The Last Damsel - Prompt Challenge

Day Nine - Illness

"Is this completely necessary?"

Or at least, that was what Cedrix had intended to say. Thanks to the piece of medical equipment that had been unceremoniously shoved into his mouth, it came out more like "mff thff cmplteh nfffsehry'.

"My apologies, sire," The healer's apprentice stammered, not understanding a word Cedrix was trying to say but figuring it was better to be safe than sorry, "Only with all the assassination attempts recently, we do need to make sure this isn't the early symptoms of a curse."

Cedrix wouldn't exactly call one half-rate hitman with shoddy aim and a couple of would-be poisoners who'd laced his breakfast with ground chalk instead of arsenic assassination attempts. Not compared to the renegade knight who'd climbed through Cedrix's bedroom window on the prince's fifth birthday and had to be taken out with a couple of toy horses and a nightshirt, but it seemed his staff were unrelenting in their over-caution. Hence a few days of sniffles and sneezes had led to Cedrix's chambers being overrun with the castle's entire rota of medical and magical experts.

And since they were all too high and mighty to stick an arcane thermometer in his mouth themselves, they'd also brought their apprentices.

"Are curses bad?"

Tim didn't sound overly worried. If anything, he sounded almost excited by the prospect. Cedrix wouldn't have minded, but being able to ease Tim's fears was the only reason he'd given in to this needless examination in the first place.

"Yes." A different apprentice replied. This one was hitting Cedrix's knees with a small hammer, although what that had to do with his sneezes Cedrix couldn't fathom. At least the thermometer was finally being taken out of his mouth.

"Although how bad depends on who cast the curse," The hammer-wielding apprentice continued, giving Cedrix's knee another tap and watching it jerk violently, "Older magic users tend to stick to traditional curses; eternal sleep, physical distortions, animal shape, that sort of thing. Nasty, but the advantage of traditional curses is that we're aware of the traditional cures."

"Oh, oh, I know this one," Tim, for some reason, raised his hand, "True Love's Kiss!"

Grinning, he kissed Cedrix's cheek. Cedrix rolled his eyes.

"Well will you look at that," He declared, "I'm cured."

"Really?"

"No."

As if prove his point, Cedrix sneezed.

"There's also the reformists." Apprentice #2 hid a smile as she continued, "Mostly younger magic users who caught on to how quickly traditional curses were being cured and tried to come up with alternatives, with varying degrees of success. They don't always take, but those that do are the hardest to break, because the cure could be literally anything."

"But," Said Tim, with the expression that meant he was really struggling to understand something, rather than just his usual constant level of mild confusion, "Why would someone want to curse Cedrix?"

"Tim, we've been over this," Cedrix quickly said before either of the apprentices thought they were supposed to answer him and started to panic, "Being a prince sometimes puts me in danger, but I have no intention of dying anytime soon. Unless, of course, I am to be crushed to death by this inane crowd of doctors."

Apprentice #3, who had been slowly approaching Cedrix with a medical instrument that frankly looked more dangerous than the entirety of the castle armoury, quickly pretended they hadn't been doing that after all and, whistling, backed away.

"You promise?"

Tim's eyes were wide, bottom lip trembling, and Cedrix melted.

"I promise to remain alive," He said, pulling his arm away from apprentice #? to gently cup Tim's face, "Besides, if there is an assassin out there competent enough to curse me, I have no doubt that you will be able to break it."

Slowly, he drew Tim closer. Ignoring the room full of magicians, medical experts, and apprentices, he closed his eyes, pressed his lips gently against his husband's...

And sneezed.