Moonflower

Chapter 21: Tears and Fears

Two of the guards were practically carrying Taehyung to the king's chamber. Mari walked unassisted. But her back was hurting something awful. She could not imagine enduring that eighteen more times like her beautiful boy had.

She was terrified he was going to die. He didn't even appear conscious anymore. The guards carried him into the room and deposited him on his stomach on a couch. Mari knelt next to him.

"You foolish, marvelous man," she whispered as she touched his head.

The bandage was soaked through with blood again. That's what had her so worried. She began to unwind it. She saw him wince.

"Are you awake?" She bent over his face and whispered in his ear.

He groaned.

"I do not even know your name," she whispered on a sob. "You saved my life, and I don't even know your name."

"Tae—"

His voice faded away.

"Please. Let me attend to him." It was the surgeon's gentle voice.

"He's lost so much blood," she whimpered. "I'm terrified that it's too much."

The sympathetic man glanced down at her. "Let me see what I can do, child. He seemed pretty strong still when he shoved you out of the way."

She nodded. "He did, didn't he? Brave soul."

"This is a nasty gash. It's deep. When did this happen?"

"Around two-thirty this morning."

"Hmm," he nodded. "Did you salve it?"

She nodded. "I did." She told him what she'd used.

His eyebrows flew north in admiration and surprise. "How do you know the medicinal arts so well?"

"A friend taught me from a child."

He nodded sagely as he attended to Taehyung's wound. "This poor man. He's been beaten so badly."

"I will nurse him every night - all night long - until he is recovered," she promised.

"You'd best marry him first," Yoongi's dry voice interrupted their conversation. "Those people are bloodthirsty."

She glanced up at the king. "He told them I was his fiancé."

Yoongi nodded. "Quite right. And so you are. As soon as he is conscious, we'll perform the ceremony and make it official. It will protect you from any more days like this one."

She demured. "I am happy to see, Your Highness, that you're all right. He was very worried about you. He tried to leave my bedchamber last night to search for you, but he passed out before he could get off the bed."

"Foolish girl! Why did you take him to your room?"

"He was bleeding profusely! I was afraid he was going to die. The palace was asleep. I have poultices from the healing arts in my bedroom.

"I didn't intend to sleep in the bed with him. But he was doing so poorly, I was afraid to leave him. I applied pressure to his wound for close to an hour. By the time it stopped seeping, I was exhausted. I couldn't think straight. I just collapsed next to him."

Yoongi shook his head.

Just then, Moonflower walked through the door to his bedroom.

"Yoongi?" she whispered. "Who's here? What's going on?"

"My love," he smiled and walked over to her, "Taehyung was attacked. He was knocked out, and this kind girl here nursed him back to health in her own bedroom. But they were found together in her bed this morning, and the order was given to cane her."