“Who was it?”
“His name is Jordan Young, although you’ll probably get to know him as Eros the Irresistible.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Irresistible?”
“Yeah, I know. He’s an odd character.”
“How so?”
I wasn’t sure how much I should tell her about him. He was my patient, after all, and there was this thing called doctor-patient confidentiality that I was sworn to abide by. However, because he was my patient, he was now also a suspect in the murder of Mr. Duncan. Maybe the princess could help me determine if he was more than that.
“For one thing,” I said, “he’s been to Faythander. I already performed the first spellcasting, and it confirmed that he’s been there. But he wouldn’t let me perform the second test that would replay his memories.”
“He wouldn’t let you? Do you think perhaps he’s hiding something?”
“It’s quite likely. He wouldn’t have any memories of Faythander, so he may not remember everything, but if he went there with a specific purpose in mind, then he would at least have some knowledge of what went on while he was there.”
“But how would he have gotten there? And how would he have known of Faythander in the first place?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have any answers, and there’s only one way to get them—I’ll have to ask him. He may not like it.”
“But what if he tries to harm you?”
“Then I’ll have to be careful.”
She gave me a pensive glare. “I think it is too risky. You should let the Wults accompany you.”
“No. They would most likely scare him, and then he wouldn’t answer any of my questions.”
“Then take my brother—or me.”
“Esmelda, you don’t understand. He is my patient, and I can’t let anyone be there when I question him. I’d be breaking all sorts of ethical codes, and I doubt he would answer my questions if anyone else were in the room.”
“Then we shall not be in the room,” Heidel said as she emerged from Kull’s chamber. “We will be close if you should need our aid, but we will not interfere.”
“Will you be going to the festival grounds soon?” the princess asked me.
“Yes, I just need to check on something first.” I left the princess and found my way to Kull’s room. Entering that room again was something I had to force myself to do. I had trouble looking at him like that. It came as a bit of a shock, to be honest. He had always been the embodiment of strength and health, and to see him so close to death made me feel sick inside. But if Kull knew anything about the monster that had attacked him, I needed to know.
Heidel followed me inside.
“Has he spoken?” I asked her.
“No.”
I stood beside his cot. He’d always seemed at peace the few times I remembered seeing him asleep, but seeing him now—his eye sockets sunken, the skin around his eyes lined in wrinkles—he hardly resembled the man I remembered.
I could no longer think of this man as Kull. In my mind, Kull was the man I’d come to love, but this was the king of the Wults—of pain and death. King Skullsplitter.
“What happened to him while he was in Faythander? He looks like he’s aged ten years.”
She gave me a sidelong glance. “He blames himself for our father’s passing. It drives him mad that he was not able to save our father. It’s an all-consuming regret that will not let him rest. He never sleeps. He hardly eats. He spends all his time pacing the castle, mumbling to himself, yelling at anyone who crosses him. He’s become bitter and self-absorbed. He is hardly the man he once was. I fear that if he can’t let go of his regret, it will destroy him.”
“But it wasn’t his fault that your father died. Surely he can see that?”
“No. He feels that if he’d found the infiltrator sooner, my father would not have died that day. And he feels that if he…” She bit her lip and looked away from me.
“If he what?”
She took in a deep breath. “If he could have convinced you to heal our father, then Father would still be here.”
Her words struck me. “But the king had already died before I got to him. How could I have healed him?”
She gave me a hard look, her gray eyes set with steely determination. “You should know he blames you in part for our father’s death. I know this isn’t true, but there’s no convincing him otherwise. He has always thought very highly of you, more so than you realize. To him, your powers were without equal. In his mind, it should have been a simple task for you to save Father.”
I didn’t know how to answer. My mind tried to grasp her words but failed. What had caused him to believe I was powerful enough to restore life to the dead? It was ludicrous on all sorts of levels.
“That’s why he’s turned bitter,” Heidel said, “because he’s lost his father, and he has lost you. If it weren’t for his travels to the Northland keep, he would have succumbed to madness.”
The Northland keep. Ket, the beautiful Viking swordswoman who complimented Kull in every way possible, lived there. She made a better match for him. I’d known it since the first day I’d met her, yet I’d never wanted to admit it. Ket was Wult, and Kull’s father had favored her. Kull would be wise to choose her as a wife. Perhaps he already had.
Outside the room I heard footsteps, and the princess moved the vines away to peek inside.
“Are you ready?”
“Almost,” I answered. I found the ruined pieces of my phone on the ground, picked them up, and inspected the shattered bits. Nothing salvageable remained. I eyed Heidel as I placed the pieces in my pocket.
“The device was possessed,” was her only explanation.
I left the room with my ruined phone in my pocket, the fairies’ ring on my finger, and a heart that had broken all
