Between the Veil and Crown

Arvek 50

They arrived at the castle and Arvek handed his horse off to a stableboy who appeared to be doing everything in his power to stay and awake and be respectful. He paid no mind to the stableboy's mistakes, though, as his attention was on making sure that Selim was safely taken into the castle. He followed the guards who carefully brought him to his room, and laid him on the bed according to Rasinod's instruction. Servants had hurried before them and prepared the room, starting a fire in the fireplace to keep it warm. Arvek then dismissed them, remaining in the room with Rasinod as the healer checked over Selim.

"I will have a better read of things in the morning, but I am afraid that the treatment itself is not enough," Rasinod said grimly.

"What do you plan on doing?"

"I will have to remove certain things from his diet," Rasinod said. "It will help weaken the seal and let the treatment run its course." Straightening and looking Arvek in the eye, he said, "It will get worse before it gets better."

There was no comfort in those words. There was instead a surge of disgust at what Rasinod proposed. "Removing certain things from the diet" . . . . It was not as if Selim were receiving much in the first place. He spent most of his time unconscious, and could only eat before the next treatment was administered.

"Well, I must be off to bed," Rasinod said. "I will see that I have enough ingredients to continue the treatment, and assess his condition. You should rest as well. He will be fine for the night." He tilted his head respectfully and then left the room.

Arvek looked down at his brother, wishing that he would wake. But even in the flickering shadows, Selim's face looked too ill to fulfill that wish. Sighing heavily, Arvek closed the curtains on the bed and left.

He came to his room to find that it was already prepared for him. More than just prepared- it was much warmer than he would have expected from a fire that had been recently started. He made his way over to the bed, freezing only a few steps away from the door when he saw that there was the figure of a woman sitting in his bed. There was a book on her lap and her head was bent over, having fallen asleep while reading.

As the door softly clicked into place behind him, she lifted her head slowly. It was then that Arvek remembered with a jolt that it was Rovyna. His wife. He was married. It was to be expected that she would be here.

Hoping to mask his embarrassment of forgetting this, he cleared his throat and said in a forcefully steady voice, "I did not wake you, did I?"

She smiled softly. "It does not matter. Welcome home."

He nodded stiffly, his muscles still not fully recovered from the whiplash of being twice shocked. In order to avoid making the situation uncomfortably awkward, he forced himself to move.

Watching his progress to the open side of the bed, she asked, "I would hope that your return means you were successful in finding him?"

Arvek grimaced.

Her smile faded into a look of concern. "You were not successful?"

"I was . . . and I wasn't," he said quietly. He slowly sat down on the edge of the bed, rubbing his forehead. He did not have an actual headache, but it felt as though he should, and that his brain was ready throw one out when he was least expecting it.

Rovyna was quiet, waiting for him to gather the words to explain himself.

"We found him," Arvek finally said, hand still on forehead. "We brought him home. But . . . he's not himself." After taking a deep breath, he explained what had transpired when he had finally crossed paths with Selim, how Selim stood in defense of his kidnapper and a test conducted by Rasinod determined him sealed under the influence of an obsession potion. How Rasinod administered a dangerous treatment against his wishes, forcing them to go home without being able to contact the Rangers for explanation. He ended with Rasinod's last remark regarding Selim's treatment going forward. Rovyna listened mostly without saying anything, only throwing a question here and there for clarity.