The Day Human King (5 page)

“I don’t know exactly what I’m doing, but my gut tells me to do this,” Devin told her.

Nessa peeked out at him from her slightly closed eyes. He was pushing her shirt up further and soon would be exposing more of her flesh than she had yet shown him. Her cheeks would have reddened if they weren’t already flaming from the fever that had taken over. As much as she wanted to comment about the shirt staying down, she couldn’t even protest; he was trying to heal her. Nessa closed her eyes tighter as his warm touch probed more. He was taking his job healing her very seriously, so she would let it slide that he was getting a bit personal. Again, she wished she was better, and that he was touching her for different reasons.

“I can’t feel my hands now,” she commented. Her sleepiness made her not worry too much, but the worry from Devin told her that wasn’t a good sign. She wasn’t sure, but it didn’t seem too probable that it was still food poisoning. She had never heard of food poisoning making one go numb before.

Devin’s hands prodded her midsection before they began to warm hotter than possible for a day human. He was using magic to heal her. She hadn’t expected that. Nessa felt the energy from his hands leave them and go into her body. The warmth entered and swam around inside of her. She felt the tug as the warmness touched every part of her and then came back to where his hands were waiting. He was sending out magic to check over her body internally. She had no clue how he knew to do that, but she was thankful. His touch was soothing, and something about it made everything feel like it would be all right. Devin had that power over her. She felt safe with him even as her body was slowly shutting down.

“I need to make an incision,” he warned her as he pressed a cool blade to her hip. She didn’t even have time to object before he was making the shallow cut.

Nessa had no clue what he was doing, but she trusted him completely. She had only been to a healer in the village once as a child, and she didn’t remember it being like it was with Devin. This was much more personal, and she felt safe, no matter what he told her he planned to do. Devin would do everything in his power to make her feel better. He placed his hand back on her and sent the magic into her veins. The warmth his hands had put into her only moments before was suddenly removed. It was like he was pulling a long string out of every part of her body at once. As it did so, she could feel all of the tingles leave her body. Her strength returned, and she no longer felt sick. He fixed it simply. She waited a moment as the flesh he’d cut healed itself. Slowly, she sat back up. Devin was right there with his free hand on her back, making sure she wasn’t still sick. Nessa smiled up at him. He was amazing.

“While that was fun, I’d prefer not to try that again,” she told him. She felt much better, but still a bit weak.

Devin made sure that she was stable sitting up before he stood up. Finally, she noticed he was only using one hand to steady her. Hovering between his fingers of his other hand was a greenish-colored blob. He didn’t touch it, but it stayed there as if he told it to. He said he didn’t know how to use the sidhe magic her grandfather had put in him, but Nessa could see otherwise. Devin was a natural. He took the green liquid and released it in a cup on the table.

“I believe that’s the poison you ate.” Nessa’s mouth dropped open. At no time did she think it was poison. How did he know? How did he remove it? He made it seem easy. “As long as you don’t want to feel sick again, I’d stay away from that,” Devin advised her as he looked into the cup like he was searching for answers in the green goo.

Nessa remained seated on the floor. Devin finally took his eyes away from the poison long enough to see that she had not moved. He came back and sat beside her, her well-being outweighing his curiosity.

“Are you feeling okay?” he asked as he tenderly took her hand in his.

Nessa felt fine, and Devin felt it, too, through the bond, but she still couldn’t move yet. Someone had tried to kill her with poison, and almost succeeded. What if Devin had not come back that soon? What if there was no Devin, or he didn’t have super sidhe powers? Would she be dead now? Nessa never pictured her life ending that easily. It hadn’t even occurred to her that she could have been poisoned. Who would stoop to that level? It wasn’t common to kill sidhe with poison. Assassins would use poison as a backup, like a blade covered in it, but it was never used alone. That wasn’t the way of the sidhe. It was strange and unheard of in all of Nessa’s time living here. She was trained as a warrior, and always thought the end would come fighting, not lying paralyzed due to poison. Reality hit hard, and she couldn’t move from her spot.

