Irene was satisfied with the way in which she had built up the fire, and she closed the stove so that it would maintain itself and burn slowly. The logs it started burning were thick and would take a while to break down.
As she settled onto her heels with a sigh, she turned towards Felix again, who leaned against the threshold.
"Shut the door or all the heat is going to leave," she directed.
Felix was only obedient to Irene when they weren’t in front of apprentices or other knights. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to boss him around so easily. He relented by shutting the door quickly and instead opted to sit at the table where there was only one chair.
The barracks were small and didn’t offer much more room than a bed, one small square table, and an armoire that was only a couple of feet deep. Oftentis, Irene thought it was amazing the tis they all fit in the barracks with multiple people at a ti during the dark days before the war had truly begun and the Duke’s Tower was besieged.
Now, it felt crowded having two full-grown adults in the room, but because it was Felix, Irene didn’t particularly mind.
"I didn’t want to point it out before, but you look like hell," she admitted as she settled on the floor and leaned her back against the wall. "I already saw the Commander and imagine he downplayed what happened to him. From your perspective, what happened?"
The front Felix had been holding up since he saw Irene co down, and his shoulders slumped. At the ntion of what had happened, he ran his hands over his face and through his hair.
"You can’t imagine what it felt like when Bren rushed to , insisting that the poison was back and our Commander was out," he admitted. "I pictured the tis when we ran this place with no head. There was no organization. We were all spread so thin trying to be sure that the Chemoian people weren’t entirely taken over by monsters since we didn’t have an organized way to hunt them down any longer."
"You were busier than anyone," Irene rembered. "However, I got sowhat lucky being able to go to the far north while all of you were burdened with a knighthood that had no leader. Except now that I look back, you were the leader, Felix, even if we were also waiting for one."
"I’m not cut out for that," he admitted. "Nor do I want to be the one to take the reins. I never had extrely high ambitions. In fact, who knows if I would have been a knight if it weren’t for the fact that my entire family was killed by goblins. Growing up around a bunch of knights was the only option I had if I didn’t want to stay in the old village and beco an orphan."
"Doesn’t an that what you did for that ti wasn’t leading us to keep our heads up since we didn’t know what the King had in store for us," Irene argued. "Anyway, Bren told you the Commander was ’out’? As in, ’dead’?"
"Well, after I saw for myself the state of our Commander, Bren finally told what happened," he explained. "Henry had asked Bren to be his apprentice, but they were attacked by goblins in the mountains, where he was shot by a poisoned arrow. I went up there to see the scene with a few knights myself. That cave was smoking for ages, showing that whatever Sylaron had done to burn everything was still on fire. I have never seen the dragon actually look more intimidating than she did protecting the Commander after coming down from the mountains. It’s like she knew he was doing badly."
Irene thought about the secret Henry had shared with her about the dragon having so sort of ntal connection with him. It was actually nice that he had a protector in the form of a dragon. Perhaps nothing bad would ever happen to him then.
"Badly?" Irene wondered. "Just how bad had he gotten?"
"I carried him from the infirmary to his room with Bren after Siverly had done all he could," Felix continued. "He was under a sleeping spell for a few days, so he didn’t even move a bit. But I couldn’t keep from staring at him. There were purple veins through his face and neck. Never seen anything like it in soone alive." Felix sighed. "For a week, every ti I saw him, he looked thinner and thinner, so I tried to keep my updates neutral since there were no ergencies. Even though I never saw it myself, they said he couldn’t keep a single al down. The poison was making his body reject everything they put into it, including dicine or herbs."
Irene knew that there was a reason for Henry’s paleness and weight loss. The changes wouldn’t be so severe if he really was just laying around and trying to recover from being poisoned. He said he hadn’t been able to keep down als, but he far under-exaggerated the severity.
"For a week?" she echoed, horrified. "I feel so awful he was suffering for a week."
"Yes. A week," Felix responded. "Except after that week, Siverly said he went into the room and saw the Commander lying on the floor. After that, Henry begged to be put under a sleeping spell. And then..."
The older knight trailed off, and Irene looked at him expectantly.
"That was only a couple of days ago. Soti today, Siverly advised us all to leave the Commander’s room alone because he was going to have to cut open his fresh wound and try to purify his blood using newer thods. I suppose since he’s awake, it must have been a good thing he did that. I feel a bit nervous to check on him myself, though. It’s hard to bear it if he looks worse. I can only picture bad things when I see soone I care for in such a state."
"That explains a lot," Irene uttered. "I had no idea what happened. I just saw Siverly covered in blood and, it turns out, poison. The answers the maids and Henry gave were unsatisfactory because his appearance tells a worse story. I’m glad you told the truth."
But she wouldn’t hold it against them. They were trying to protect her Commander and he didn’t want to show her a bad side of himself as he kept insisting.
"As long as he’s getting better, nothing else matters to ," Felix admitted. "Now, it’s late. Should we go and eat sothing? I’m starving."
Irene imdiately agreed. She had put off eating since the morning, since she was unsure how the day would pan out. The midday al she hoped to eat with the Commander was dashed, and now she was starving for supper.
The two of them settled in their usual spots, and Irene was pleased when the apprentices already there and a few knights who had returned from their winter breaks greeted her with open arms. It was nice to be amongst her brothers. She only wished her real brother were mixed in with all of them.
After an ale and a deep bowl of roasted vegetables and savory at, Irene was filled to the brim with food, she felt.
However, she lingered for a bit longer, and Felix finally excused himself, saying he wanted to get so sleep before an early morning practice with the apprentices.
When the mont was right, Irene saw a maid start preparing a tray of broth along with a couple of rolls folded up in a napkin so that they would stay warm and a smaller mug of watered-down ale.
"Is this for the Commander?" she asked. And, at the maid’s nod, she responded, "I will take it to him. I have a matter to take up with him."
The maid hesitated at first, but knowing that they could trust the third in command, Irene was soon on her way to the third floor and the Commander’s chambers. There was the addition of another mug of ale because she was going to drink that while the Commander ate.
She hoped he rembered the promise she made to keep checking up on him. It had only been a few hours, but she was dutiful as ever.
Henry had managed to keep down the food he ate with Irene there. In fact, when she left, he was even able to finish the rest of the bowl.
As the maid checked on him and took a few towels and clothes to wash, he requested his evening al, and she smiled warmly at that. It had been a long ti since he had requested food rather than having it forced upon him in the na of healing.
At the Duke’s insistence that he could eat, she decided to put in so rolls as well, hoping it would fill him up but still be gentle enough on his stomach. The broth they had that day from the rest of the knights’ als was dark and rich. It would be filling for soone who hadn’t eaten well in a while.
When there was a knock on the door, Henry perked up. He had already been sat up and was leaning against his pillows with his blankets pooling around his waist. Even though he felt a bit shaky, he was determined to keep eating. Siverly insisted that it was how he would be able to rejoin the knights and return to his duties.
"Co in," he called.
However, what he wasn’t expecting was a red-haired knight to appear before him with a tray of food in her hands. She looked positively pleased with herself at his shocked expression.
"Good evening, da," Henry greeted her with a gentle teasing edge to his voice. "Or have you decided to give up your duties and take on the role of a maid?"
"I’m simply here to keep my promise," she insisted. "Or would you rather I get a proper maid to deliver your al?"
Even though he wasn’t well, he was still fast enough to grab her wrist before she could escape.
"If you were a maid, I would have more reason to call you to my room," he insisted. "But I much prefer you as a knight."
Irene balked at that, and she knew her face was probably red. Saying things like that seed so easy for him, while it was practically impossible for her.
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