An idea popped into her head, almost as if it had been whispered into her ear. "Menion! Where is Menion? I need him!"
As if he’d always been by her side, Menion suddenly appeared, crouching on the opposite side of Drake. The prince's face drained of blood as he took in the sight of his fallen comrade.
"What can I do?" he asked.
"My tears," Kira announced, pressing her palms harder into Drake's side when she felt fresh blood beginning to well between her fingers. Drake gave a weak groan, and Kira could feel his life force ebbing away beneath her hands.
"What about my mother?" Menion asked.
Frustration threatened to make Kira blow with anger, but instead she leveled her gaze with Menion's and asked, "Do you trust me?"
Menion didn't hesitate. He simply nodded, and as if he knew what she was saying, he pulled the glass vial of tears from his breast pocket. Kira was astonished to see it still intact.
"You traitor!" she heard King Dunston yell from somewhere close by. "You would allow your own mother to die for some stranger!"
Menion didn’t seem to hear him, and instead remained with his eyes focused on Kira. She offered him a smile and assured him, "I won't let your mother die."
As if he saw the certainty in her blue eyes, Menion pulled the cork from the bottle. He looked at Kira again for further instructions, and she told him, "As soon as I remove my hands, pour the tears onto his wound."
Gods, I hope this works! she prayed silently, knowing they really had no evidence that it would. All they had were the things Menion had read in his books and scrolls. For all they knew, they were merely old wives’ tales.
Menion nodded, his shaking hand growing steady as he held the vial over Drake's wound. The battle continued around them, Blake's men joining their king to keep Dunston's men off them. Kira held her breath and removed her hands from Drake's side, biting the inside of her lip painfully as she watched Menion pour the only cure he had for his mother onto the wound of a man who was supposed to be his mortal enemy.
She did not have time to learn whether it had worked, because the pain that had begun to develop in her side as Drake drew closer to her suddenly grew to a lightning strike of sheer, mind-splitting agony. A scream erupted involuntarily from her lips as her ears were filled with the same pain-filled wail that escaped Drake.
Chapter 18 - Drake
White-hot, blinding pain lanced through Drake's entire body, resonating from the arrow wound in his side. He’d barely been conscious when it began, distantly able to hear Kira's sweet, worried voice somewhere above him. But the moment the pain began, he realized he’d never felt more alive. It was agonizing and exhilarating at the same time, piercing through his entire body like a red-hot lightning bolt. The metallic taste of blood in his mouth suddenly became sweet, and he breathed a deep sigh of relief as the pain began to subside.
“Kira! Kira!” Menion’s anxious screeching brought Drake back to reality, and the ship’s deck. He opened his eyes just in time to see the prince practically lunging over him to grab Kira’s head before it hit the deck.
Reaching down instinctively for the dull aching wound in his side, Drake realized the arrow was gone. No wonder it’s not so painful, he thought, but when he glanced down at his side, he was astonished to find there was nothing left of the wound save for a smear of blood and a torn, bloody hole in his tunic.
“What the…” He began to ask what the hell could have healed his wound when he realized it didn’t matter right now. What mattered was whatever the hell was wrong with Kira. Astonished by the fact that he could move without pain jolting through his entire body, he moved quickly to kneel beside Menion, who was cradling Kira in his lap, holding her head as if she were a baby and he was frightened her neck might break if he dropped her.
“What happened?” Drake asked. Fear lanced through him just as painfully as the actual pain he’d felt when he’d been shot.
At first, Menion seemed not to hear him. He simply gazed down at Kira, stroking her ice-blonde hair away from her pale face. Then he turned to Drake and responded, “She felt your wound healing as if it were her own.”
Drake’s stomach clenched at the knowledge. So that’s what I felt, he realized, the memory of the pain burning afresh in his mind. He touched his side again and asked Menion, “Is she going to be okay?”
He was jealous of the foreign prince. How reassuring it must be for him to know all he did about oracles and fated mates, and everything else he’d learned from the books in his father’s library. Drake longed for that kind of knowledge so he could stop worrying about Kira constantly. At least he’s here, Drake reminded himself, trying to push down the jealousy.
“She’ll be fine as long as we can get her off this ship,” Menion assured him. “If my father gets his hands on her, he’ll kill her.”
His concern for Kira had been all-consuming, and it wasn’t until Menion spoke of the danger they were facing that Drake finally realized they were surrounded on all sides by fighting men. Standing closest to them was Blake, his sword swinging over and over, blocking the men of the Forgotten Isle with apparent ease. Yet with every blow, he seemed to be tiring, and Drake knew his brother couldn’t last forever.
“Are you as good with a sword as you are with your books?” Drake asked, even as he reached for his own sword, which lay discarded close by.
Menion simply gazed at him with a determined expression and nodded.
“Good, because it looks like my brother and his men are tiring,” Drake pointed out. He, on the other hand, suddenly felt as if he had the strength of ten men coursing through his veins. “What do you say we give him a break?”
Again, Menion nodded, and he grabbed his own sword.
The two men swung their swords into a fighting position even as they jumped to their feet, and Drake yelled, “Blake! Get Kira out of here. We can take these idiots!” He slammed his sword into place, blocking a well-aimed sword that might’ve shaven half an inch from his brother’s head, and inclined his own head to Kira as he added, “You’re tired. Take her and get out of here.”
For just a second, Blake looked like he was going to protest. Then Menion appeared on the opposite side of the Winter King. The prince added, “We have to keep her safe. Take her now!”