Anger and concern pulsed through the bond. Devin was a mixture of emotion over the situation, and the sight of her not back to complete health seemed to make him even angrier. Nessa could feel his power pulsating from him, but she couldn’t even speak to tell him to calm down. She still couldn’t completely grasp what he had just told her. Someone had poisoned her.

Devin stood back up, and walked a circle around the room to calm himself before squatting down to pick her up in his arms. He carried her through the sitting room and into the bedroom. Gently, he laid her on the sheets and grabbed a blanket at the end of the bed to cover her. Nessa was still too shocked by the events. He stroked the side of her face while gazing into her eyes. Nessa could feel him in her mind, looking for what was wrong. She didn’t have the willpower to hide it from him.

Suddenly, the world around Nessa had just become a bit more real. Before, it had been easy to ignore everything going on. She was always hidden away from the sidhe world due to her own solitary ways, or her brother keeping her out of it. She had heard of things, she had even seen the dead from all of the fighting that went on between the clans, but she’d never felt she was part of it. Even after returning home, Devin kept her completely safe and isolated from the truth. In that moment, she realized that she was no longer isolated. In fact, she was going to be king of the hill in a few days, and everyone would be trying to knock her down.

“I’m sorry,” Devin told her, lying down beside her and taking her into his arms. He had seen enough to know what bothered her. “I should have been here. I won’t make the same mistake again. I promise you that you are safe. I’ll make sure of that.”

Nessa shook her head no. That was the problem. Even if Devin had been there, nothing would have happened differently. He could save her from invisible assassins, but there was no way he could save her from poison every time. Yet Devin was sure that he could. Nessa wanted to believe that it wasn’t just words, but it was too hard to wrap her mind around what had happened.

Nessa gently rested her face against his chest. She felt safe in his arms, yet her world had been shattered. Was she ever going to be safe? Was it even possible to keep her safe? Devin had promised her, but there was only so much that he could do. Nessa didn’t want to think anymore, so she let the sleep that was edging at her consciousness take her. Blackness was a comfort compared to what her world had just become.

Devin slipped his
arm out from beneath Nessa once he was sure she was asleep again. She might have felt better from the poison getting out of her system and regaining much of her strength, but she was still tired. Devin looked to the assassins standing just outside of the doorway. They could protect her physically, but what could they do against poison? The palace wasn’t safe as far as Devin was concerned. He had to figure out where the poison came from and if he could stop it. He needed to right Nessa’s world. Devin wanted her to feel safe, and he needed the sidhe to stop playing games. Standing by and letting them harm her again wasn’t an option. She hadn’t done a single thing to deserve the hate she was receiving from them.

“No one comes in or out of here until I get back,” he ordered the assassins. All four nodded. Nessa would be safe if she stayed right where she was, and no one was allowed to get close to her with poison again.

Devin left Nessa’s rooms and went straight to the kitchen. He had no doubts from her descriptions of pain that the food was poisoned. Most of the poison he found in her was concentrated around her stomach anyways. He didn’t even pay attention to the shocked sidhe that scampered away from him as soon as they saw him. He needed to find the source of the poison, and possibly the culprit if he were lucky. This had to end. The elite sidhe feared him, so he didn’t understand why this was happening. Who was that arrogant that they would go against him? Was that why they turned to poison? Would it be hard to find the person?

Pushing open the large wooden door, Devin stepped into the steaming kitchen. Food preparation was constantly going on all day for the palace. Cooks ran from place to place as some chopped, stirred, and even cleaned vegetables. No one noticed when he entered since they each all at their jobs diligently.

“Who is in charge?” Devin asked the closest person.

The young girl’s eyes went wide at the sight of him, and she mouthed a reply that had no sound behind it. Her finger pointed to a portly woman who was beating bread dough into submission. Devin walked over but didn’t say anything as the lady worked. As she finished with the loaf she was working on, he glanced around the room. However, he couldn’t feel a trace of the poison anywhere in the kitchen.

The cook finally looked up and jumped a little at the sight of him. Quickly, she curtsied to cover up her astonishment, and waited for him to speak.

“Were you the one to prepare the morning meals?” Devin asked.

“I supervise all meal preparations,” she replied proudly, but with a hint of fear. Devin couldn’t decipher if the fear was from him, or something she had done.

