and leaned back, closing her eyes to sleep again.
Days fell away, and Norah finally found herself able to sit up without assistance. She didn’t remember the attack, and for once, she was appreciative. Her skin was healing, but an internal ache still lingered. She forewent the drink of herbs offered by the healer to relieve it. There was something between Alexander and the king, a new animosity, and she didn’t want the fog of pain medicines as she tried to understand what was happening.
Mikael sat with her often, not saying much, but his presence calmed her. He brought her books and anything else he could think of that might help her pass the time.
The cool air of morning hung around her as she sat in bed for yet another day. Vitalia brought a tray of breakfast as Mikael took what had become his regular place in the bedside chair.
“How is Salara-Mae?” she asked him.
He rocked his head back in slight surprise. “She’s been worried about you.”
Norah tried not to move as a chuckle escaped her.
“I think she’s secretly starting to like you,” he said.
“She likes me more than she likes the lord commander.”
He nodded. “That she does.”
“Why does she dislike him so much?” That was a silly question, perhaps. There were no redeeming qualities about the brute. Quite the opposite. But the commander was fiercely loyal to the king—had saved him, protected him—how could a mother not appreciate that?
“I don’t know. She always has. From the moment she saw him.”
A knock rattled the door and Alexander stepped inside. Mikael stiffened.
“Lord Justice,” she greeted. His presence in Kharav brought a thick tension, but she still couldn’t help her happiness each time she saw him.
“Queen Norah.” He didn’t acknowledge the king. “I came to see if you needed anything. Or if you wanted to write a letter. I’m sending word back to Mercia with news of your health.”
“Yes, I’d like to write a letter.” She moved with a start. “I completely forgot. What about the towns you went to investigate? Did you find anything? Who attacked them?”
Alexander shook his head. “We found nothing. Only the aftermath. Whoever it was, it’s like they had disappeared.”
His words drew Mikael’s interest. “Where was this?” the king asked.
Alexander eyed him as if loathing the thought of speaking words to him. “East of Bahoul.”
Mikael looked at Norah. “Not far from the town we saw destroyed. Same offenders, no doubt.”
Norah felt her stomach turn, remembering.
“You found nothing?” Mikael asked Alexander.
“Same as you, I believe,” he replied coolly, but there was a knife to it.
The king sat calmly, but his nostrils flared. “Did you really expect me to properly investigate an attack against the North as I launched my own?”
“What about now that you’re wed to Mercia’s queen?” Alexander’s voice held an icy air. “Do you care? Or is your protection of Mercia the same as your protection of her queen?”
Mikael bristled and moved to stand.
“I’m ready to speak to him,” Norah said, drawing their attention away from the argument, and from each other. “The man who attacked me. I want to see him.”
Both men stared at her.
Mikael rose. “I’m going to execute him.”
Alexander’s gaze snapped to the king with the same surprise as Norah’s, although he didn’t object.
But that wasn’t what Mikael had promised. “You said I could speak to him,” she said, frustrated.
“Which is why I haven’t taken his head yet.”
“He attacked me, and it’s me he should answer to.”
“But will you make him answer?” Mikael asked, his eyes burning. “Will you punish him, Salara?”
Norah looked down at the lining of the blanket as she pleated it between her fingers. Punishing someone would be difficult for her, regardless of the crime. “When can I see him?”
“As soon as you’re well enough.”
“I’m well enough now.”
Mikael’s lips thinned, then he gave a reluctant nod. “Then you can see him in the courtyard, before he’s executed.”
He would force her hand. She glanced at Alexander, but there was still no objection in his face.
The knot in Norah’s stomach grew. She needed to see her attacker, look into his eyes, hear his defense if he bothered to give one. She wasn’t sure if she could execute him, but if she didn’t, Mikael would. Would he think her weak? What about the people of Kharav?
And what would she think of herself?
Bhastian pushed Norah in a wheeled chair outside to the courtyard. Vitalia walked beside her, followed by the rest of Norah’s guard. Mikael required more of them now—an army everywhere she went. They were suffocating, but this wasn’t the time to complain about her guard. Things would return to normal eventually.