The Princess and the Warlock

Chapitre Vingt-Neuf

Kaius' arm was a reassuring pressure slung over my waist, and I reveled in the feel of his body pressed against mine. His breathing was coming in steady exhales and it was tickling the back of my neck, and he belonged fully to the realm of sleep. Sometimes we'd lay like this together, our bodies fitting together like pages of a book, close enough to feel every curve and muscle, but each time it left me feeling breathless. Knowing what a warm bed felt like now made me never want to sleep alone again, not without him.

He'd fallen asleep quickly, whereas my eyes refused to weigh down. The tension in my stomach and in my head were in tandem with each other, like a melody of pain that took its cues from a different instrument. I stared at the far wall in a blind gaze, trying not to wake him with a gasp of pain.

It seemed that nothing I did alleviated the pressure, not even slightly. Lying a certain way didn't affect the pain, nor did breathing rituals. A part of me knew that Kaius might have some potion for pain, or at least a sleeping potion—he'd told me that before—but I felt so bad at waking him up. I tightened my jaw.

His arm slung across me twitched in his sleep, tucking me closer against his side unconsciously.

For some reason, I found myself thinking about the dimkains, the very same ones who threatened to gut me open and sell my eyeballs. I thought about their decay and rot, about their strength and power hidden behind their ragged appearance. I wondered how a creature like them came to be, so horrid and remorseless.

I wondered about a lot of things, ones that never seemed to make any sense.

Kaius shifted behind me, not drawing me closer but not withdrawing either, just reminded me, unconsciously, that he was still there.

I stuck my foot out from underneath the blanket, letting the cool breeze brush along my toes. The breeze alone was enough to shoot goosebumps along my skin, and I burrowed back down into his grip.

But the pain. Oh God, the pain, it wasn't getting better. I couldn't allow the throbbing in my head to continue. "Kaius?" I whispered, afraid to make a noise too loud, too afraid it'd summon something from the dark. But my quiet voice was lost in the sound of his steady breathing, as receptive to my words as if I'd never spoken them. I reached down to run my fingertips along the arm thrown across me. "Kaius."

He made a noise, a 'mmhn' sort of sound, but didn't shift awake.

Suddenly, my stomach shifted, violently. It was as if it slammed against the side of my body, trying to crawl out. A thick feeling worked its way up my throat until I felt like I was about to gag. But—but—it wasn't just gagging, it was—

I threw Kaius arm off me and tossed it back at him, scrambling out of the bed with a desperation that rivaled everything else. My knees cracked against the floor, but I kept moving. "Hey," Kaius murmured with his sleep-roughed voice, calling after me. "Amora, what's wrong?"

But I couldn't stop to answer him; I barely made it as it was.

I collapsed through the bathroom door, sliding on my dress as I moved in front of the toilet, and threw up.

The pain in my head screamed at me as my stomach convulsed, the stitch in my side lessening as I got more and more of the toxins out of me. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd thrown up, but I never remembered this much pain.

My mouth was a nasty flavor, and I rested my forehead against my forearm once the cramps started to subside, squeezing my eyes shut. Strangely enough, I couldn't smell anything.

"Amora, are you okay?" Kaius' voice came from behind my dark world, my shut eyes shielding him from me.

I groaned, feeling another chill break across my skin. "Ew, go away. I'll come back in a minute."