“Were there any new people in the kitchen today?” Devin asked. The cook wouldn’t be prideful if she were the one that had done it.

“No, just my regulars,” she replied. She answered as quick and short as she could. Her eyes darted around the room as Devin watched her. She was still afraid of him, but she was dedicated to her job.

“Can you get everyone that was working this morning to line up here?” he asked, pointing next to him. It was going to make meal preparations halt, but Devin didn’t care. He needed to find the poison and poisoner.

The cook nodded and began calling to several of the people working around the large kitchen. They all moved promptly at her voice and formed a line in front of him. The cook didn’t even question Devin. She gave orders, and seemed to follow them just as dedicatedly. Devin looked from scared face to scared face.

“Do you know who I am?” Devin asked, and all gathered quickly nodded their heads. “And you know that I can tell if you are lying?” The heads rattled again. The former king was legendary. Even the young women before him who had never met the king knew what his powers were like. Everyone knew that Devin now had those powers. He wasn’t completely sure how to turn on and off the lie detecting abilities, but everyone feared him, so he was fairly certain they would tell him the truth even if it didn’t work.

“Can I ask what the problem is, sir?” the cook asked as her workers all trembled in fear. She was braver than the rest for sure.

“The future queen was poisoned this morning. It was in her food,” Devin replied curtly. “Food that was made here, in the kitchen.”

Gasps around the room were heard as everyone stopped working to watch the commotion Devin was causing. It wasn’t just the line of women before him that heard his declaration. He didn’t like being a show, but he needed answers. The kitchen was now quiet—except for the sizzle of cooking food—so it was going to be easier to speak to them.

“Is she alive?” the young girl, who couldn’t speak at the sight of him before, asked from behind Devin. He was happy to find that at least one person was concerned for Nessa.

“Yes, she is,” Devin replied, and looked over the line of women standing before him. All were shaking in their boots, but that was the same as before he had announced what he knew. Nothing had changed.

Devin moved in front of the first girl. “Did you poison the food?” he asked.

She stared at the floor and shook her head vehemently.
No
. Devin pushed her face up to view her eyes.

“I need a verbal reply,” he told her. He knew enough about the power to realize that he needed them to speak. It had something to do with the tone of their voice that gave all lies away.

“No,” she squeaked out. Devin could see that she was telling the truth.

Devin moved down the line to each of the girls. They were all innocent. As he stopped in front of the cook, he looked to her. She was the last one left to ask. He doubted she was involved, but he sensed that everyone else was innocent. Who else was left?

“Don’t even think of asking me,” the cook replied. “I have been working here my whole life. Keeping the nobles fed and happy has been a lifelong goal. I’d never hurt a single one, and certainly not Miss Nessa. She’s the kindest of the bunch,” the cook replied. She was truthful, too. Another sidhe that was on Nessa’s side was reassuring, but that still didn’t answer his plight. Who could it be? Devin was sure that it had been in the food. Was he wrong?

Devin nodded and moved to walk away to inspect the room. He looked around, but kept watch on the line of cooks. It didn’t add up. When the cook reached up and wiped her forehead with a rag that hung from her waist, it hit Devin. He could feel the poison now that he’d removed it from Nessa, and he’d just felt the warm tug of the poison on the rag. Quickly, he stopped the cook from moving the rag closer to her face. He was near enough, and fast enough, that the rag didn’t make it to the skin. His sudden movement startled the cook.

“Everyone turn their hands over,” he said, looking around the room. He realized he was right. He could feel the poison everywhere. Minute pieces of it were on almost every person. The room was filled with the poison. They were lucky no one had died there yet. “No one move,” Devin ordered the shocked women. They obeyed him.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. The warmth of his hands expanded in the already hot space. He needed to get the poison out of the kitchen, or more people would die from it. He searched for the poison and drew it from all of the corners of the room. It pulled to him, and it solidified a mass in his hands. He had no clue how he did it, but it was happening. He kept the liquid ball suspended above his hands as he finished cleaning the room. All of the poison was with him now. Carefully keeping it suspended, he turned back to the cooks in the room.