Chereads / The Moon Enslaves the Stars / Chapter 113 - Cured?

Chapter 113 - Cured?

"Stars of Torobirk," Mikhail whispered faintly. "I don't... I don't understand."

The Princess's shock faded only to be replaced by an almost hysterical excitement. She scrambled forward so that she was kneeling at the edge of the bath, just beside him.

Gone was her shyness and embarassment. She was staring avidly at him now.

"Try something else! Say something forbidden! Where is my sister buried?" She asked quickly.

Mikhail winced at the question. It was very likely that Queen Ora had never been buried. She had probably been consumed by the ancient ones. He winced again as he opened his mouth, waiting for the wave of pain he was all too familiar with.

"I-I really don't know the answer to that. The last time I saw her was the day before she was sent north to the ancient ones. There's a monument and a tomb raised for her to the northwest of Pirchburg, but it contains no body. I've checked," he murmured.

The Princess nodded eagerly.

"Have you any pain at all? Did it hurt as you spoke?" She demanded.

"N-no. What have you done?" He asked nervously. "Did you perform that truth spell again? Am I-"

"No, I swear it! It must have been the blood loss, or maybe something about the magic I did to heal you, or perhaps its-"

"The Emperor," he whispered. "It's a trick. Somehow it's... it can't really be..."

"We have to call for Sir Ilya at once! We must determine if he has been affected. We must see if he is still bound to you or if he is free as well!" She rambled frantically.

Prince Mikhail heard her words, but they barely registered. He was not foolish enough to believe himself free of his curse. It had only been a half a day since he had been forced to impale himself against the Emperor's sword. A blood bond was not something one could accidentally break.

No, whatever this was, it was temporary. It would not be wise to involve Ilya before he even understood what had happened. It would be cruel to raise his hopes, only to find out that it was only a fluke.

All of this was causing his head to hurt even more! Simply remaining upright was draining his energy faster than he had anticipated, and the Princess was chattering so excitedly that he could barely keep up with her.

"It is a pity that you can't call for the guards and have her put away someplace until you're ready to deal with her," a child's voice rang out.

On the other side of the bath, Ilya was sitting on the edge, dangling his feet in the water and grinning at him with a wicked twinkle in his eye.

But this was not the Ilya of today- it was the little boy from Pirchburg, who had once dared him to climb the wall and skip his lessons. The boy he had known long ago.

Mikhail closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. Hallucinations were not a good sign.

When he opened his eyes again, the boy was gone. In his place, kneeled a woman whose face was so familiar, even after so many years, that he couldn't help but to draw a sharp breath.

His mother smiled faintly at him, and then bent her head, waiting for the sword to fall.

"No," he growled. "No, stop!"

He tried to reach her, but the bath water had suddenly become thick, sucking at his legs. He looked down to see that it had turned blood.

"MIKHAIL!" The Princess screamed.

He felt her arms encircle his waist from behind and froze.

"W-what are you doing? Didn't you hear me calling you?" She demanded.

The faint form of his mother, kneeling on the edge of the bath, had vanished. The Princess must have jumped in behind him. Her skirts floated around them, gently grazing his legs, as she held him tightly from behind.

"I saw... I thought I saw... something..." he mumbled.

"You gave me a fright!" She chided him. "You suddenly stood up and went staggering forward like that... I thought you were going to pass out and go under! What did you see?"

Mikhail turned slightly to glance down at her. Those large blue-green eyes staring up at him from her small, pale face almost erased the image of his mother from his mind.

He remembered suddenly that he was naked, and with the way she clung to him- her wet dress plastered to every curve on her body-- he truly was in danger of passing out. All the blood left in him was abruptly moving toward one place in particular.

"I am... fine," he managaed. "Perhaps... a bit anxious, but fine. And I cannot have you send for Sir Ilya. Leave him to do what must be done for now."

She scowled and opened her mouth to protest, but Mikhail shook his head resolutely.

"I understand that you are excited, but now is a very dangerous time for us. The Emperor appears to be behaving erratically and I do not yet know what motivates him. Ilya is functioning as my eyes and ears and we can ill afford to be both blind and deaf while I recover."

The Princess did not answer, but after a moment, gave a grudging nod of acceptance.

She was still holding tightly to his waist, as if she feared he would topple over at any second. She hadn't yet noticed the effect her embrace was having on him, because he had not turned around to face her.

"If you would go out and see to it that the bedclothes are changed... I think I can... manage," he murmured, gently removing her hands from his waist. "I am sure you'll want to get out of those wet things."

As if she suddenly realized that she was embracing a naked man, the Princess startled and flushed.

"Yes, of course, I... yes," she said, moving quickly away.

She slogged through the bath water toward the steps as he turned away in attempt to calm himself. He could hear the water dripping and the wet fabric of her skirts dragging across the floor as she left.

Alone, he glanced again at the spot where the vision of his mother had appeared.

He had never hallucinated and seen apparitions at any point in his life before-- not even when give hutteroot, or when badly injured to the point of death.

Perhaps there was something wrong with his brain. Perhaps his tongue was loosened because his mind had unraveled. Perhaps the Emperor had given him the ability to speak freely in attempt to cause him to incriminate himself.

Because, after all, what we he do if there were no blood bond? He almost chuckled at the thought. The Emperor would wrongfully assume that he would plot treason or attempt to assinate him.

No... truthfully, he would take the Princess and escape to Frem, and never give another thought to Unaria, or his brother, or the ancient ones or the wars or any of it...

Except that the Princess would attempt to escape and return at every opportunity.

No, the Emperor was driven by some cause... some change in cirumstances, and he must discover what that was, and quickly.

Mikhail slowly moved back to the steps and sat. He leaned forward to rinse his hair, and then reached for a bar of soap and began to scrub himself.

Although he was dizzy and weak, he worked quickly, removing all traces of his own blood. Although Ilya was undoubtedly working to quell whatever rumors were currently being whispered at court, he would have to appear in person very soon, and it would be best to make it look as though he had only suffered a minor injury.

The Princess might have conceded for the moment, but it would not take her long to speak with Ilya about the changes she had noticed, and once she did, Ilya would think of nothing else.

Mikhail could not afford to lose his right hand at such a crucial time. There had to be a way to convince her to hold her tongue.

He shook his head at the thought. The Princess was not one to keep her mouth shut, even when her own life was on the line. No... he would have to find a way to keep the two of them well apart.

Which meant that he should hurry... Ilya could return at any moment.

Staggering out of the tub, he snatched a towel and dried himself quickly while leaning against the wall for support.

As requested his elaborate court clothing had been laid out nearby, but with admirable foresight, so had his robe. He was far too weak to attend court just yet, and his mental state was somewhat questionable as well.

He covered himself with his robe and tied the belt. A plan for keeping the Princess from speaking with Ilya had already started to form in his mind, and he would have to act quickly.

Keeping one hand on the wall, he made his way to the bedroom door. He paused a moment, and the lifted his hand to his head and furrowed his brow, attempting to look as if he were in great pain.

Opening the door, he staggered into the room, groaning.

The first thing he noticed was the wet dress discarded on the floor, and beside it, the Princess's drenched undergarments and bindings, and finally, he looked up to see that the Princess herself stood frozen in front of him, without a stich of clothing.