Delphinium, or A Necromancer's Home (TCoLaD Book 2)

Witch

~ (Continued) Trisday, 1st of Aprilis, 11831 ~

The traveling parties returned their luggage to the carriages and made to continue the journey. It would be better to leave in late afternoon and gain some ground rather than wait for morning, given that two days had already slipped by.

"You are sure you are feeling up to traveling?" Pierre asked her as he helped Lizzy into their carriage. His good mood at her recovery was quickly brought down by the uncertainty of how it had occurred. This was not an illness ending naturally. It was all at the desire of spirits that he had not been able to control. What was to say that they would not change their mind? "And do you wish to continue to Piques? We can return you to Quercus for a time. You may come visit in a few weeks when you are better." Several of the traveling party would, in fact, be heading in Eichel's direction today instead of continuing along to Spadille.

"I have said I am fine, Pierre. I already wrote Mother and Father that it was just a small cough and there is nothing to worry about. Returning me home will only reveal my lie. Beside, you were far more ill than I recently and you are traveling."

"You said nothing the first week until you were too ill to hide it."

To this she did not reply and settled into her seat. Pluta, seemingly taking her side, jumped into her lap and purred.

He sighed and closed the door, taking the chance that no one would notice they were without a third party save for his cat. He sat across from Lizzy, placing his cane against the seat.

Her health, and more specifically what it meant, was a mystery. He longed to understand her body and what had happened, to feel her soul again against his, the desire stronger even still than the need to be near her physically. Their connection was weak as he had slipped her blood a few days past already and it would break by tomorrow. He knew the spirits had done something, came to some sort of conclusion, but the why and what it meant eluded him. Mora had merely said that they accepted her as his lady, but he did not believe she would become a practitioner.

Compromising, he moved to sit beside her and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her to his side. His fingers found her pulse, and he only relaxed when he could feel its strength.

"And how are you?" Elizabeth asked, curling up into his embrace. Her pulse increased. "Did the tea I ask for help?"

"You sent that? Thank you. It did, actually." Before leaving, he had received a cup of chamomile tea with varying other herbs that sometimes helped for headaches and sweetened with honey. He had thought it a nice but useless gesture. Those teas had not worked on one of his headaches in years. The pain was from performing magic, and more than simple herbal cures would have been needed. This time there had been a difference, though.

"Good! Now we are both well."

Assured, he pulled out his deck of cards from his front pocket and began to shuffle them. While this often helped him to think, giving his hands something to do so that his mind could concentrate, he now relaxed in the repetition.

When he paused, Lizzy reached over and took the deck of cards from his hand. She glanced at him, down to the cards, and tried to do a fancy shuffle like she had seen him do... and this ended with most of the cards spilling onto her lap. Pluta sprung back in surprise with a yowl.

"Pardon! I'm sorry, Pluta!" Lizzy gathered up the cards before sheepishly returning them to Pierre. He could not hold back a chuckle.

"There are seventy-eight in the deck, you are not used to so many," he said, kissing her forehead.

Seeing her interest, he began to show off, tossing the cards in the air and making them disappear into a cupped palm. Pluta watched for several moments, at one point standing on her back legs and trying to grab one from the air. Failing that, she sneezed and moved over to the corner, beginning to wash her paws. Pierre thought he heard her say something along the lines of, 'I could have caught that if I wanted to.'