The Lycan King's Healer
The Lycan King’s Healer – Chapter 52

Once we ascended the stairs, I felt the first flicker of awkwardness occur that whole night.

“Um,” I said, hesitating in front of my bedroom doors.

I had never invited him into my bedroom before.

He looked at me with the same expression I was probably displaying; tentativeness. “I guess I will see you in the morning?” he asked, his eyes scanning me for an answer.

Suddenly, I felt like we were two school kids on the porch after a first date. A grin spread my face apart at the sheer foolishness of it—he had just been inside of me, and we were technically married.

“Yes, I will see you in the morning,” I teased, stepping over my threshold as he shot me a puzzled look, “because you will be lying next to me.”

He laughed, walking in after me with more confidence in his stance. “Got to respect my lady.”

We dressed for bed. He had allowed me to wear the robe back to the palace, and to cover his own self, he wrapped my dirty dress around his waist for the trek back. I was impressed by the professionalism of some guards to not crack a laugh at the sight of him. As soon as we entered the room, he threw it off the balcony.

I laughed, changing into a silk nightgown. “I would’ve done the same thing.”

Eventually, we nestled into bed in a surprisingly natural form. He laid on his back and I laid my head on his chest like the night in the cottage. The moon was again our only form of light, and it was the first time in a while I felt at peace in this bed.

I let his heartbeat and breathing lull me to sleep, but right before I submitted to the blackness, I heard him whisper, “I love you.”

***

I woke up to an array of movements. Footsteps, grunting, and the sound of something scratching against a solid object. Frowning, I opened my eyes to see Aldrich scampering around in the young sunlight. He was shirtless, his tan muscles glowing bright in the rays, his brown hair showing some gold.

He was taking down all the dead flowers. From the vines, from the vases, the canopies. I sat up, my tousled hair falling into my face.

“What are you doing?” I murmured sleepily. My voice slightly startled him, and he flinched before turning to me with a wicked grin.

“Morning, gorgeous,” he said, discarding a handful of wilted roses into a garbage bag. I watched a pair of servants enter the bedroom with baskets and pots of lively, flourishing flowers, some I had never even learned about. Their colors were so vivacious I nearly had to squint.

“I am currently rejuvenating your mess of a room,” he said matter-of-factly, helping the servants with the masses of flowers.

I laughed, watching them as I held the sheet to my chest. “I could’ve helped.”

“No, no, you’ve brought enough back to life,” he demanded, grinning at me, “now it’s my turn!”

I watched as they adorned my room with the flowers, hanging them in the canopy above the bed, arranging them in the antique vases, and streaming them in vines down the paneled walls, all while I sat in bed. Aldrich did most of the arranging, directing the staff where to place which flower and how. The dead, wilted brown flowers were replaced with colorful collections of new roses, daisies, lilies, and even sunflowers.

I gazed at him with a smile.

A couple days breezed by like this, and it was the best batch of days we all experienced in a long time. Aldrich and I slept together each night, he spent half the day with Theo, and when we weren’t all together, he was planning a strike against his brothers.

Alan fully healed within those days. He was unable to use his legs yet, for they were too weak to bear too much pressure, so he moved around in a wheelchair. Naturally, Danika poked fun at this all day, and even Theo found it amusing. Aldrich and I did not say anything, but we thought it was hilarious to see a renowned notorious warrior complaining around the palace in a wheelchair.

“He doesn’t even look like he broke a bone, nevertheless died,” Aldrich said one day at dinner, gesturing over to Alan.

Alan stuffed a piece of broccoli into his mouth. “Because I’m perfect.”

“No, the magic was,” Aldrich countered before diverting his attention to me, “I keep forgetting to ask you what exactly you did.”

I hesitated, keeping my mouth busy by slowly chewing on my vegetables. To my disdain, no one filled the silence.

“Um,” I swallowed, looking at my plate, “it’s pretty complex.”

“I’d rather not discuss the details of my brutal murder at the dinner table, thank you very much,” Alan interrupted. Danika snorted before shooting me a pointed, fleeting look.

“Then what would you rather discuss, Alan?” Aldrich sarcastically questioned, sipping from his mug of beer.

“You,” he answered, taking another large bite of his food, “I missed a lot when I was dead. Including the act of you apparently declaring war against your brother.”

Aldrich laughed at that as he set down his mug. “Not much of a dinner topic, either, I hate to say.”

“I want to be part of the conversation,” I interrupted, looking at him, “we all deserve to know what you have been planning.”

“I have a lot more planning to do. I haven’t been able to properly coordinate without Alan’s help,” he admitted.

“Well, you know I want to plan right away. And let the plan include me personally slaughtering that son of a bitch,” Alan growled.

“Are you sure that it was him who pushed Alan off?” I asked Aldrich, contemplating who could’ve been on the balcony with him before we went out.

He shrugged, chewing on his piece of steak. “It was either him, or he was involved in it.”

As dessert was being prepared, I excused myself to go to the bathroom. After a brief walk down the corridor, my heels clicking against the marble and echoing through the empty space, I turned a corner and ran into something hard.

A person.

“Sorry,” I immediately said before recognizing the victim.

Clement.

“What are you doing here?” I immediately asked, my heart fluttering in surprise.

He smiled at me like the Cheshire cat. “Cathy, what a polite greeting,” he mused.

“Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting to see you,” I blinked, “how did you get in?”

“I told the guards I was a friend of yours,” he purred, stepping past me to pace the corridor, “To answer your rudely abrupt question, I actually have come to offer you a proposition.”

I frowned in puzzlement, looking up at him. He was always polite and helpful enough, but I never deemed myself a friend of his. I figured he always saw me as his annoying student that he always had to rescue.

“Tonight when Aldrich is away, come meet me tonight in the gardens,” Clement said, still smiling mischievously, “After the other night, I’ve discovered you still need much more training. There’s also a steep increase in sick homeless people right now…I could use your help. In exchange for helping your friend, of course.”

That intrigued me. A part of me grieved the experiences of traveling through the villages and helping people in need, while also learning new things. I often forgot about that piece of myself entirely. Plus, I owed Clement for his help that night.

“I’ll meet you in the garden when the moon is the highest in the sky.”