The Hathway Kingdom (Book 2)

Thirty-Four

~Thirty-Four. ~

The fever came quicker than anyone had anticipated.

One morning, Larissa had been sitting up and talking happily with her cousin, Lizbeth, Iovianus, and Romulus, who had refused to leave her side. The next day, Romulus had woken with a start when he felt just how hot her hand had been beneath his. His heart had thundered in his chest, and he reached forward slowly and cautiously towards her forehead to check her temperature. He had then yelped as Larissa felt hotter than Lizbeth did when she was in her phoenix form. This then resulted in him calling for Rosaleen, who had appeared in a matter of seconds and began working on her once more.

Romulus paced about the room as Rosaleen did everything within her abilities to get the fever back down. Nothing she did worked, and in the end all they could do was try and keep her cool and comfortable and hope that her body would rid itself of the fever on its own. With instructions to call for her if there was any change, and Rosaleen had specified any change, she had left Romulus to tend to Larissa. Soaking a cloth in cool water, he draped it over her forehead with a sigh. He'd taken care of someone who was sick before. His sister had caught something that was similar to the flu or pneumonia when she was younger. Lavina Maki, the Falconer Healer, had told him what he needed to do to help his sister get better and he had followed her instructions to the letter. And he would do the same again with Larissa.

He gently dabbed at her face with another clean cloth, having lightly soaked the end of it in the water to dampen it. She still felt too hot for his liking. He was certain her skin felt like Lizbeth's did immediately before she shifted. He had never liked standing beside his sister when she shifted. It had always made his skin crawl but not in a bad way. Never in a bad way, more in discomfort. He looked down at Larissa as a whimper escaped her lips and he reached down, gently cupping and then stroking her cheek.

"Shh...I'm here, Larissa," he said gently before she turned and leant into his touch. He smiled softly at this before he reached out with his free hand and removed the cloth from her forehead. It was all but bone dry not, given how hot her skin still was. Removing his hand from her cheek and doing his best to ignore the whimper that he heard from her, he soaked the cloth once more before he replaced it on her forehead.

He looked at her gently as he placed the cloth on her forehead. The cut that had been on her cheek had healed and whatever wound that had been on her head from the collapse of the cave when he had found her reduced to a mere lump on her head now. Rosaleen had assured him that her wounds were, if not completely, then mostly healed and there was no longer any risk of infection. There was, unfortunately, the risk that she had caught something in the days that she had been buried under all the rubble before she was found. Something that was only making itself known now that everything else had been tended to and dealt with.

Romulus bit down on the inside of his cheek as he changed the cloth for the third time in almost as many minutes. Looking at her now, he was certain that she had caught something before he had found her. Her skin was hot and clammy, and her face was scrunched up as she had yet another fitful dream. Which, he realised, had turned into a nightmare in seconds as she let out a whimper and her hands fisted the blankets. He moved quickly, climbing onto the bed after kicking off his shoes before he gently moved her, adjusting her so that he could hold her and so that she was lying with her head on his chest now.

"Shh, my love. Shh. I'm here," he whispered to her softly, leaning down to kiss the top of her head before he began to stroke her hair, doing everything he could to soothe her and help her through the nightmare.

The fever broke in the early hours of the following morning, whilst the moon was still in the sky and before the sun was able to make itself known. The sky was still bleak and grey outside, but it no longer thundered or cracked with lightning. It rained on and off but nothing that would soak someone through to the bone as it had been in the days prior.