Garden of Embers: Beneath Devouring Eyes #2

Chapter 10, Final Part

"It came through the Electi," Aix said three hours later.

Domi looked from one lifeholder to the next, feeling glum. At least Aix, Hedera, Edera, and Arbita weren't hovering over him at the moment, clucking over his health until they realized he wasn't lying about being fine. Instead, they huddled with Valens at his bedchamber table while Domi, banished to his bed, leaned against his headboard with a goblet of throat-soothing tea and glared.

They ignored him.

He set his drink aside on his nightstand and crossed his arms, eyes narrowing. It was just a stupid sniffle. His fever made the Trellis burn just a little brighter, nothing spectacular, and he barely felt sick. He was a Lightholder now, not suppressed and ill anymore like he'd been his whole life. He felt amazing compared to how miserable even the mildest colds used to make him. They were making a big deal out of nothing.

And he wanted a nap, but it was impossible to get one when they wouldn't stop blathering. He was a Princeps now, but when he'd demanded they get out of his room, everyone had just glanced at him and then returned to talking like he hadn't even spoken.

"It's spreading among the Electi?" Edera repeated Aix's words.

Domi scowled. He didn't know why she'd even been invited to this little meeting. The girl may have been a lifeholder, but she was also a kid. And she wasn't his real wife, just a fake. Edera had her royal suite connected to his own. He wished she'd just stay in it where he didn't have to see her, and yet here she was, avoiding his gaze.

"Yes," Arbita said. "The Electi seem to have been the first to catch it."

Valens shook his head, grimacing. "Great. Just great."

"What?" Domi asked.

Hedera sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose the way her son sometimes did. Domi glanced from one to the other, smirking. He doubted Valens would appreciate the comparison. But Hedera's words made his smile fade. "The Electi interact with everyone visiting the palace, Nepos."

"Young Sidus was not the first to fall ill with this," Aix added. "Half the Electi are sniffling."

Cold flooded Domi as he realized what they were saying. Sidus might just be sniffling, but Radix had become very sick. They were fine again, better than him in fact and resting now in Aix's quarters so their new aedificans could keep a closer eye on them. But what about all the other Pyrrhaei? One kiss and Domi had given this to his best friend. It spread so easily, and Pyrrhaei were so vulnerable compared to Lightholders.

His voice sounded small and far away as a roar grew in his ears. "So it'll soon be all over the palace. And the capital."

"It already is," Hedera said, her tone and expression absent as she summoned promenia that grew iridescent. Domi thought he recognized the thrum of a communique. "And it is far more dangerous for Pyrrhaei and Lightless than it is for us. Fifteen million lives are at risk. I have to notify the Princeps Lifeholder."

Domi trembled with dread, cold and dizzy, and the Trellis wavered with a sickly red ripple outside the window.

Aix glanced at him, frowned, and hurried over. "Basilicus?" He guided Domi to slump back against goose-feather pillows. "Lie down. Are you feeling worse?" Promenia hummed somewhere beyond the darkness crowding Domi's vision. And the patter of rain. Great. He couldn't do anything right.

"Don't heal him," Hedera murmured over the ringing in the boy's ears. "This illness is not dangerous for him and he needs to learn to use his prometus."

"I know, but he's very pale," the gray-eyed sorcerer said, worry thick in his voice. He pressed a palm to Domi's forehead. "No warmer than before, however."