Chapter 143: In Town
"What do we do?" I asked for the third time.
Other guards gathered around.
Herbs had been fetched from the nearby bushes and grounded the best they could with the available resources.
Claire couldn’t protest their methods - she just wanted him to open his eyes, to look at her.
She hadn’t realized she had been crying heavily as she sat on the raised stone beside the carriage until her olive-skinned guard offered her a knitted handkerchief.
From the design, it was obvious that Aurora had given it to him.
"Thank... you." She struggled to mutter, only bursting into more tears.
When Andon finally came out of the carriage, his hands bloody and green-ish from assisting with Yeren’s injuries, she jumped to her feet.
"How is he?"
Claire could see that his own eyes glsitened with unshed tears.
"He’s still alive - which is a good sign. But there is no guarantee that any of our salves would work."
A fresh dam of tears seemed to have burst open at his revelation.
He had protected her. He had fended off the Lycan... and he was going to die? Just like that?
If she could take poison for him once, she realized she could do anything for him - even if her feelings were never returned.
And for that reason, she felt a certain kinship with Andon.
Andon stepped closer and pulled her into his embrace.
"We should head back. There are healers-"
"I’ve already sent for a healer." He cut her off. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he added, "Someone doesn’t want us to arrive at the Town square - and we have to arrive... with the King." He added firmly, more to himself than to her.
The words skimmed over her like a warm breeze, soothing, but never staying.
After a while, he released her and helped her into the carriage.
"Look after him." He said before mounting his own horse and riding off to join the vanguard.
She sat inside the box that looks like the sight of a battle with pieces of torn fabric strewn everywhere, and blood on the leather cushions.
He seemed to be asleep, his long lashes casting shadows over his eyes in the dim light of the afternoon.
After sitting for hours and mopping her eyes tirelessly, exhaustion took over and she fell asleep huddled across him.
When she woke up, she was lying down on something soft.
Much too soft to be the leather cushions she’d had to make do with.
The ivory bed post caught her eye, so did the silk bed linens and matching curtains.
This wasn’t her room at the castle.
Slowly, she sat up in the bed.
She was still wearing her peach-coloured dress from the previous day, although her laces had been loosened and her corset had been unbuckled.
Colour clouded her face as she realized that someone had relieved her of her burden while she had slept.
From the bright blue sky outside, it was clear that the morning was far gone.
She slid off the bed and touched her bare feet to the cold ground.
Her feet were bruised from having walked around on the road barefoot.
She moved to the window and peered out, taking in the streets of cobblestone crowded with wagons and carts carrying fruits and vegetables, as well as people scurrying to and fro.
Was this the town?
Of course it had to be.
She had only been here once, and that was during the week of the King’s Coronation.
A week where she had thought she was on top of the world.
Claire shut her eyes at the memory and looked away from the window.
The room was feminine, with velvet cushions over the stools and plush carpeting.
Yeren, she suddenly remembered.
She had to see to him.
In swift movements, she she’d her dress, clean herself up with the warm water in the wash basin and donned on a gown from her chest.
As she opened the door, the strange hallway took her by surprise.
Part of her was expecting to see Aurora’s room down the hall across hers, and the stairway that led to the main hall.
But instead, there were several doors on the floor, each looking no different from the one beside it.
Sconces were hung on the spaces between each door and a rug covered the length of the eerie hallway.
Movement beside the doorway caught her attention, startling her.
She stumbled slightly, catching herself just in time by gripping the doorframe.
Her olive-skinned guard stood before her, his face warm but expressionless.
Never having known him to speak with anyone but the King, she didn’t bother asking him any questions about Yeren.
Yet, as if reading her mind, he gestured for her to follow him.
As they approached a door along the hallway, a thin man with long, graying hair and a big leather bag was just leaving. A glance at his long, flowing dress told her that he was the healer that Andon had sent for.
She paused, searching for the right words a servant would use to inquire about their master’s wellbeing.
Not finding any, she sighed and asked, " How is the King?"
The man gave her a soft smile. "Well, he complains a lot - I’ll tell you that for free. But he’s improving."
She nodded and stepped closer. "Have you been able to discover what he was poisoned with?"
His eyes grew small and heavy with thought. "I may be wrong, but I have reason to believe that it’s from a tropical plant found only in the South, not in Reden. Wolfsbane would not have any effect on him, and there aren’t many potent poisons that can harm a Lycan, are there?"
She nodded, even if she didn’t have the slightest clue to what he was talking about.
Sensing her discomfort, he chuckled. "An old man like me should always know better than to bother a young girl with all this knowledge." He tapped his forehead.
He made to leave, but stopped.
"Are you the King’s bride, if I may ask? I heard the King took a bride... hence my curiosity." Before she could even answer, he added, "And I have reason to believe we’ve met before."
Met before?
She was certain that she’d never seen the old man in her life.
"I would know if I met a man as wise as you."
The old man chuckled.
"What’s your name again?"
"Claire. Claire Stenly."
"Stenly." He stroked his graying beard as he thought about the name.
"Lisa Stenly’s daughter? That must be it." He nodded.
"You knew my mother?"
"You look just like her-"
Before the man could complete his sentence, the door to the King’s chambers swung open. Andon stood there, a soft smirk on his face.
"Are you going to stand there and discuss all day? The King is eager to see you." He whispered the last part.