to get up and start stretching. In fact, it hurt so much that she suddenly realized that her wounded foot had healed much, much faster than she had expected it would and had not been bothering her for days.
Was that a good sign, or a bad one?
She forced herself out of bed, now full of the urgent need to get to her mirror and try to speak with the Godmother. Sapphire was right there with some of the liniment that she had made yesterday, and it helped tremendously, enough so that she could lean down, and despite Sapphire trying to prevent her from doing so, she undid the bandages on the bitten foot and examined it critically.
To her intense relief, the bite marks were still there. Healing, but not unnaturally fast. So why didn’t it hurt?
Except — the moment she took the bandages off, it started to.
What on earth —
She examined the bandages closely, swatting away Sapphire’s invisible hands as she tried to reclaim them. Were there marks on them?
She narrowed her eyes and let them unfocus a little, because the marks were so faint otherwise that if she stared too hard they all but disappeared. There were marks on them. And they looked like letters and figures, the same sort of things that were written within the circles on the floor of Sebastian’s workroom.
“Are these bandages magic?” she demanded of Sapphire, allowing her to reclaim them at last.
Sapphire didn’t answer until she had gotten the foot rewrapped — and the pain vanished again. Only then did she pick up the slate to reply. “Yes,” she wrote. “Duk.”
“And they were supposed to keep my foot from hurting?” Well, at least now she wouldn’t have to bother the Godmother.
“Yes.”
She sighed, and wished she could ask him for more, to wrap her legs in…but no. He had already told her that magic was difficult and expensive in that way. She wondered just what the bandages had cost him in effort.
“Well, all I can say is that I am grateful to him. And I am glad I made this liniment smell as pleasant as I did.” With a suppressed groan, she got out of bed and this time allowed Sapphire to help her dress.
She was feeling more herself at the end of a productive morning in the stillroom, with several things on Sebastian’s list completed, and more of the remedies most households needed restocked. She was still moving a little stiffly, though, as she went down to dinner, and found the Duke and Eric both there. Eric was, as she was coming to expect, almost finished with his meal. He didn’t seem to eat, so much as inhale, and she didn’t think she had ever seen one man put away as much food into so lean a frame in her life.
Sebastian looked alarmed at her stiffness, but Eric took it in and chuckled. “Riding astride would have been easier,” he said. “You put twice the strain on yourself with that unnatural position.”
“Oh, I know,” she replied with a grimace. “Every muscle told me about it this morning, and I actually did have a hot soak before I went to bed.”
Sebastian looked blankly at the two of them for a moment, then blinked and looked relieved. “Oh, you’re saddle sore! I’m sorry — ”
“It will work out. But, Eric, I would really rather not accompany you on an all-afternoon trek again until I’ve worked my way up to it.” She gave him a glare. “And you knew very well I was going to be hurting, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t even know you were going to make it past the gates,” he replied. “When you did, I didn’t know if you would make it as far as the game trail. Then when you did, well, I had work to do. A little soreness won’t kill you.”
“I am greatly tempted to throw something at you,” she said, crossly, but sat down instead and applied herself to her dinner.
“In that case, I’ll get back to work in case you change your mind and hurl a plate at me.” He smirked at her, then got up and left the table and the room.
“I should have hurled a plate at him,” she grumbled. After a moment, Sebastian chuckled.
“Eric has his moments,” he offered.
“Well, I haven’t seen any,” she retorted. “How on earth did he ever get away with behaving like that when there were people here?”
“He didn’t,” Sebastian replied. “Or rather, he didn’t behave like that. At least I never saw him do so. Did your box work?”
That put her back in her good mood. “Oh, yes,” she replied, and beamed at him. “It’s hard to describe — it makes such a difference, just being able to let father know, well, everything, and hearing back from him again.”
Sebastian looked wistful, and a little melancholy. “I wish I had someone who would — ” he began, then broke off whatever he was going to say. “Well, never mind. The important thing is that now both of you are easier in your minds. Did you have anything planned for this afternoon?”
The question took her completely by surprise. “Well, I was going to continue to work in the stillroom, but it is nothing I couldn’t put off. Why?”
“I could use your help with some magic,” he said, hesitantly. “Something I am going to do to try and figure out about our mutual problem. If you don’t mind, that is.”
“Try to stop me,” she replied. Firmly.
