The Lycan King's Healer
The Lycan King’s Healer – Chapter 49

I did not replace Aldrich that night. Worry began to seep into my former excitement about Alan, but I did not let it overpower me. He was a strong warrior who had seen death through his life perpetually as seasons, and very much likely had political matters to tend to.

I just wished he would come back so that I could tell him what I did. But before he arrived, I would figure out what to say when he asked how I did it.

For the time being, I did not have time to worry about that.

A g***n pierced the air and I grabbed Alan’s hand. His eyebrows were pinched together, sweat still beading on his face and naked chest.

“You’ve got this, Al,” I encouraged, rubbing the side of his thumb. “Focus. Don’t let the pain distract you.”

He was slowly mending together, piece by piece and bone by bone. Naturally, it was an agonizing, painstaking process in which the bones unbreak themselves and structure back into place. Sometimes, they ripped through arteries and veins to piece back together. Even worse, Alan could not be nursed properly in casing or any sort of binding because his bones could not be confined in them.

The fracture in his skull was also healing, but it resulted in awful headaches that often forced him to lose consciousness. I woke him up despite his protests, allowing small respites of peace and reprieves from the pain, but not for too long. He would heal faster if he willed his body to; that was part of the magic. The body in itself would be dead on its own, but due to human will and spirit and his soul remaining in that body, it was reviving. Without his inner dialogue, it would slowly become just a corpse again.

“This is f*****g worse than death,” Alan gasped, and I watched as his leg shifted slightly.

I smiled sympathetically at him, not wanting to make things worse by being negative. “You know that’s not true.”

“The worst parts are where the bone had broken through the skin,” he rasped, and I reached up to dab the sweat off his forehead. “When it heals back, it rips back into the skin.”

“Have my salves helped with the flesh wounds?” I asked, then corrected myself, “well, I know they have. But have they helped with the pain?”

He shrugged, then immediately g*****d at the automatic movement. His shoulder blades had not fully healed yet.

“No. But you know what would help?” he asked sarcastically, narrowing his eyes up at me.

I brushed his auburn hair back, looking at him, “What would that be?”

“Pain relievers,” he hissed.

I sighed, looking away exasperated. “Alan, will you please stop guilting me for that?” I g*****d, “you know why I can’t give them to you.”

He had been begging for them since he had woken up this morning. The sun had now started to dim in the sky, and he was still speaking of them.

“I think it’s stupid,” he grumbled, a permanent look of pain on his face.

I took a wet rag and blotted it through his hair to clean off the sweat. “We cannot risk dampening the magic with more medicine.”

“Who knew magic was so painful? I’d say the pain relievers are more magical than this shit,” he muttered.

“He’s literally been miraculously brought back from the dead and still has the nerve to complain,” said Danika, who came strolling into the room. Theo held her hand tightly, his eyes wide and nervous.

I laughed, striding over to Theo to pick him up as Alan retorted insults to Danika. My son nestled against me and I rubbed his back. “How are you doing, buddy?”

He pouted, his eyes bulbous as the moon. “Did Uncle Alan really die?”

“He did,” I slowly began, hesitating on how to explain to him, “but we brought him back to life using magic.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, puzzled.

“It can only happen this once,” I reminded him, not wanting him to misconceive death as an undoable thing.

“I’m alright, Theo,” Alan assured him, even though his face did not reflect that.

“Aldich is alright, too, by the way,” Danika said, looking at me assuredly.

“Where is he?” I asked as my heart fluttered, and I gently eased Theo onto Alan’s bed.

“He’s back at the estate in the meeting room with his entourage,” she said, “He came out of there as I was passing through to the garden.”

“That’s good to hear,” I said, brushing my hair behind my ear. “Has he been alerted that Alan is alright?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so because he seems really out of it,” she mused, an eyebrow cocked.

“What do you mean?”

“As I was passing through, he looked at me like he saw a ghost. Then shook his head and went back inside the room.”

“There’s no way he’s handling this very well. But I don’t want the whole kingdom knowing of Alan yet,” I contemplated, pursing my lips. “The person who tried to…” I pressed my hands against Theo’s ears, “murder him is still out there, and I don’t exatly want them knowing they failed.”

“Tonight is only for the two of us.”

“Let them know,” Alan grumbled, “I dare them to try again. I can bet you this time it will be them broken on the ground.”

“Let them know,” Alan grumbled, “I dare them to try again. I can bet you this time it will be them broken on the ground.”

“You don’t even have an intact collar bone right now,” Danika snorted.

Alan shot a glare at her. “And can still flick you like a fly.”

“Enough from you two,” I said, rolling my eyes. Careful not to cause movement in the bed, I lifted Theo from it to hand him to Danika. “I’m going to be here for a little while longer. Can you bring Theo to dinner?”

She enveloped him in her arms and nodded. “Of course.”

I kissed Theo’s cheek and watched them go, wondering if I’ll ever have the quality time I used to have with him again.

***

I stayed with Alan for several more hours. I felt some form of obligation to, as if I was the one who killed him, as if I was somehow responsible for his death. My eyes were heavy with sleep, as if two rocks were taped to my eyelids, and I realized I had not gone to sleep for forty eight hours. He scolded me to go to bed when he realized I was drooling on his pillow.

“Fine,” I muttered, rubbing at my sleepy eyes. “But do not sleep for longer than eight hours. Do you understand?”

He rolled his eyes. “I will have the nurses wake me.”

“Alright,” I sighed, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

I gave him a peck on the cheek before dragging my feet out of the room. He was right to force me to bed; I doubted I was useful company hovering over him with the same behavior of a zombie.

I did my usual routine as far as locating Theo. He was not practicing outside, and I did not replace him in the foyer or the hallways. He was missing from his bed.

That same dread I got last time curled in my stomach, heavy as boulders in my intestines. Where was Theo? Where was Danika?

I hurried up to my room, now in a sudden panic. My paranoia was bad before, but now with Alan being brutally murdered, I had no choice but to immediately think the worst. I sprinted up the stairs, gripping my torn and dirty ball gown skirts up.

When I stormed into my room looking for Theo, I instead found Aldrich.

He turned to me, his only attire a thin, white bath robe. Flashing me that familiar smirk, he said,

“Tonight is only for the two of us.”