Alpha King's Healer

13

Was I out of my mind? As far as I was concerned, Thaddeus and I's Kraujo dalmas was successful, but we were not mates. We couldn't be. I didn't notice that Thaddeus had chased after me until I heard my name.

"Aurelia," He calls.

I don't know why, but I kept walking away from him despite wanting so bad to stop and ask him all the questions that were in my mind. I feared they were too jumbled to make any sense, to even form into words to speak as I rounded a corner. I feared that he now knew my blood could cure him.

"Aurelia, wait," Thaddeus demanded.

I also feared that if I stopped, I would want more from him. A drug I couldn't get enough of. What was the matter with me? What was it that I wanted? Why did his blood feel so good, pure even?

What was it that I wanted from him? To stay away from me? To answer my questions? To devour me whole?

I feel a hand grab my upper arm gently, quickly spinning me around. I was face to face with him now. Our noses barely touching. Our lips just barely hovering against one another's. I couldn't help but imagine the taste of his skin against mine. I don't know what came over me, and though I tried to resist myself, I wanted it all.

"Aurelia, your mind is playing tricks on you," he finally whispers.

Thaddeus steps back from me. He runs his hands through his raven curls before bringing them down over his eyes and nose, stopping at his lips.

He then sighs, his head slightly tilting to the side.

I was embarrassed with myself, shaking my head at not him, but me.

"My curse, it makes anyone I choose to become a mate of mine. This makes my Kraujo dalmas successful with anyone," he explains quietly. "I didn't know for sure if it would work on a dark healer, which is why before the dinner I had the servants give you Daelum's port wine. It's stronger than the wine in the north. I knew it would null your abilities, increasing the chance of the blood sharing to be successful."

"So you sacrificed my chance of being with my mate on a whim?" If the harshness in my tone affects him, he didn't show it. His expression was stoic. What he did in there threatens to paralyze me, yet he seems completely unaffected by what it has done to whatever agreement we had.

"I don't do anything on a whim, Aurelia, especially when my throne is at stake," he argues. "Besides, did you not hear me? The wine and my curse made it so you were temporarily mates with me. Therefore, you will still be able to find your true mate, if you even have one."

"So none of that was real?"

"No. It was an illusion my cursed heart created," he assures me. "Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people," Thaddeus reveals.

His heart is what put him in that situation to begin with, but also saved him. Thaddeus had a clever mind, a blessing as a ruler, a scary thought as his servant. His servant. Him making sure I had the strongest wine was a good thing. If my abilities were nulled, my blood didn't heal him. He doesn't know it does yet. This gave me time to still figure out his cure without sacrificing everything in my life.

After tonight, I wasn't sure I wanted to sacrifice more than I needed for him. Thaddeus was cunning. There was nothing stopping him from being the same with me.

✧ ✧ ✧

The bath water was warm. The servants had poured milk into it earlier, claiming it was a western custom for royals to bathe in the richness of it. I personally thought it was a waste.